THE ARMORY SHOW|
NEW YORK

New York resumes its role as backdrop for one of the world’s leading fine art fairs from 4–7 March. In its 12th year, The Armory Show attracts artists, galleries, collectors, critics and curators from all over the world, showcasing artwork from the 20th and 21st centuries.

With a mission “to offer collectors the best art from 1900 to today” the event’s organiser Paul Morris has set his sights high. The fair will feature 227 galleries from 31 countries and will introduce a new section, ArmoryFocus, which will spotlight a new art community each year. ArmoryFocus kicks off with Berlin and will include 22 of the German capital’s leading galleries.

British contemporary artist Susan Collis has the illustrious job of creating the fair’s ‘visual identity’ with commissions to produce three special pieces – the proceeds of which will go to charity. Collis’ work has become known for its painstaking facsimiles of mundane objects. One of the pieces, No show, may look like an ordinary screw alongside four holes but on closer inspection you notice the screw is silver and the holes are laid with dusky gems. Expect more surprises at the Armory Show this year. thearmoryshow.com

MATISSE TO MALEVICH
AMSTERDAM

Last June, Hermitage Amsterdam, a spin-off from the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, Russia, opened in a 17th-century building in the centre of the Dutch capital. Th is month, the gallery bursts onto the 2010 arts calendar with Matisse to Malevich. Pioneers of Modern Art, showcasing works by Matisse, Picasso, Van Dongen, Derain and De Vlaminck, as well as Russian greats such as Malevich and Kandinsky. In all, around 75 paintings – including 12 Picassos – have been selected from Hermitage St Petersburg, which has one of the world’s finest collections of early-20th-century French painting.

Running from 6 March to 17 September, the exhibition explores modern art’s origins as an art historical phenomenon and the passion of the individual artists.

This is Hermitage Amsterdam’s second exhibition since its opening and the event is expected to be one of the most popular in Europe over the next 12 months. hermitage.nl

LOVE NEVER DIES
LONDON

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s eagerly awaited sequel to Phantom of the Opera, the longest running musical in history, finally opens on 9 March in London’s West End.

Love Never Dies, at the Adelphi Theatre, is set a decade after the Phantom’s disappearance from the Paris Opera House. In the new production, Christine is invited to perform at Phantasma, a new attraction at Coney Island, New York, unaware that it is the Phantom who has arranged her appearance.

Phantom of the Opera has taken more than $5bn at the box office, been staged in 124 cities worldwide and been watched by more than 100 million people. Love Never Dies is due to open on Broadway on 11 November. loveneverdies.com

ALSO ON THIS MONTH

WORLDWIDE
Tim Burton’s adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, starring Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter and Helena Bonham Carter as the Queen of Hearts. Released 3 March.

MILAN
Richard Wagner’s Tannhäuser at La Scala, 17 March – 2 April. Sung in German with electronic libretto in Italian, English and German. www.teatroallascala.org

NEW YORK
Last chance to see Anish Kapoor: Memory at the Guggenheim, which finishes 28 March. www.guggenheim.org

LONDON
Henry Moore at Tate Britain, until 8 August. A showcase of 150 of stone sculptures, woodcarvings, bronzes and drawings from one of Britain’s greatest artists. www.tate.org.uk

LONDON
Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009 at the Natural History Museum. Until 11 April. www.nhm.ac.uk

PARIS
The world premiere of Siddharta, a ballet based on the Hermann Hesse novel. Opéra National de Paris, 18 March – 11 April. www.operadeparis.fr

PARIS
The Museum’s collections: New Hangings, Pompidou Centre. Celebrating the centre’s 30th anniversary, with more than 1,300 works from artists of the first half of the 20th century and the Pompidou’s latest acquisitions in the field. From 23 March – 23 May. www.cnac-gp.fr