Here is the best of what's on in Europe in April:

AUSTRIA

EASTER/TRADITION: Each spring, dozens of Easter markets mushroom across Vienna from late March to mid-April selling decorations and sweets, with music performances and egg hunts for children.
Schoenbrunn Palace provides one of the most grandiose settings, while the Old Vienna Market on Freyung square offers the largest collection of hand-painted eggs for decoration. www.wien.info

MUSIC: The Salzburg Easter Festival founded in 1967 by legendary conductor Herbert von Karajan takes place April 4 to 13 in Mozart's hometown.
This year's highlight is Richard Wagner's opera Siegfried performed by the Berlin Philharmonic and conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. Other performances include US pianist Yefim Bronfman, Austrian mezzo-soprano Angelika Kirchschlager. www.osterfestspiele-salzburg.at/

ART: Vienna's Kunsthaus museum presents Picasso -- Myths, Fables And Models from April 3 to July 5. Spanning five decades, the exhibit of 120 prints gives an insight into Picasso's most important artistic themes and obsessions, including his favourite models and such mythical subjects as bullfighting and the Greek Minotaur. www.kunsthauswien.com


BRITAIN

HISTORY: Henry VIII: Man And Monarch at the British Library in London from April 23 to September 6, celebrates 500th anniversary of Henry's accession. It reexamines the reign of one of England's greatest kings and features books, manuscripts and letters written by the king. Also the Tower of London holds Henry VIII: Dressed To Kill from April 3, an exhibition of his armour, to mark the anniversary. Plus Windsor Castle west of London hosting an exhibition of paintings, drawings, books and manuscripts from April 8 to April 18 2010.

www.bl.uk/whatson/exhibitions/henry/
www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/WhatsOn/Dressedtokill.aspx www.royalcollection.org.uk/default.asp?action=article&ID=34

MUSIC: Handel Reveal'd, an exhibition marking the 250th anniversary of the composer's death at his home, the Handel House Museum in central London. The exhibition features a life mask and the score for Handel's last piece of music Jephtha. From April 8 to October 25. www.handelhouse.org/handel2009/exhibition

DESIGN: Baroque 1620-1800: Style In The Age Of Magnificence at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London from April 4 to July 19 explores how the Baroque style dominated art and architecture through the work of figures like sculptor Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini in Rome. www.vam.ac.uk/microsites/baroque/index.html

DENMARK

FILM: Copenhagen's new international film festival CPH:PIX, featuring 199 films including 12 officially selected to compete for the New Talent Grand Prix and 30 competing for the public's prize. April 16 to 26 in cinemas across Copenhagen. www.cphpix.dk



FINLAND

MUSIC: The 2009 Ourvision Song Contest, organised by The International Cultural Centre Caisa and based on the Eurovision Song Contest but solely for immigrants and foreigners living in Finland. April 25. www.ourvision.fi

FRANCE

ART: Titled 'Tag', the first global show of the urban art scrawled on world walls and trains over four decades brings together works by 150 street art legends at one of Paris' top museums, the Grand Palais, until April 26.
Toxic, Seen, Quik and Rammellzee, mythical heroes of New York's 1970s subway system graffiti scene, are among those in the show of aerosol art from around the planet. www.tagaugrandpalais.com

MUSIC: The Printemps de Bourges, the music festival held in the town of that name from April 21 to 26 brings together some of the best names on the current music scene -- American Ben Harper, Amadou & Mariam from Mali, Germany's Ayo, Anglo-Nigerian Keziah Jones and US musicians Andrew Bird and Bonnie Prince Billy. www.printemps-bourges.com

OPERA: The Lyon opera house, in partnership with Milan's Scala and the Vienna Festival presents from April 20 to May 2 a new production of Lulu by Alban Berg, staged by Germany's Peter Stein, one of the top names in European theatre. The work will be conducted by Japan's Kazushi Ono. www.opera-lyon.com

ART: The Pompidou Centre holds the first big show since 1984 on abstract artist Vassily Kandinsky, gathering the entirety of the Russian master's work through his life in Paris, Munich, Moscow and Berlin.
Alongside works from 1907 to 1942 are watercolours and manuscripts from his "Russia" period 1914-1917 and Bauhaus time in 1926. www.cnac-gp.fr/

GERMANY

ART: Some 180 galleries from Germany and abroad present modern classics, postwar art and contemporary art at the 43rd ART COLOGNE in the western Germany city from April 22-26. www.artcologne.com/startseite.php

ITALY

ART: Rome's Capitolini Museums mark the 550th anniversary of the death of Renaissance artist Fra Angelico with a major exhibition of the Dominican monk's works including paintings, altarpieces, miniatures and frescoes, some unveiled to the public for the first time. April 8 to July 5. www.museicapitolini.org

HISTORY: The Roman Coliseum fetes the 2,000th anniversary of the emperor Vespasian (9-79), founder of one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and Roman engineering. From March 27 to January 10, 2010, statues, archeological pieces and other memorabilia of the times. http://archeoroma.beniculturali.it/node/619

ART: A retrospective of the prolific Italian conceptual artist Alighiero Boetti (1940-1994), part of the Arte Povera movement of the late 1960s, at Naples' modern art museum, Museo Madre. Boetti is best known for his Mappa series of world maps in the form of tapestries embroidered by Afghan and Pakistani women. Until May 11. www.museomadre.it

NORWAY

MUSIC/HEAVY METAL: Oslo's Inferno Metal Festival, the biggest gathering of heavy metal rock bands in Norway has some 40 groups including Paradise Lost, Pestilence, Swallow the Sun, Septic Flesh, Execration and Unearthy Trance. April 8 to 11 at several concert venues across Oslo. www.infernofestival.net

EASTER/TRADITION: Sami Easter cultural festival in Kautokeino organised by the indigenous Sami people of Norway, featuring their traditional joik music, theatre performances and film screenings in a cinema made of ice. April 8 to 12. www.samieasterfestival.com

PORTUGAL

FILM: New edition of Portugal's indie film festival IndieLisboa this year pays homage to Germany's Werner Herzog and French actor Jacques Nolot, both attending the fest. From April 23 to May 3. www.indielisboa.com

FILM: With 40 films scheduled, Africa Screens is the first event held by the not-yet-opened African Contemporary Art Centre in Lisbon, due to be unveiled in 2012. From March 27 to May 17 the festival shows film across the continent and brings together players from the African film world. www.africacont.org

ROMANIA

FILM: Third edition of the international festival of short and medium length films NexT, created in memory of Romanian director Cristian Nemescu, who died at the age of 27 and won post-mortem a Un Certain Regard prize in Cannes. The festival has 25 competing films coming from 13 countries and also shows films awarded in similar competitions in three cities: Toronto, Montpellier and Tallin. April 1-5. http://nextproject.ro/en

MUSIC: Scottish rock legends Nazareth bring their The Neuz Tour to Bucharest. At the end of the performance, the guitars used during the concert will be given to the audience. April 26. www.nazarethdirect.co.uk

RUSSIA

THEATRE: The Golden Mask festival shows troupes competing for the country's top prize as well as plays from Belarus, Uzbekistan and Armenia. Runs until April 18. www.goldenmask.ru

BALLET: Bolshoi ballet star Svetlana Zakharova and young Italian choreographer Francesco Vetriglia stage a modernist ballet Zakharova Super Game on April 9 and 10 at the Bolshoi. www.bolshoi.ru

SWEDEN

PHOTOGRAPHY: A retrospective featuring the work of German photographer Andreas Gursky spans his entire oeuvre from his student days at Kunstakademie Duesseldorf to the present, including several works never before exhibited. Until May 3 at Stockholm's Museum of Modern Art. www.modernamuseet.se

POETRY/CHILDREN: Children's poetry festival, with musical theatre for the whole family. April 18 and 19 at Stockholm's Royal Dramatic Theatre. www.dramaten.se

SWITZERLAND

FILM: More than 150 documentaries from 35 countries at the Visions du reel festival in the town of Nyon covering everything from social problems to political questions to everyday life or investigative films. April 23 to 29. www.visionsdureel.ch/

AFP/Expatica