Culture beat: 11 December

Winter Wonders continues until 3 January - but there are plenty of smaller Christmas markets to enjoy in other neighbourhoods of Brussels. Saturday 12 December is the last day of the festivities at the Abbaye de Forest. The Finnish Church in Etterbeek has a Christmas market until Sunday. In Evère, the Square Hoedemaekers takes on a festive feel this weekend, with Russia the guest of honour. Woluwe-Saint-Lambert's Christmas market is on Place Dumon until 20 December, as is the Saint-Gilles Christmas crafts market at La Tricoterie, Rue Théodore Verhaegen 158. There's also a festive-themed edition of the Brussels vintage market on Sunday from 12.00 to 19.00 at the Halles Saint-Géry in downtown Brussels.

Today (Friday) is your last chance to catch the Mediterranean Cinema Festival at Botanique. The 15th edition of this annual event has seen about 70 movies projected in the past week, showcasing Mediterranean culture and life. Details of tonight's screenings can be found here. 

Also at Botanique, two collections of works by the Brussels photographer Marie-Francoise Plissart are shown for the first time until 31 January, from vast seascapes to urban photographs, including those of Brussels seen from the rooftops.

The National Orchestra of Belgium perform Sergey Prokofiev’s concertos, including Overture on Hebrew Themes and Romeo and Juliet, directed by Andrey Boreyko and featuring Julia Fischer on violin. Sunday 13 December 15.00 at Bozar.

The annual French-language political revue Sois Belge et Tais-Toi is back on stage in Brussels for an 18th season, taking a satirical look back at the past year of Belgian and European news, including a nod this year to the Greek crisis. It runs until 20 December at the Théâtre Saint-Michel in Etterbeek, Rue Père Eudore Devroye 2, before heading to Namur after Christmas. 

Hansel and Gretel is one of the best-loved folk tales archived by the Brothers Grimm in the 19th century. Everyone knows the story: The eponymous siblings are abandoned in the forest, abducted by a witch and manage to escape through cunning. German Romantic composer Engelbert Humperdinck brought the fairy tale to the stage with an 1893 opera that combined Central European folk song and sweeping orchestration inspired by Richard Wagner. This multimedia adaptation is the fruit of a collaboration between Bozar, De Munt and Chicago-based puppet theatre Manual Cinema. (In German with Dutch and French subtitles). 15-22 December at Bozar, Brussels

UK dance music legends Faithless play Palais 12 at Heysel on Saturday evening. When they played the Forest National in 2001, legend has it the vibrations were felt 3km away in the seismic laboratory at Uccle observatory.

Brussels International Singers have their Christmas Carol Concert on Saturday 12 December from 19.30 in the Royal Music Conservatory of Brussels, conducted by Philippe Lambert. The children's choir, the adult choir and the orchestra will number about 100 on stage. Rue de la Régence 30A, Brussels. Tickets €18 on the door, €10 for under-15s. Info: 0497.87.13.63.

If you dig blues and country music, Belgo Cowboys are playing La Cuve à Bière in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert on Saturday evening, from 21.00. The Brussels-based expat quartet consists of Marius Costea and Rahul Venkit on guitar and vocals, Enea Pista Guerra on percussion and drums and Derek Upton on bass.

Also on a musical note, the original rock-and-roll surrealist Frank Zappa has inspired countless musicians to freak out and explore the wackier, more theatrical side of pop music. Brussels-based guitarist Johan De Coninck is one of them. In 2006, he formed a Zappa tribute band and named it (in true Zappa style) Captain Cheese-Beard. As the group grew in numbers and confidence, they evolved into a vehicle for De Coninck’s own left-field compositions, all the while remaining faithful to the tradition. The Captain’s debut album, Symphony for Auto Horns, is out now. Expect plenty of musical precocity and lyrical non-sequiturs. Thursday 17 December, 21.00 at Soul Inn, Brussels.

Outside Brussels

To conclude an extraordinary year as 2015 European Capital of Culture, Mons is organising six parties in one night, at locations across the city this Saturday, 12 December - including four simultaneous fireworks displays at midnight. There is a late-night train back to Brussels, departing Mons at 00.45.

And the Wailers, the band made famous by the late Bob Marley in 1969, still know how to rock your reggae socks off with classics like “Lively Up Yourself” and “Trenchtown Rock”. Catch them on Saturday, 12 December 20.00, Het Depot, Martelarenplein 12, Leuven.