The stage is set

With musical performances, fashion shows and a fresh look at water management, the city has plenty to look forward to in 2012.

If 2011 gave Bangalore the Namma Metro, which promises to change the way Bangaloreans live and travel, 2012 will find the Metro reaching new destinations. The line between Hessarghatta Cross and Swastik is expected to be up and running by December 2012. But in the 12 months between now and then, Bangalore’s platter is loaded with events. Here’s a look at some.

A busy month
Today, January 1, M Balamuralikrishna will give a concert at Chowdiah Memorial Hall, Malleshwaram, at 6.30 pm. It is a treat, considering that this doyen of Carnatic music — who has about 400 compositions in Telugu, Tamil and Sanskrit to his credit and has given over 25,000 concerts the world over — now performs only occasionally.

In January, music connoisseurs of the city will also witness a performance from tabla maestro Zakir Hussain. A special concert called “A Pulse with Zakir Hussain” would see a Hussain give a solo performance on January 13 at the Jnana Hyothi Auditorium.

Bangalore’s biggest cultural festival, the annual Bengaluru Habba organised by Artistes’ Foundation for Arts, follows from January 13 to 22. The last edition of the festival saw over 900 artistes and included 67 performances and exhibitions spread across six galleries as well as a cultural fest at IIM-Bangalore. This year, the festival promises to be on a larger scale with more artists and performances including a film festival for children.

Sitar player and composer Anoushka Shankar will be in Bangalore to perform at UB City on January 22 as part of her tour to India to promote her album, Traveller. The album which explores the similarities and differences between classical Indian music and Spanish flamenco also features artists like Shubha Mudgal, Tanmoy Bose and Sandra Carrasco. But before Shankar’s performance comes Grammy award-winning percussion maestro Trilok Gurtu to present “The World Percussion” phenomena at the UB City amphitheatre on January 21.

January is a delightful month for theatre aficionados as well. Jagriti Theatre begins the year with German play The Golden Dragon from January 13 to January 29. This is the second in the six-play Jagriti season that started in December and runs through June. The Interview, which won four Mahindra Excellence in Theatre awards and is hailed as “a tightly-packed action comedy” with “brilliant contemporary writing”, follows from February 10 to 26. Then comes A Twist of Lime (March 9-25), a play which includes three stories in three settings, The Dreams of Tipu Sultan (May 4-20) and Pulitzer prize-winning playwright Donald Margulies’ Shipwrecked! (June 1-17).

February is all about the music with the annual Summer Storm festival starting on the 5th of the month. In its inaugural edition in May 2010, American metal band “Lamb of God” had opened the rock/metal festival to over 10,000 people. Now, Swedish heavy metal band from Stockholm, Opeth, is headed this way to headline this year’s festival, which will also see several Indian rock and metal bands perform.

Talking solutions
A new year calls for new beginnings and new solutions to old problems. That’s precisely what Bangalore World Water Summit, February 1-3, hopes to look for as it brings together researchers, technocrats, policy-makers, solutions-providers, industry bodies and consultants from across the world to take a fresh look at urban water management. The issue is, especially, significant for Bangalore which is witnessing a movement to revive its dying lakes.

Fit and fashionable
The sixth edition of Bangalore Fashion Week, conceived with the aims to showcase Indian fashion industry to the world, will be held from February 2 to 5. It will include lifestyle parties, designer product exhibit and fashion shows.

As the weather warms up, Bangaloreans are bound to hit the road in their running gear. May 27 is the date for the World 10K Bangalore, the annual 10-km marathon, which the city has been hosting since 2008. As always, the run will start and end at Sree Kanteerava Stadium.