<B>A rarely seen grandeur</B><BR>When it opened, the Barbican, a combination of arts venues and apartments, attracted severe criticism. But, 20 years on, attitudes have changed - and so has the Barbican. Norman Lebrecht and Giles Worsley reassess the controversial concrete colossus Classic British triumph over self-made adversity.<P><BR>IT is always a mistake to judge a performing space when new. It takes time for the acoustics to settle and longer still for the hall to find a place in the public's affections. Twenty years is about right - a milestone that the Barbican Centre has just passed, modestly and with a minimum of pomp.<BR> <BR>The Barbican has much to be modest about. Built from a hole in the ground with materials that looked obsolescent by opening night, the arts centre's layout proved more convoluted than the Hampton Court maze, and its concert hall resounded in pp passages to the noise of car exhausts and loo-flushings. <P><A HREF="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2002/02/27/babarb1.xml&sSheet=/arts/2002/02/27/ixartleft.html" TARGET=_blank><B>click for more</B></A>

<B>Good old Barbican</B><BR>By Martin Kettle for The Guardian <P><BR>London's Barbican Centre was the Millennium Bridge of its day. Britain's first - and still this country's only - fully integrated arts centre attracted massive media attention when it first opened its doors 20 years ago this month. And it had an electrifying impact on London audiences. So much so that every time anyone touched one of its metal handrails in those early days, they recoiled with the kind of short, sharp shock that the home secretary of the day, Willie Whitelaw, was busily trying to dole out to young offenders. <BR>The electric banisters were sorted out, but the instant repairs were a warning of things to come. Few buildings in Britain can have been as persistently tinkered with over the years as the Barbican. The concert hall, in particular, feels as if it has been work in progress for large parts of the past two decades. <P><A HREF="http://www.guardian.co.uk/saturday_review/story/0,3605,660292,00.html" TARGET=_blank><B>click for more</B></A>

<B>Barbican fills gap left by the RSC</B><BR>By Angelique Chrisafis from The Guardian<P><BR>The Barbican centre last night announced an ambitious season of international theatre, dance and opera premieres to fill the gap left by the crisis-hit Royal Shakespeare Company, but said it was in negotiations for the RSC to return next year. <P>The central London arts centre, which celebrates its 20th birthday this year, was deserted by the RSC last month after having provided two custom-built theatres as a London home for the Stratford company since 1982. The Barbican's management yesterday suggested the RSC could return for a run next year, adding "the ball is in their court". <P><A HREF="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,715654,00.html" TARGET=_blank><B>click for more</B></A><BR>

Some news of cutting edge collaborations between artists from different disciplines:

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Friday 25 April 2003
Michael Clark
Would, Should, Can, Did
Barbican Centre, London

For this premiere, Clark will work with artists from a range of disciplines to create seven artistic experiments. In this special one-off event Clark will collaborate and perform with visual artists Sarah Lucas and Cerith Wyn Evans, musician Susan Stenger, and fashion designer Hussein Chalayan.

More info: www.barbican.org.uk/onlyconnect

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Tuesday 18 March 2003
Counter Phrases
with Ictus Ensemble & Rosas Dance Company
Barbican Centre, London

A collaboration between innovative choreographer Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, composer and film-maker Thierry de Mey and ten of the world's leading composers.

The Barbican presents the Uk Premiere of this project, performed live by the trailblazing contemporary music group Ictus Ensemble.

For more info: www.barbican.org.uk/onlyconnect

<small>[ 23 February 2003, 04:20 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>