Born in north London in 1959, Orlando Figes has published a number of works on Europe and Russian history. Between 1984 and 1999, he taught at Trinity College, Cambridge; he is now professor of history at Birkbeck College, University of London. His books include A People’s Tragedy (1996), Natasha’s Dance (2002) and The Whisperers (2007). His latest, The Europeans: Three Lives and the Making of a Cosmopolitan Culture, is published by Allen Lane.
1. Theatre
Death of a Salesman, Piccadilly theatre, London W1
The Young Vic production of Arthur Miller’s masterpiece transfers to the West End this autumn. Don’t miss it. The cast is outstanding, particularly Wendell Pierce as Willy and Sharon D Clarke as Linda. The all-black casting of the Loman family adds a fresh perspective to the play, whose universal themes are all the more powerful for it. I went with my daughter, Lydia, and we left in floods of tears, retiring to the nearest pub to talk about the different emotions the play had evoked in each of us. She compared the experience to a lifetime of “family therapy”.
2. Architecture
The Barbican, London EC2
As a Barbican resident, I have come to love the brutalist estate (and, after five years of living there, can just about find my way round it). I love its tranquillity, the birdsong in the garden, the conservatory, the running water, the rough concrete, the open spaces and sightlines – a masterpiece of modernist design. It is an outrage that part of the estate, a Grade II*-listed conservation area, is now threatened by development: the City of London School for Girls, a private enterprise, wants to build a canteen underneath the beautiful double pilasters of Mountjoy House, one of the iconic architectural features of the original design by Chamberlin, Powell and Bon.
3. Exhibition
Leonardo da Vinci: A Life in Drawing, The Queen’s Gallery, London
What a bonanza we have had this year, the 500th anniversary of Leonardo’s death. And full marks to the Royal Collection Trust for touring the UK with its treasure of Leonardo drawings, culminating in this glorious exhibition, part of which will go to Holyrood in November. Because so much of Leonardo’s work was unfinished, his drawings give a fascinating insight into the creative processes and imagination of this genius, who was not just an artist but an engineer, architect, anatomist and philosopher.
4. Place
Bougival, Paris
The Parisian suburb on the Seine was the birthplace of the impressionist movement, according to Kenneth Clark. It was also the last home of the Russian writer Ivan Turgenev, who lived there with the great love of his life, the singer and composer Pauline Viardot and her husband, Louis Viardot, a great art expert. I have lived with these three figures in my head for the past seven years – they are at the centre of my new book – but to visit the abandoned Viardot villa and the adjoining dacha built by Turgenev is to have a visceral sense of their spiritual presence and relationship.
5. Opera
Orpheus season at the ENO
I am looking forward to this. Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice is infrequently performed but its music is sublime and it was a founding work of the operatic canon in the 19th century. In 1859, Berlioz adapted it for Pauline Viardot in the title role, which she really created. The ENO is also putting on a new production of Orpheus in the Underworld, Offenbach’s hilarious send-up of the classical love story, which prompted Berlioz to revive the work of his musical hero.
6. Book
Ora dimmi di te (Now Tell Me About You) by Andrea Camilleri
As a Montalbano fan, I was saddened by the death this year of Andrea Camilleri, the author of the popular detective books, which spawned the TV series. A year before his death, at the age of 93, Camilleri published this enchanting literary gem, the story of his life – and a little history of Italy since fascism – told in letters to his great-granddaughter Matilda. Humane, tolerant and full of hope, he offers words of wisdom for our troubled times.
