Including major film season at BFI Southbank, Brazilian writers featured at Hay Festival, exhibitions at the ICA, South London Gallery and Goodwood Art Foundation, concerts and performances at Wigmore Hall, LSO St Luke’s and The Royal Ballet.
Following the successful opening of the UK /Brazil Season of Culture at the Edinburgh Festivals in 2025, the highlights of the 2026 programme in the UK have been announced, showcasing Brazil's best cultural expressions across arts, music, film, dance, design and literature.
Brazil, with a population of over 212 million people, is the largest country in South America and the world’s fifth-largest country by area. Known for its biodiversity and its blend of indigenous, European and African influences, Brazil hosted COP 30 Amazonia, the UN Climate Change Conference in 2025 focusing on accelerating climate action.
The UK / Brazil Season of Culture continues until summer 2026, presented jointly by the British Council and Brazil’s Instituto Guimarães Rosa (IGR) marking 200 years of diplomatic relations between the two nations. Among the highlights of the programme in the UK announced, focusing especially on showcasing young emerging talent as well as leading figures in all fields of the arts, are:
ICA
Laura Lima: The Drawing Drawing -27 January – 29 March 2026
London, UK
The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London presents the first London solo exhibition by Brazilian multidisciplinary artist Laura Lima (b. 1971, Minas Gerais). Since the mid-1990s, Lima has been recognised for her category-defying practice which has explored the relationship between living beings, sites, material and time. The Drawing Drawing brings together new and existing performative installations involving sculpture, movement, live performers and public participation. At the heart of the exhibition, a new interactive artwork unsettles the conventions of the life drawing class and with it ideas of subject and object, mastery and value.
https://www.ica.art/exhibitions/laura-lima-the-drawing-drawing
The Royal Ballet
Mayara Magri: Giselle
28 February 2026, 1.30pm
The Royal Opera House, London, UK
This is the debut performance of Brazil’s Mayara Magri (b. 1994, Rio de Janeiro) in the title role of The Royal Ballet’s celebrated production of Giselle. Magri grew up in Brazil and won a scholarship at the age of eight to train at the Petite Danse School in Rio de Janeiro. She won the Senior Age Division of the Youth America Grand Prix and the Prix de Lausanne Scholarship and Audience Prize in 2011. She trained at The Royal Ballet School graduating into the Company in 2012 and was promoted to Principal Dancer of The Royal Ballet in 2021. For this performance she dances alongside Royal Ballet Principal Matthew Ball in the role of Albrecht.
Goodwood Art Foundation
Hélio Oiticica: Magic Square #3
Spring 2026
Sussex, UK
Magic Square #3 at Goodwood Art Foundation is the first European outdoor installation by Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica (1937-1980, Rio de Janeiro), widely regarded as one of Brazil’s leading artists of the 20th century. The installation, set within 70 acres of woodland and meadowland, is made up of large, brightly coloured squares in a variety of materials to create an open-air labyrinth that visitors can explore. Oiticica coined the term ‘Tropicalia’ that named an entire movement of art, music and Brazilian identity in the 1960s.
BFI Southbank
Brazilian Film Season
1 May - 31 June 2026
London, UK
BFI Southbank will present a programme of Brazilian cinema from the 1930s to the present day through some of the most celebrated and influential Brazilian films from each decade. Curated by producers Renata de Almeida and Adriana Rouanet, the season will feature 40 titles by leading Brazilian filmmakers, including Glauber Rocha (b. 1939 Vitória da Conquista; d. 1981, Rio de Janeiro), Héctor Babenco (b. 1946, Mar del Plata, Argentina; 2016, São Paulo) and Walter Salles (b. 1956, Rio de Janeiro), and will span a range of genres, including documentaries and shorts.
South London Gallery
Paulo Nimer Pjota
1 May - 23 August 2026
London, UK
This major presentation at the South London Gallery is the first UK solo exhibition of Brazilian painter Paulo Nimer Pjota (b. 1988, São José do Rio Preto). Pjota’s paintings draw on art history, popular culture, mythology and folk tales, merging multiple and often contrasting references to create new, imaginary scenarios. His approach borrows from the sampling and remixing practices adopted in Brazilian hip-hop and rap music, and he often titles his work and exhibitions after songs. At the South London Gallery, the artist will present a new series of paintings against an expansive mural painted directly onto the gallery walls to create a magical environment populated by mythical characters, dragons, crocodiles, monkeys and imaginary beasts.
Round Chapel
Elomar Figueira Mello: Auto da Catingueira
6 May 2026, open rehearsal
7 May 2026, 6pm and 8.30pm
The UK premiere of the Baroque chamber opera Auto da Catingueira (1969) by Brazilian composer Elomar Figueira Mello (b. 1937, Bahia). Elomar is known for work that mixes traditional Brazilian folk music with classical influences. The show is conceived and designed by Rio de Janeiro director André Heller-Lopes. With orchestrations by Henrique Gomide, Auto da Catingueira is performed in original Portuguese by four Brazilian singers - Gabriela Pace, Felipe Oliveira, Giovanni Tristacci and Geilson Santos - and the Amsterdam-based Apollo Ensemble.
Round Chapel, London, E5 0LY
LSO St Luke’s
A celebration of Villa-Lobos
16 May 2026
London, UK
Brazilian composer and conductor Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959, Rio de Janeiro) is one of the most recognisable South American composers in music history. He is best-known for Bachianas Brasileiras (1930-45) and Chôros (1920-29) along with many more works combining indigenous Brazilian melodic and rhythmic elements with Western classical music. For this celebration of the composer, pianist Marcelo Bratke and soprano Camila Provenzale are joined by the Finchley Children's Music Group. The programme includes A Prole do Bebês n. 1, O Trenzinho do Caipira from Bachiana Brasileiras n. 2 and 4 Songs of the Amazon Forest.
Hay Festival
Partnership with the International Literary Festival of Paraty (FLIP)
21 – 31 May 2026
Hay-on-Wye, UK
In 2026 the world-renowned Hay Festival will partner with the Brazilian literary festival FLIP to present and celebrate leading voices from Brazil. The International Literary Festival of Paraty (FLIP) was devised by Liz Calder, co-founder of Bloomsbury Publishing, and Brazilian architect Mauro Munhoz, using the Hay Festival as a model. It started in 2003 and has gone on to be a leading literary festival in South America, taking place every July in the coastal town of Paraty in the state of Rio de Janeiro.
Wigmore Hall
Ilumina
25 July 2026, 7.30pm
London, UK
Ilumina is a Brazil-based music initiative and classical music festival founded by American violist Jennifer Stumm in 2015. What began as a small musical talent development project on a coffee farm in São Paulo has grown to include hundreds of young musicians from South America and leading international artists. They return to Wigmore Hall with a programme ranging from Beethoven, Mozart and Dvořák to Nina Simone and Brazilian composer Villa-Lobos.
Ambassador Marco Antonio Nakata, Director of the Instituto Guimarães Rosa (IGR), said: “I am delighted that today we are announcing highlights of the 2026 programme for the UK / Brazil Season of Culture, celebrating 200 years of diplomatic relations between our two countries. I am proud of the wonderful artists from Brazil who will be showcased in the season here in the UK – in particular highlighting the emerging talent of Brazilian artists with the support of our colleagues at the British Council, helping them to develop new creative partnerships with a long-lasting legacy for both countries.”
Ruth Mackenzie, Director of Arts, British Council, said: “This Season is about exchange and opening new possibilities for artists and organisations, with activities in both countries. The programme announced today highlights the best of Brazilian creativity coming to some of the UK’s most exciting cultural platforms, giving audiences here the chance to encounter bold new voices alongside internationally established artists. It highlights the strength of the UK–Brazil relationship and the global impact of working together through the arts.”