We Recommend
French Politics: A Neighbour’s History of the Present
Thu 26 Sept - Tue 30 Jun
University of Westminster
This series of seminars is designed with the Foucauldian notion of “history of the present” in mind and will tackle some of the most pressing challenges of French politics and political theory today.
Talks
TV5MONDE
Mon 30 - Wed 30 Sept
For the love of culture, in French
Anyone in the UK can now enjoy TV5MONDE streamed live 24/7 in HD. From prime time films, hit drama series premieres, documentaries, travel, cuisine and kids programmes and news throughout the day, just click and watch for free.
Films & TV
Céline Condorelli – Spinning
Tue 1 Oct - Thu 31 Dec
Elmington Estate
Céline Condorelli has designed a playground for Elmington Estate, featuring carousels, climbing structures and coloured surfaces. This energising space to play is part of the SLG’s ongoing Open Plan of collaborations with neighbouring estates.
Visual Arts
L’Histoire des relations de l’Angleterre avec l’Europe
Wed 16 Oct - Mon 20 Apr
Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle
En menant l’inventaire des relations des Britanniques avec le continent Européen de l’Antiquité à nos jours, ce cycle de conférences assurées par d'éminents universitaires vous invite à mieux comprendre la période actuelle !
Talks
Artificialis
Sat 2 Nov - Sat 2 May
Saatchi Gallery
French artist Cyril de Commarque presents a multi-media installation drawing from the Anthropocene era – the period when man first had an impact on Earth’s geology and ecosystems – then meditating on the effect technology and scientific advancement will have on humankind and the environment.
Visual Arts
Cars Accelerating the Modern World
Sat 23 Nov - Sun 19 Apr
Victoria and Albert Museum
Over its short 130-year history, the car has become one of the most loved, contested and influential innovations in the world. It has revolutionised manufacturing, transformed how we move, forever changing our cities, environment and economies.
Visual Arts
Christine Rebet Solo Exhibition
Tue 21 Jan - Sat 4 Apr
Parasol Unit, London
Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art presents a solo exhibition of the work of French artist Christine Rebet, exploring trauma, illusion, revolt and the destruction of our shared history and environment through six diverse, hand-drawn animated films.
Films & TV, Visual Arts
Picasso and Paper
Sat 25 Jan - Mon 13 Apr
Royal Academy of Arts
Pablo Picasso rewrote the rules of painting, but he also tore up the rulebook for paper. Bringing together 300 of the artist’s works, both on and with paper, this exhibition spans his entire prolific career and represents a significant chapter in modern art.
Visual Arts
Christian Louboutin
Tue 25 Feb - Tue 28 Jul
Palais de la Porte Dorée
Thought as an invitation to dive into the prolific universe of Christian Louboutin, the exhibition explores all the aspects of his multiple referenced inspirations, in a place dear to the creator and which has seen his vocation grow.
Visual Arts
Jean Féline and Joshua J. Leon: Habitat
Sun 1 Mar - Thu 30 Apr
Platform Southwark, London
Artists Joshua Leon and Jean Feline, tackle the subject and concept of Habitat, intending to investigate the social issues relating to the home in contemporary culture, treating the domestic as an unsafe ground and navigating the meaning of “making a home".
Visual Arts
Camille Yvert: How I Naturally Improve
Sun 1 Mar - Thu 30 Apr
Gibberd Gallery
New and developing work by Camille Yvert taking its starting point from the relationship between bronzage culture & bronze sculpture and examining the quest for body optimisation and the motorcycle industry will be presented at the Harlow Art Trust.
Visual Arts
Anne Gillis & XT Duo: a new collaborative work
Sun 1 Mar - Sun 31 May
Café Oto, London
Bringing together three explicitly ‘radical’ artists of different generations in a unique Anglo-French collaboration featuring Anne Gillis and composers XT, the show operates at the boundaries of sound-making/music, visual arts and performance.
Contemporary Music, Performing Arts, Visual Arts
Eva Jospin: Among the Trees
Wed 4 Mar - Sun 17 May
Hayward Gallery - Southbank Centre
Among the Trees brings together artworks, including Eva Jospin’s Forests, that explore our relationship to trees. The exhibition focuses on artworks that re-imagine traditional genres and develop trees representations to shift our conventional perceptions.
Visual Arts
Anna Zoria’s Residency at Maison Touchard
Sat 21 Mar - Sat 25 Apr
Maison Touchard, London
Maison Touchard presents Anna Zoria’s first exhibition in the United Kingdom. Building on themes of interiority and infra-ordinary, it collapses the site of production & exhibition into one porous setting responding to the domestic context of Maison Touchard.
Visual Arts
The Swap Project : Elodie Merland and Bachir Boussandel
Wed 1 Apr - Tue 30 Jun
River Garage, Kent
River Garage invites in a three-week residency French artists Elodie Merland and Bachir Boussandel, living in Northern France and whose work is linked to notions of borders, languages and spaces through sculpture, performance, installation and photography.
Performing Arts, Visual Arts
European Poetry Festival 2020
Fri 3 - Mon 13 Apr
European Poetry Festival
The European Poetry Festival celebrates the grand resurgence in avant-garde and literary poetry that has marked the 21st century in Europe. With 11 events in 5 cities and towns across the UK and Ireland, this third edition will be the most ambitious yet.
Books, Talks
Cédric Hanriot – CH3 Trio
Wed 8 Apr
Pizza Express Jazz Club Soho
Cédric Hanriot's music is open to the cross-currents of jazz, hip hop and electronica. The group playfully explores themes taken from the pop of Katy Perry, the rock of Nirvana, and the electronic music of Massive Attack as well as Hanriot's own compositions.
Contemporary Music
Le Concert d’Astrée
Tue 14 Apr
Wigmore Hall
Under Emmanuelle Haïm’s direction, Baroque specialist group Le Concert d'Astrée brings a rich selection of pieces from the 16th and 17th Centuries to the Wigmore Hall.
Classical Music
Fakear
Fri 17 Apr
Canvas
Fakear has carved out a special place for himself on the French and international electro scene with a strong sound identity, combining British post dubstep elegance with oriental nuances. A subtle blend of textures that makes sense on stage.
Contemporary Music
Romeo Elvis
Fri 17 Apr
Electric Brixton
Roméo Elvis has become a key figure on the French hip-hop scene and one of the most streamed Belgian artists. Going Platinum in France and Belgium, his Morale and Morale 2 projects have catapulted the young rapper on to the biggest stages and festivals.
Contemporary Music
1920s Paris, The Crazy Years: Pulcinella & Paris
Tue 28 Apr
Southbank Centre
In their Worlds Colliding series, City of London Sinfonia explore the blurred lines between classical and popular culture. With conductor and pianist David Greilsammer, they will give voice to 20th Century French composers.
Classical Music
-M-
Tue 28 Apr
O2 Academy Brixton
Matthieu Chedid, also known as -M-, is one of the most successful and influential artists in French music today, a pop wizard who straddles genres - funk, chanson, world - and has collaborated with everyone from Vanessa Paradis and Jain to Youssou N'Dour.
Contemporary Music
Juniore
Wed 29 Apr
Bush Hall
Juniore are back supporting the release of a brand new album Un Deux Trois, featuring the hyper-catchy, BBC 6 Music-playlisted single Ah bah d'accord. This is the perfect opportunity to get acquainted with their delicious nuggets of 60s-styled psych pop.
Contemporary Music
Asa
Wed 29 Apr
Electric Brixton
After a four-year break, Asa returns with her fourth studio album, Lucid, which chronicles the 12-year journey from her critically acclaimed debut album, to the present. The Paris-born singer-songwriter fuses pop, jazz and soft soul with her singular voice.
Contemporary Music
Les Talens Lyriques
Fri 8 May
Wigmore Hall
Harpsichordist Christophe Rousset’s Baroque ensemble welcomes German tenor Julian Prégardien for a programme of love songs by some of the leading lights of the French Baroque period.
Classical Music
Varèse & Debussy: Dreamscapes
Sat 9 May
Southbank Centre
Young conductor Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra dedicate their programme to Varèse and Debussy, who share a preoccupation with the texture, physicality and sensuality of sound itself.
Classical Music
Varèse and Debussy: Microcosms
Sun 10 May
Southbank Centre
This time with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, conductor Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla combines 4 works by Varèse with pieces by Debussy and contemporary composers Rebecca Saunders and Gérard Grisey.
Classical Music
La Serenissima
Tue 12 May
Wigmore Hall
The UK’s leading Venetian-specialist ensemble La Serenissima celebrate Vivaldi's women student-performers in the company of soprano Julia Doyle, mezzo-soprano Renata Pokupić and contralto Hilary Summers.
Classical Music
Thomas Piketty on History, Ideology and a Manifesto for Social Justice
Thu 14 May
Emmanuel Centre
Thomas Piketty argues that our market economy is an historical construct that arose out of countless choices and decisions people have made over time. He urges us to radically reappraise everything we think we know about politics, ideology, and history.
Talks
Yseult
Wed 20 May
The Curtain Hotel
The rising French star plays her first London show. A young Parisian who participated in French talent show Nouvelle Star, she has found her own identity and trap-pop sound on tracks like 'Noir' and 'Corps', which showcase her delightfully husky vocals.
Contemporary Music
Jimmy Robert : A Review
Fri 22 May - Mon 31 Aug
Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham
Nottingham Contemporary presents a major survey exhibition by the French artist Jimmy Robert, spanning two decades of practice, as well as the UK premiere and tour of his most ambitious performance to date, Joie Noire (2019).
Performing Arts, Visual Arts
Nekfeu
Sun 31 May
O2 Forum Kentish Town
One of France's biggest stars comes to London to perform tracks from his third album Les Etoiles Vagabondes. The biggest selling rap album of 2019 in France - beating even PNL - it was accompanied by the release of a box office-topping documentary.
Contemporary Music
Memory / Hélène Grimaud
Sun 7 Jun
Barbican Centre
Hélène Grimaud matches Schumann's virtuosity with pieces by Satie, Silvestrov, Debussy and Chopin to ‘conjure atmospheres of fragile reflection, a mirage of what was – or what could have been’, as she says.
Classical Music
LSO Artist Portrait: Antoine Tamestit
Thu 11 Jun
Barbican Centre
For his LSO Artist Portrait's second concert, violist Antoine Tamestit will present works by Berio and Stravinsky. He will complement the three orchestral concerts with thematically-related chamber concerts at LSO St Luke’s.
Classical Music
Philippe Cassard & Cédric Pescia
Wed 17 Jun
Wigmore Hall
French pianists Philippe Cassard and Cédric Pescia will perform Schubert's Fantasie in F minor that they recorded on La Dolce Vita label and the Liszt's two-piano transcription of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
Classical Music
Vanessa Paradis
Sun 21 Jun
O2 Forum Kentish Town
The French singer, model and actress comes to London off the back of her new two-part album, Best Of & Variations, featuring classics like Joe Le Taxi and Be My Baby, plus some fresh new interpretations of songs from her catalogue.
Contemporary Music
Jordi Savall & Le Concert des Nations
Tue 23 Jun
Wigmore Hall
Early Music and Baroque series includes some of the finest ensembles and soloists performing today. Jordi Savall and his ensemble Le Concert des Nations will perform François Couperin's Les Nations.
Classical Music
Cédric Tiberghien
Thu 2 Jul
Wigmore Hall
Among pieces by Schumann, Webern and Schoenberg, Cédric Tiberghien includes in his programme a selection from Beethoven’s catalogue of Variations written during the final decade of the 18th century.
Classical Music
Jean Rondeau
Sun 26 Jul
Wigmore Hall
Pianist and harpsichordist, Jean Rondeau always impresses audiences with his distinctive musicianship. This time he will give the audience the chance to hear one of the masterworks of the entire keyboard repertoire on the harpsichord.
Classical Music
L’Impératrice
Thu 12 Nov
O2 Shepherds Bush Empire
The Parisians' debut album Matahari arrived last year with all the pomp and circumstance of a coronation. They draw on genres from 70s space disco to downtempo 90s synth pop, taking in French film composers, and they can undoubtedly deliver it live.
Contemporary Music