A year of culture

From opera and film to music and drama,Claire Coleman selects 10 must-sees from a dazzling 2009 cultural calendar

Cirque du Soleil's Quidam
The Royal Albert Hall, London
January 4—February 7
The magic of this Canadian company's captivating combination of dance, theatre and mime continues to enthral audiences worldwide. Against the not too shabby scarlet and gold backdrop of the Albert Hall, expect to see tumblers, acrobats, clowns and various other performers showcasing the sort of twists, turns and death-defying feats that physiology and gravity would normally deem impossible. The story, as always, is almost incidental, but in this instance it's about a young girl who thinks she has seen everything there is to see and finds herself in a universe that "attempts to seduce her with the marvellous, the unsettling and the terrifying"—so plenty of scope there, then.

Dido and Aeneas/Acis and Galatea
Royal Opera House, London
March 31-April 20
The Royal Opera House seems to be undergoing a bit of a transformation. For starters, it has upped the price of its top-end seats, so that it can make the cheaper seats even cheaper, and in the spring it will play host to a joint venture between the opera and ballet companies. Wayne MacGregor, the Royal Ballet's resident choreographer, is set to direct two baroque operas, Purcell's Dido and Aeneas and Handel's Acis and Galatea, neither of which has been performed at the Royal Opera House. Already down as "one to see" among the cognoscenti.

Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela
Southbank Centre, London
April 14 and 18
When Marshall Marcus, head of music at the Southbank Centre, cites something as the biggest music story of the year, it's worth taking notice. "The Youth Orchestra of Venezuela are real mould-breakers and, accompanied by their charismatic young conductor, Gustavo Dudamel (recently appointed chief conductor at the Los Angeles Philharmonic), they're my big tip for 2009." Dudamel, whose orchestra is widely recognised for its role in transforming the lives of tens of thousands of impoverished youths, is renowned for his fiery, intense performances—the LA Times even speculated that he and wife Eloísa might eclipse the Beckhams as the city's new It couple.

Falstaff
Glyndebourne, Sussex
14 performances between May 21 and July 11
Glyndebourne has been a fixture on the social calendar for years, and while there's always something absurdly British and optimistic about planning an outdoor performance during the unpredictable British summer, fans of opera continue to flock here for spectacular shows in a beautiful natural setting. This new production of Verdi's comic opera will see Vladimir Jurowski conducting the London Philharmonic, with Richard Jones taking the director's role. Jurowski and Jones worked together on the acclaimed production of Macbeth at Glyndebourne in 2007, which saw the traditional witches portrayed as girl gangs boiling cauldrons on stoves in caravans.

The Cherry Orchard/The Winter's Tale
The Old Vic Theatre, London
Dates between May 23 and August 15
As part of something known as The Bridge Project, a transatlantic venture that pairs the Old Vic with some of its New York counterparts, Sam Mendes brings his directing skills back to the London stage—as well as a few British and American thesps who might sound familiar (Sinéad Cusack, Ethan Hawke, Simon Russell Beale). Between them they're taking on Tom Stoppard's version of Chekhov's Cherry Orchard, and Shakespeare's Winter's Tale in a double bill that promises to be something a bit special, and already has critics and theatre fans giddy with expectation.

Inglourious Basterds
Cinemas nationwide
June
A new Quentin Tarantino film is always going to cause a stir of some description so expect the controversial title (not to mention the irregular spelling) of his latest to ruffle more than a few feathers. And that's before you learn that the subject matter focuses on a group of Jewish-American soldiers (the eponymous Basterds) who are charged with spreading fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing the Nazis in occupied France during World War II. With a cast that includes Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger and Mike Myers (not to mention Samuel L Jackson as narrator), it's bound to pull in the punters.

Oasis
Stadiums across the UK
June and July
For all the naysayers who claim that the loud-mouthed Brit band are still riding on the wave of success brought about by their first two albums, the fact remains that they're still one of the UK's must-see live acts. The summer sees them embarking on a stadium tour, taking in venues from Murrayfield to Wembley, not to mention Slane Castle in Dublin and Heaton Park in their home city of Manchester. Half a million tickets were sold in the first six hours that they were on sale—surely enough to put a smile on even Liam Gallagher's face.

Alan Bennett
The National Theatre, London
Autumn, no confirmed dates
Some of you may remember Alan Bennett's most recent play, a little production called The History Boys, which premiered at the National in 2004 and went on to garner plaudits all over the world, for both the stage and screen versions. Well, his new opus is currently untitled but will focus on the friendship between the poet WH Auden and composer Benjamin Britten. Set to be directed by Nicholas Hytner (who also directed The History Boys), Bennett's legion of fans can scarcely contain their excitement.

Sold Out
Tate Modern, London
October 1-January 17, 2010
Showcasing some of the most recognisable pieces of contemporary art (think Warhol, Koons, Murakami and Hirst among others), the exhibition will look at pop art in a fresh way. Essentially, the idea is that while most people think pop art is all about iconic imagery, here it is suggested that what defines the genre is the way that the artists have intentionally commercialised themselves and their work. We're just quite excited at the possibility of a shark fin soup can.