French Riviera Art events

Hotel Martinez, The Lights of Luxury and Glamor

The Hotel Martinez is celebrating its 90th birthday with sumptuous sound and light shows by artist Xavier de Richemont, plunging spectators into the history of a legend on La Croisette.

The Hotel Martinez, the mythical 5-star palace on La Croisette, is celebrating its 90th birthday this year. Driven by its new General Manager Yann Gillet, this luxury setting frequented by celebrities from all over the world bursted in colors on November 30, 2019 to enchant the pupils of young and old with the projection of a magnificent luminous and sonorous fresco illuminating its majestic facade and the Riviera night with a thousand phosphorescent fires. A daily show from November 31st to Thursday December 5th.

Yann Gillet, Directeur de l’Hotel Marinez ©YesICannes.com

A jewel in a luxury setting

The Hotel Martinez is one of the most famous monuments of the International Capital of Cinema. Situated at the entrance of La Croisette a few steps from the Big Blue and its private beach, it continues, after 90 years of existence, to make us dream and amaze with the immaculate beauty of its white facade. The parade of sports cars and the nearby prestigious boutiques make it a stopover for the anonymous epicureans who stroll on La Croisette.

Yann Gilet, David Lisnard, Maire de Cannes, Mark Hoplamazian, Président des Hôtels Hyatt ©YesICannes.com

The Martinez blows out its ninety candles

Emmanuel Martinez is the son of an Italian baron from Palermo who built his fortune and renown in luxury hotels, first in England, then in Nice and Paris. In Cannes, he was President of the Cannes Grand Hotels before buying on September 22, 1927, the Villa Marie-Thérèse from Alphonse de Bourbon and an adjoining land with breathtaking views over the bay of Cannes. This beautiful villa will become the largest hotel in the region, a seven-storey building overlooking La Croisette, with a facade of a hundred meters over the Mediterranean, which he entrusted the design to the Nice architect Charles Palmero.

The Martinez during the Roaring Twenties

The 1930s will mark the history of the Martinez with their joie de vivre, extravagant parties, pin-up competitions, parades of beautiful American automobiles and other Citroën or Delahaye cabriolets. After the Second World War, the hotel is placed under sequestration by the administration of Domains because Emmanuel Martinez is suspected of collaboration with the enemy. In 1979, it is transferred to the French state, which sold it to the Groupe Taittinger for 65 million francs. The establishment then becomes the property of the Société du Louvre and the American group Starwood Capital Group.

A jewel of the French Riviera hotel industry

In February 2013, the palace passes under the control of the Constellation Hotels Holdings, a Luxembourg-based management company controlled by Qatari capital. The American hotel chain Hyatt is then chosen as operator of the palace. The latter changed its name in April 2013 to that of Grand Hyatt Cannes Hotel Martinez, before recently coming back to its original name of Hotel Martinez. In 2018, the new operator wants to do things big. With the help of Pierre-Yves Rochon, the famous architect and decorator of the Four Seasons Megève, Le Pré Catelan, the Four Seasons George V, the Bristol bar in Paris or the Villa Clarisse on the island of Ré, the hotel regains its prestige and opens up a new future at the forefront of luxury hotels.

Art Deco scented with Mediterranean essences

The emblematic five-star of 73 Boulevard de la Croisette opens a new chapter in its history. After months of pharaonic work worth 150 million euros, the hotel offers a resplendent face with beauty. The new lobby impresses with its size, its light and the whiteness of its marble. A monumental retro chandelier catches the eye. In the background, the grand graphic staircase, where so many stars have paraded and posed, embodies the Art Deco style with period ironwork, mirrors and gilding. The reorganized outdoor area is populated with palms, olive trees and Mediterranean species.

A very starred gastronomy

On the first floor of the Hotel Martinez, on a balcony over the Croisette, the gastronomic restaurant La Palme d’Or, two Michelin stars, 4 toques and 18/20 at Gault&Millau, is now the only starred restaurant in the city of Cannes. It is an exceptional table where its Chef Christian Sinicropi delivers a sensitive, audacious and inventive cuisine. The innovative approach of the Chef through the Movements – the plates and earthenware as cases for his creations – underline his artistic and poetic vision of gastronomy, an original cuisine where all the essence of the Mediterranean is higlighted. The Jardin du Martinez, the new garden-terrace of the hotel signed by landscape architect Philippe Niez, offers lovers of Art de Vivre nice moments of relaxation with Mediterranean scents from lunch to dusk.

Spaces for wellness and leisure

The Hotel Martinez also offers exclusive services and leisure activities such as the Martinez Beach, private beach with seaside area, restaurant and bar. The L.Raphael Beauty Spa with 900 m2 of wellness area, a fitness room and sauna, a children’s club (summer season)… Its 15 modular rooms of more than 2500 m2 of total surface, welcome conferences, banquets, cocktails and other events.

Delights at the Martinez

Throughout this evening dedicated to the 90 years of the Hotel Martinez, the many guests were able to savor the delights concocted by the chef Nicolas Navarro and his brigade. On the menu: Vegetable wraps, green apple and curry condiment; Panna cotta of buternut, lemon jelly and marjoram pesto; pink shrimp powdered with Nori seaweed and turmeric; crispy lobster with tangy cocktail sauce; Bellevue salmon powdered with gold; Croque-Monsieur with truffle, mini cucumber sandwich; ricotta and marjoram, and herring caviar.

Feast for pupils and taste buds

On a background of musical atmosphere, the carpet of flavors continued to unfold with the filet of beef gaucho sauce, Cajun spices; Lamb and grilled aubergine brochette; chaud-froid of poultry with spice saté; Parmesan risotto; beef cheek pomme purée; truffle pizza… As for sweets, the guests were treated to a crunchy chocolate hazelnut from Piedmont; religieuse lime and yuzu or an exotic gluten-free verrine. All these tasty gastronomic creations have been accompanied by the bubbles of sparkling Champagne Taittinger.

The anniversary offers of Hotel Martinez

On the occasion of this exceptional end of the year, the festivities of 90 years began in November and will continue until the end of February 2020 with unprecedented birthdays offers. Among these, the Martinez offers ideas of menu, gifts, exceptional stays such as the night in a double room with breakfast at 90 € per person. At the Michelin-starred restaurant La Palme d’Or, an unprecedented gourmet experience orchestrated by chef Christian Sinicropi with an exceptional menu at € 90 per person. Available: a three-course meal Mouvement, a dessert, a glass of Champagne as an aperitif, wine and coffee (served only for lunch until December 28, 2019).

Xavier de Richemont’s art of image

Creator of the first Chartres Festival of Lights in 2002, the talented video painter and magician Xavier de Richemont has exported his art all over the world. A graduate from the School of Fine Arts in Aix en Provence, the artist discovered very early, through the theater, the art of image, painting and light. Alongside the famous American director, playwright, architect, set designer and lighting designer Bob Wilson at La Comédie Française, he will find his vocation in visual art. With these experiences, he organized in 1990 projections shows in Vendée. In 2010, he is invited by the Mexican government to commemorate the bicentennial of independence and the centenary of the Mexican revolution in seven emblematic cities of the country.

An international career

The artist, who also defines himself as a “video painter”, marks the opening of the great Mayan museum of Merida with Yuca’ma’yab, a film taking place in the heart of pre-Columbian civilization. In 2012, the artist flies to the United States and presents “San Antonio, The Saga” a 24-minute video created for the oldest Catholic cathedral in San Antonio Texas. In the wake, the Angevin artist multiplies interventions in Morocco in Marrakech for an order of King Mohammed VI. He then took part in multiple contemporary video art events in the United States, Canada and Germany.

Projection every night, continuously, from Sunday, November 31 to Thursday, December 5 from 18h to 22h.
Hôtel Martinez
73, boulevard de la Croisette
06400 Cannes
Tél : +33 (0)4 93 90 12 34

www.hyatt.com

Hotel Martinez, The Lights of Luxury and Glamor in pictures

Ensemble Baroque de Monaco at Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas

Ensemble Baroque de Monaco ©YesICannes.com

At the 29th edition of the Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas, the Ensemble Baroque de Monaco has marvelously performed Henry Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, a charming opera that has delighted the music lovers.

For 29 years, the Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas has been bringing together outstanding ensembles of performers exploring the vast repertoire of Baroque works, written from the Renaissance to the Classical period. For the 2019 edition, Françoise Barre, President of the Festival, took us into the world of Baroque opera, which privileges emotion, perception, inconstancy and paradox, for a festival of ancient music with ancient instruments. Henry Purcell‘s The Fairy Queen, performed by the Ensemble Baroque de Monaco, has thrilled the large audiences under the vaults of the church of Figanières.

A very theatrical show

Between sea and mountains, in the heart of the Var and Provence, the charming village of Callas offers the stones of its houses cascading to the light of the South, so much loved by poets and painters. For 29 years, in July, the village has been spreading its charms, its gastronomy and its privileged quality of life to enchant music lovers of the Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas (Festival of Ancient Music of Callas), presided over by Mrs. Françoise Barre, also Artistic Director.
The Church Saint-Michel de Figanières hosted on Sunday 21st July the 10 solo singers and 9 musicians from the Ensemble Baroque de Monaco under the direction of the conductor and counter tenor Matthieu Peyrègne who masterfully performed The Fairy Queen, a very theatrical show, full of emotions, humor and good humor, played by higly talented soloists.

Magic and wonder of Baroque opera

In Italy, end of the Renaissance: the Baroque period emerges. Princes and intellectuals are supporting the opera. This new genre privileges emotion, perception, inconstancy and paradox and sings the affects and aesthetics of ancient tragedy. The opera first drew its inspiration from Italian madrigals, but also from masquerades, court ballets, intermezzi, and other court performances mixing singing with several other arts. Baroque opera often combines tragic and comical aspects, even burlesque, involves magic and marvelous, multiplies the characters and musical genres.

The Fairy Queen by Henry Purcell

Written in 1692, The Fairy Queen was Purcell’s greatest success during his lifetime.The work is inspired by Shakespeare‘s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which has been cut from a part of the text, with “masks”, a name that describes musical interludes combining music, songs, ballets and grandiose scenography. With exquisite delicacy and inexhaustible inventiveness, The Fairy Queen is an ode to eternal love. A “so British” performance that has delighted many audiences by the verve, the touch of magic and joie de vivre he broadcast.
The Fairy Queen was played in five acts, starring the Fairy Queen, an important figure in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The Fairy Queen is Titania, she is upset by the jealousy of her husband, Oberon, the King of the Elves.

Act 1: the fairies and the drunken poet

Fleeing Oberon’s jealousy, Titania finds the fairies (sopranos) in the forest, dancing and singing for their queen. A drunk poet (bass) arrives, who sings: “Fill my bottle, let my bottle be full!” The fairies play with him, his drunkenness, drag him into a game of colin-maillart and pinch him until he undertakes to write a poem to the glory of the fairies. It will be a midsummer night’s dream…

Act 2: four spirits from heaven appear

In the moonlight, Titania comes into a clearing followed by fairies dancing as the birds sing. The choir sings: “Everyone has to sing for the Fairy Queen”. Then, change of atmosphere: four spirits from the sky appear in turn. First, the Night (soprano), then the Mystery (soprano), the Secret (counter-tenor) and finally the Sleep (bass). Everyone sings while Titania falls asleep. Good night Titania!

Act 3: the fairies sing love

While Titania is sleeping, the fairies sing about love: “Love is a sweet passion!” (soprano). In her sleep, Titania makes a crazy dream – the midsummer night’s dream – including a comic love scene between the shepherdess Mopsa (sung by a man: Matthieu Peyrègne) and the shepherd Corydon (bass). Both are frolicking in a most hilarious dream, which turns to madness, the madness of a summer night!

Act 4: the seasons celebrate reconciliation

Titania finally wakes up. She’s tired of crazy dreams and wants to return to her love for Oberon. Everyone will celebrate this reconciliation, especially the four seasons. Soprano: “This is the spring of goodness, let’s pay tribute to him!” Alto: “Here’s the summer, alert and happy, frisky, lively and beautiful!” Tenor: “This is autumn, look at all the colorful fields!” Low: “Finally comes winter, slow pale, lean and old.” But still the bringer of jollity…

Act 5: the characters of the fairy celebrate love

Everyone praises love. Juno is moved (soprano): “The lovers happy thrice times! O let me weep!” As we are in a fairy, the lament is followed by a burlesque dance of six monkeys!… All the characters of the dream wake up to dance. A women’s duo invokes Hymen, the god of marriage, who had fallen asleep during all this fantasy: “We will wake you, Hymen, appear!” Hymen wakes up (bass): “You see, I obey, I hate ephemeral loves that last only one night… What we need is eternal love!”

Henry Purcell, King’s official musician

Henry Purcell (London, 1659 – London, 1695) is an English composer from the 17th century who, in about 800 works, has addressed all genres. To the English tradition, his work incorporates the French and Italian innovative advances. Son of a court musician, he was the king’s official musician. Endowed with an early talent for writing, he was named in 1667 “composer of the King’s Violins”. Until his death he was organist of the Westminster Abbey Chapel and wrote ceremonial odes and anthems for royal events to the king’s service. He also composed secular and religious music and works for the theater. The Fairy Queen was the greatest success of the composer during his lifetime.

Baroque heritage of the Principality

The Ensemble Baroque de Monaco is place under the direction of the conductor and counter-tenor Matthieu Peyrègne. Faithful to the Baroque history of the Principality, in memory of Prince Antoine 1st of Monaco, who reigned at the beginning of the 18th century, the Ensemble is defending the most beautiful pages of music from the XVII-XVIIIth century repertoire. His repertoire strives to recreate forgotten or unknown works that, by the hundreds, abound in the landscape of Baroque music. All the instrumentalists play on period instruments, tuned to historical tuning forks. Finalist of the International Sacred Song Contest in Rome in 2014, Matthieu Peyrègne first trained as a violinist at the Nice C.N.R. Matthieu Peyrègne regularly performs as a soloist during recitals, in the company of artists with an international career (Huguette Grémy-Chaulliac, Jean-Louis Charbonnier, Hervé Lamy, Fabrice di Falco).

A first record praised by critics

Under the direction of Matthieu Peyrègne, the Ensemble Baroque de Monaco recorded its first CD, playing a work by Alessandro Scarlatti, The Assunzione della Beata Vergine. Named “CD event of the month of February 2019” by the specialized website www.classiquenews.com, the version of the Ensemble of the Assunzione della Beata Vergine was honored with “five diapasons” by Diapason, the French monthly magazine of Information and Music Critic.

www.callas-festival.com

www.ensemblebaroquedemonaco.com

The Ensemble Baroque de Monaco at Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas in pictures

Baroque Opera Origins at Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas

From the 18th to the 25th of July 2019, the Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas has happily plunged music lovers back into the origins of the Baroque opera through superb works performed by prestigious ensembles.

For 29 years, the Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas has been bringing together outstanding ensembles of performers exploring the vast repertoire of Baroque works, written from the Renaissance to the Classical period. For the 2019 edition, Françoise Barre, President of the Festival, has taken us in the world of Baroque opera, which privileges emotion, perception, inconstancy and paradox, for a festival of ancient music with ancient instruments. Interpreted by prestigious high-quality ensembles, the Baroque opera has thrilled the public under the vaults of the churches of Callas and that of the surrounding villages of Figanières and Claviers.

Daniel Maria, Maire de Callas & Françoise Barre ©YesICannes.com

Diversity and quality of works

Between sea and mountains, in the heart of the Var and Provence, the charming village of Callas offers the stones of its houses cascading in the light of the South, so much loved by poets and painters. For 29 years, in July, the village has been spreading its charms, gastronomy and privileged quality of life to enchant the music lovers of the Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas (Festival of Ancient Music of Callas), presided over by Mrs. Françoise Barre, also Artistic Director.
By the diversity and quality of the selected shows, the Festival fills the churches at all concerts and the public once again congratulated Françoise Barre and her team for her artistic choices.
The works have been performed at the Church of Notre Dame de l’Assomption of Callas but also in the churches of the surrounding villages, the Church of Saint-Michel de Figanières and the Church of St. Sylvestre of Claviers.

Ancient music and provençal conviviality

Places of worship, the churches of the Dracénie become places of culture, where oratorios and music, profane or sacred, explore a vast repertoire of Baroque works, written from the Renaissance to the classical period, under the Gothic vaults where music and songs are enchanting without microphone, sometimes with baroque and period instruments, in the very conditions of their creation in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
The ancient music joins the traditions of conviviality of Provence during intermissions, where the music lovers likes to refresh themselves and exchange musical impressions and emotions while tasting a delicious Rosé from the local terroir of Provence, a white wine or a glass of Champagne.

Claudio Monteverd i- Il Canto Alla Viola Da Gamba ©YesICannes.com

Magic and wonder of Baroque opera

In Italy, end of the Renaissance: the Baroque period emerges. To meet the needs of the Church, this gives birth to the oratorio, a voice singing a text, accompanied by one or more instruments. But princes and intellectuals support a new genre: the opera, which privileges emotion, perception, inconstancy and paradox and sings the affects and aesthetics of ancient tragedy. The opera first drew its inspiration from Italian madrigals, but also from masquerades, court ballets, intermezzi, and other court performances mixing singing with several other arts. Baroque opera often combines tragic and comical aspects, even burlesque, involveing magic and marvelous, multiplying the characters and musical genres.

Théo Imart & l’Ensemble Unisoni ©YesICannes.com

Radiant Venice by Antonio Vivaldi

On the opening of the Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas, on Thursday 18 July in the N.-D. de l’Assomption de Callas, the program took us to Antonio Vivaldi‘s Radiant Venice. The astonishing and extraordinary voice of Théo Imart, sopranist and counter-tenor, a promising young singer, accompanied by the Unisoni Ensemble, gave life and emotions to opera arias for alto voice, the time’s fetish voice. There followed an opening and concerto grosso for strings and continuo, another style that Vivaldi mastered perfectly. Then, in the second part, Theo Imart and the Ensemble Unisoni performed the famous Nisi Dominus, a sacred work that could be a small one-voice oratorio.

The Fairy Queen by Henry Purcell

The Saint-Michel Church in Figanières hosted on Sunday 21st July the 10 solo singers and 9 musicians of the Monaco Baroque Ensemble under the direction of the conductor and countertenor Matthieu Peyrègne for a very theatrical show, full of emotions, humor and joy, played by soloists of great talent. See here our report on the Fairy Queen by the Ensemble Baroque de Monaco.
Written in 1692, The Fairy Queen was Purcell’s greatest success during his lifetime. The work combines Shakespeare‘s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with some of the text removed, with masks, a name used to describe musical interludes combining music, songs, ballets and grandiose scenography. The musical component of Purcell is exquisitely delicate and inexhaustible inventiveness. A “so British” show that has delighted the audience with its verve, the touch of magic and the good mood it was spreading.

Il Canto Alla Viola Da Gamba by Claudio Monteverdi

On Tuesday, July 23, the Church of St. Sylvester of Claviers hosted Il Canto Alla Viola Da Gamba by Claudio Monteverdi, the father of the opera. The show, performed by the Ensemble Comet Musicke of 4 musicians including 2 singers, celebrated the alliance of opera with heritage, musical art with the architectural art of the place, served by talented musicians, in turn reciters and singers, expressing themselves by occupying all the space of the church, in the middle of the enchanted public. The musiciens illustrated Claudio Monteverdi’s life with the works he wrote at the times.
Young prodigy from Cremona, Claudio Monteverdi, Marco Antonio Ingegneri’s pupil, publishes his first collection of sacred pieces at only fifteen years old. He then traveled to Italy to develop his career as an instrumentalist and composer. In Florence, he hears the first opera essays that will inspire him for his famous Orfeo.

Compagnie Baroques Graffiti ©YesICannes.com

Eros, Heroes and Heroines – Excerpts from Haendel, Cavalli, Gluck operas

Back to the Church of Notre Dame de l’Assomption in Callas on Thursday, July 25 for the closing show: Eros, Heroes and Heroines – Excerpts from Haendel, Cavalli, Gluck operas, by the company Baroques Graffiti composed of the Soprano Muriel Tomao and counter-tenor Alain Aubin, accompanied by the famous harpsichordist Jean-Paul Serra and Anne-Sophie Moret on Baroque cello. The Baroque era marks the return of the myths of Antiquity with their heroes experiencing the vicissitudes and torments of life. Loves are often frustrated, if not impossible, especially when divinities succumb to the charms of human beings or vice versa. Music echoes these forbidden desires, sensually describing passions and affects.

Callas, a gourmet stopover on the Gorges du Verdon road

Perched between sea and mountain on the hills of Provence, surrounded by a terroir dedicated to the vine and olive, Callas is a gourmet stopover on the way to the Gorges du Verdon. In addition to the Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas, the village is famous for the Hostellerie des Gorges de Pennafort and its Michelin-starred chef Philippe Da Silva, a haven of peace and gastronomy in an exceptional landscape overlooked by the Pennafort Chapel, place of an annual pilgrimage. In addition to a quality restaurant, gastronomy and lifestyle are well represented in the village: the Moulin de Callas press a renowned virgin olive oil, Gold Medal in Paris. Gold Medal also for “à l’ancienne” Vinegar with the Cru Confidentiel of Vinaigrerie du Clos Saint Antoine, that will soon showcase its nectars in a restored chapel of the XIIth century. Finally, just as famous, the wines of the Bastide du Plan, also Gold Medal, sublimate the dishes for the gastronomes of the region.

Nathalie Perez-Leroux, Conseillère Départementale du Var, Françoise Barre & Daniel Maria ©YesICannes.com

High final with a Pièce montée by Clotilde Pâtisserie

The closing show was followed by a tasting of Rosé wines from the local terroir as well as delicious pies and a Pièce montée, creations of Clotilde Pâtisserie, a palace of sweets where Pastry Chef Clotilde Lebec is sharing her passion for 100% home made gourmand delights (and breads) on the Callas market.

www.callas-festival.com

The Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas in pictures

Françoise Barre & Gérald Pierrugues, Maire de Claviers

Françoise Barre et son équipe saluent le public du Festival

Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas, A Baroque World

From July 17 to 24, 2018, the Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas took music lovers on the paths of the world of ancient music through superb works performed by prestigious ensembles.

The Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas – 28th edition – chaired by Françoise Barre, invited the music lovers to travel the world via a magnificent program taking us to Cuba, Armenia, Ireland, Israel to New York, to return in the courts of Europe with oriental accents. Mix of cultures and musical crossbreeds for a Festival of Old Music played on period instruments. Musicians from prestigious international ensembles have thrilled the public under the vaults of the churches of Callas and the surrounding villages of Montferrat and Châteaudouble.

Françoise Barre et Daniel Maria, maire de Callas

Diversity, quality and requirement

Between sea and mountains, in the heart of the Var and Provence, the charming village of Callas offers its cascading houses in the light of the Midi, loved by the poets and painters. For 28 years, the village has been delivering in July its charms, its gastronomy and its privileged quality of life to the music lovers of the Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas, chaired by Mrs Françoise Barre, also Artistic Director. Through the diversity, quality and requirement of the selected concerts, the Festival fills up the churches at all concerts and the public once again congratulated Françoise Barre and her team for their artistic choices.
The works were performed at the Church of Notre Dame de l’Assomption in Callas but also in the churches of the surrounding villages, this year in the Church N. D. de L’Annonciation of Châteaudouble and the cultural center of Montferrat.

Old music and provencal conviviality

Places of worship, the churches of Dracénie become places of culture, where the oratorios and the music, profane or sacred, explore a vast repertoire of baroque works, written from the Renaissance to the classical period, under the Gothic vaults where music and songs enchant without microphone, with baroque period instruments, in the very conditions of their creation in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
The old music joins the traditions of conviviality of Provence during intermissions, where the public likes to cool off and to exchange impressions and musical emotions while tasting a delicious Rosé from the local terroir or a glass of Champagne.

Fiesta Cubana – Fuoco and Cenere

Opening of the Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas, on Sunday 17 July in the Church N.-D. de l’Assomption of Callas, the program reflected the sweetness and tenderness of the Christmas holidays, in a charming mix of old and new, specific to the colonies where the works of different eras and origins influence each other naturally. The ancient Cuba resonated in a rarely heard, joyous and solar repertoire, inspired by the sounds brought by the conquistadors, Italian music in vogue all over Europe and French music, coming from the nearby Hispaniola. The place of honor in this concert was held by Esteban Salas (1725-1803), first Cuban composer whose work was available to us.

On Thursday, July 19, the voices of martyred Armenia resonated in the Church N.-D. de l’Assomption of Callas. The year 2015 marked the centenary of the Armenian genocide. To commemorate this painful event, Canticum Novum has decided to create an original program, which is highlighting an intercultural dialogue between France and Armenia. This close relationship was established long ago, as early as 1252, when Leo II of Lusignan, from a great French noble family, was named King of Cyprus, Jerusalem and Armenia. Canticum Novum is now reviving this dialogue established in the court of the King of Armenia in the thirteenth century, through French and Armenian works which, in their own way, speak to us of peace and respect for others, and allow the horizon to widen…

The High Road To Kilkenny – Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien

On Friday, July 20, Mr. Raymond Gras, Mayor of Montferrat, welcomed the music lovers of the Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas at the cultural center of Montferrat for the very original concert of the Musicians of Saint-Julien in a repertoire of Irish music that, embodied in a language, dances and emblematic instruments, is also bearing the imprint of an island poetry and a turbulent history, which has shown in this jubilant and bewitching program of great Irish names from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, enlivend by dances. Lullabies, bard songs and hymns to nature tell and dance love, infidelity, seasons but also occupation and exile, brilliantly interpreted by the Musicians of Saint-Julien with period instruments.

Le Juif Errant Musicien De Jérusalem à New York, Aller Simple – La Simphonie du Marais

The Wandering Jew Musician from Jerusalem to New York, One Way – La Simphonie du Marais

The Church N. D. de L’Annonciation of Châteaudouble hosted on Tuesday, July 23rd a musical course of the Wandering Jew, ranging from the biblical incantations of the year 33 to the Klezmer dances through a crowd of composers – Jewish or not – but all inspired by Jewish music or by great characters of Jewish history. Mixing music, poetry, humor and hope, the unusual and curious program, far beyond the borders of the Baroque, proposed a Way of the Cross in 14 stations, a musical diaspora in 7 chapters or sequences, reflecting some 2,000 years of a people in motion. Served by three itinerant musicians, polyinstrumentalists and singers, the legend of the Wandering Jew has mingled with the story of a Mantuan melody that has passed through the centuries to finally become the hymn of Israel.

Orientalism at the Court – Hesperis

Return to the Church Notre Dame de l’Assomption of Callas for the closing concert on Tuesday, July 24th, where the Hesperis ensemble celebrated a Baroque music truly born from the “Concert of the Nations”, this fusion of European musical styles in the XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries, especially in Venice, where exoticism was fashionable, and the taste for the East a phenomenon of society. Composers such as Purcell, Handel, Marais, Campra, Lully and Rameau were inspired by this dreamlike creation to create sumptuous lyrical performances rivaling with sound and visual effects where music, song, dance, sets and machinery played a vital role. The East is everywhere at the heart of the plot…

Callas, a step towards the Gorges du Verdon

A few kilometers from the Muy, surrounded by a terroir dedicated to the vine, Callas is a first charming stage on the way to the Gorges du Verdon. The village owes its notoriety to the famous Hostellerie des Gorges de Pennafort and its starred chef Philippe Da Silva, a haven of peace and gastronomy overlooked by the Chapel of Pennafort, the place of an annual pilgrimage in an exceptional landscape. Besides its quality restaurants, gastronomy and lifestyle are also well represented in the village: the Moulin de Callas is pressing a renowned virgin olive oil, Gold Medal in Paris. Gold Medal also for the Balsam and Trois Bois Vinegar from the Clos Saint Antoine vinegar factory. Finally, just as famous, the wines from the Bastide du Plan, Gold Medal also, are sublimating the dishes of the gastronomes of the region.

The closing show was followed by a tasting of local Rosé wines as well as delicious pies and strawberrycake, creations by Clothilde Pâtisserie, where Clotilde Lebec is sharing her passion for sweet treats Rue Saint Eloi in Callas.

www.callas-festival.com

The 2018 Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas in pictures

Musique Cordiale and Monteverdi Vespers in Callas

Le Chœur et Orchestre du Festival de Musique Cordiale à Callas

The Musique Cordiale International Festival made a stopover in Callas with Monteverdi Vespers magnified by international soloists and a choir of fifty singers.

In partnership with the Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas, the Musique Cordiale International Festival & Academy gave on August 10, 2017, a concert in the Church Notre Dame de l’Assomption in Callas (Var) with internationally renowned singers, accompanied by a dozen musicians and a choir of fifty singers. Under the direction of Graham Ross, this outstanding collection of talents let vibrate the sacred music of Monteverdi Vespers, as a culmination to the theme of this year’s Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas: the Italian baroque music.

A community passionate about music

For 13 years, the Musique Cordiale International Festival & Academy has been reaching out on the villages of Pays de Fayence and Dracénie from the village of Seillans where it was founded by Pippa Pawlik and Jonathan Barker, both lovers of music and Provence. The Festival offers high-level concerts featuring internationally renowned singers and musicians, talented, experienced amateurs and ambitious students, who attend the Festival’s summer academy to learn from great masters. At Seillans, the stars of classical music, villagers and music lovers get together into a community passionate about music under the starry vault of heaven and those of the chapels from the perched villages of Pays de Fayence, enjoying music, the sweetness of summer and Provençal conviviality in idyllic landscapes.

Music and pleasures of Provence

The 13th edition of the Musique Cordiale International Festival has proposed from 29 July to 12 August 2017 about twenty concerts, meetings around music and art, and also the pleasures of Provence: its wines and its gastronomy. On August 10, 2017, the charming village of Callas played host to the choir of fifty singers, the orchestra and soloists of the Festival de Musique Cordiale for an exceptional concert given in a packed church.
The Marian Vespers of 1610 are the first work of sacred music published by Claudio Monteverdi, whose work marks the transition between Renaissance and Baroque music.
Under the direction of Graham Ross, the public heard interpreters Dima Bawab (soprano), Pauline Sikirdji and Isabel Pfefferkorn (mezzo-soprano), Constantin Zimmermann (high contre), Michael Mogl, Julian Gregory, Aidan Coburn (tenors), Adam Green (baritone), accompanied by the Choir and Orchestra of the Musique Cordiale Festival.

Solistes et chœur sous la direction de Graham Ross

Graham Ross, inspired conductor

Graham Ross is a music director and lecturer at Clare College in Cambridge and first conductor of the Dmitri Ensemble, with whom he is performing worldwide. He has published many records that have earned him critical acclaim. He is a frequent guest conductor of key formations like the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Aurora Orchestra, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Aalborg Symphony Orchestra and the London Mozart Players.
The orchestra of the Festival is a multi-generational ensemble made up of professionals from all over Europe and from international orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the Age of Enlightenment Orchestra, the Zürich Tonhalle Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, plus students from the most prestigious music conservatories.

Encouraging cultural exchange in Europe

The Musique Cordiale International Festival & Academy is a unique festival in the South of France that is promoting cultural exchange in Europe and throughout the world for the promotion of the study and interpretation of music and singing. The Festival offers a summer academy for students who have the opportunity to perform alongside the professional musicians invited for concerts in the chapels of the hilltop villages of Pays de Fayence and Dracénie.
With a concert every nigh, free lunchtime concerts and recitals in churches or open airchapels and, some twenty concerts are scheduled, including important works for choir and orchestra and chamber ensembles.
One of the main cultural events of the Var, the Festival Musique de Cordiale encourages a cordial pan-European understanding between musicians and music lovers, whether residents or tourists.

www.musique-cordiale.com

Musique Cordiale International Festival and Monteverdi Vespers in Callas in pictures

Love and Nature at Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas

Concert d’anges par Gaudenzio Ferrari, élève de Léonard de Vinci

From 16 to 25 July 2017, the Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas celebrated Italian baroque music, explored by outstanding ensembles of musicians.

The Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas (Callas Festival of Ancient Music) has been presenting remarkable works of baroque music for 27 years, brilliantly performed by international highly talented ensembles. From July 16 to 25, the 2017 edition invited the music lovers to immerse in the theme of Italy, with magnificent works by Pergolese, Vivaldi and Monteverdi, which made the numerous public vibrate under the sacred vaults of the churches in Callas and the surrounding villages of Claviers, Bargemon and Figanières.

Françoise Barre et Daniel Maria, Maire de Callas autour de Franck-Emmanuel Comte du Concert de l’Hostel Dieu

Diversity and quality requirement

In the heart of the Var and Provence, between the sea and the mountains, the charming village of Callas offers its cascading houses in the sun of the Midi, so popular with poets and painters. For 27 years, in July, the village has been providing its charms, its gastronomy and its privileged quality of life to music lovers of the Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas, chaired by Mrs. Françoise Barre, also Artistic Director. Upholding diversity and quality requirement, the Festival sells out all the concerts in churches and the public again congratulated Françoise Barre and her team for their artistic choices.
The works have been performed at the Church of Notre Dame de l’Assomption in Callas but also in the churches of the surrounding villages, this year in the Church Saint Sylvestre of Claviers, in the Church Saint Etienne in Bargemon and in the Church Saint Michel in Figanières.

Ancient music and Provençal conviviality

Places of worship, the churches of Dracénie become places of culture, where oratorios and music, profane or sacred, celebrate Love and Nature under the gothic vaults where music and songs enchant without microphone, sometimes with baroque and period instruments, under the very conditions of their creation in the XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries.
The ancient music joins the traditions of Provençal conviviality during the intervals, during which the public likes to refresh and to exchange musical impressions and emotions by tasting a fresh and delicious Rosé or a cup of Champagne.

Le contre-ténor Maximin Marchand et la soprano Lucille Pessey – ensemble Parnassie du Marais

The whole range of human emotions

Baroque music, whose aesthetics and inspiration succeeded those of the Renaissance and preceded those of Classicism, goes through the whole spectrum of human emotions. Stiring the passions of the soul is the aim of Baroque music, the era of which begins in Italy with the works by Claudio Monteverdi and ends with the contemporaries of J.S. Bach and Handel. Through two major themes – the very essence of baroque music according to Matthieu Peyrègne: the passion of love and the blossoming of nature, composers express an effusion of feelings as colorful as flowers in Nature by the importance of ornaments and the expressiveness of the orchestra. Through the exaltation of the senses, the authors invite us to seek the right balance between the poles of the human soul: the sublime and the tender opposite to the hideous and vile.

Le Concert de l’Hostel Dieu, dirigé par Franck-Emmanuel Comte

Jean Baptiste Pergolèse – Another Stabat Mater

At the opening of the Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas, Sunday July, 16 in the Church N.-D. de l’Assomption of Callas, the ensemble Le Concert de l’Hostel Dieu, conducted by Franck-Emmanuel Comte, interpreted Another Stabat Mater, orchestrated for 5 soloists and 7instrumentalists after an unpublished manuscript kept in Lyon in the old fund of the Lyon Municipal Library. Heather Newhouse – soprano, Majdouline Zerari – mezzo-soprano, Hugo Peraldo – tenor, Romain Bockler – baritone, Guillaume Olry – bass, were accompanied by Reynier Guerrero – first violin, Gabriel Ferry – violin, Cécile Désier – viola, Benoît Morel – cello, Pierre Bats – bassoon and Étienne Galletier – theorbo. Some Neapolitan polyphonies and Tarentelles, heard during the Holy Week of Naples, enriched with a note of gaiety the fervor of this original Stabat Mater Dolorosa.

Another Stabat Mater at Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas in pictures

Florilège for Castrats

On Wednesday, July 19, the angelic voices of Matthieu Peyrègne (high counter) and Gabriel Jublin (counter tenor), accompanied by five soloists from the Ensemble Baroque de Monaco, reverberated under the sacred vaults of the Church of Saint Sylvestre in Claviers. Both in duet and solo, the two singers have interpreted the most beautiful arias from the fascinating world of the castrati with Florilège pour Castrats (Anthology for Castrati), taking the public to a musical tour around Europe, from Monteverdi and Scarlatti‘s Italy to Purcell and Handel‘s England.
The castrati found their origins in the harems of the Ottoman Empire: the Vatican having banished the voices of women from the theaters of the first baroque, Rome had noticed the sharp register of the enuques’ voices. Castration preventing a teen’s voice changes, the male voices remained high, halfway between that of child and woman. The voice of the famous Farinelli (1705-1782) spanned three octaves. Fortunately, nowadays, the high counter and counter tenor voices are worked and shaped by adult men.

Florilège for Castrats at Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas in pictures

Françoise Barre et Gérald Pierrugues, Maire de Claviers

Orchestre Les Passions, dirigé par Jean Marc Andrieu

Folies and Vivaldi

On Friday July 27, in the Church Saint-Etienne of Bargemon, the Orchestre Les Passions – under the direction of its creator, the famous flutist Jean-Marc Andrieu – gave various illuminations on the celebrity theme of La Follia with 8 musicians. Jean-Marc Andrieu proposed a sort of synthesis of four versions of La Follia, through the works of four composers who were inspired by it: Arcangelo Corelli, Francisco Geminiani, Carl-Philipp-Emanuel Bach (12 Variations über die Folie from Spain, for harpsichord alone) and Antonio Vivaldi. Originally, “La Follia” is a dance characterized by a rhythm of sarabande, a sort of choreographic rite linked to fertility: the dancers were carrying men dressed as women on their shoulders. at the end of the 15th century, it spread to almost all European countries and many musicians developed or varied it.
With Flavio Losco and Nirina Beloto, violins, Liv Heym, viola, Étienne Mangot, cello, Mathieu Serrano, bass, Ronaldo Correia de Lima Lopes, theorbo and Yasuko Uyama-Bouvard, harpsichord.

Folies and Vivaldi at Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas in pictures

Ensemble Les Zippoventilés, dirigé par Benoit Dumon

Magnificat and Gloria and The Summer of the Four Seasons – Vivaldi

The Church Saint-Michel in Figanières hosted the Ensemble Les Zippoventilés on Sunday, July 23, directed by Benoit Dumon, that performed two magnificent major works by Vivaldi: Gloria and Magnificat. The soprano Lisa Magrini and two vocal soloists, a tenor and Benoit Dumon, alto, were accompanied by a choir of 12 singers and an instrumental ensemble of instruments 7 with Flavio Losco, first violin and Étienne Mangot, cello.
The Magnificat, called the Song of Mary, is a homage to the Virgin, a song from the Gospel of Luke. The Gloria was originally a Christian song of praise intoned at the beginning of the mass after the Kyrie. This famous and popular composition was conceived by the master when he was practicing at the Pietà in Venice.
Before the intermission, four virtuosos, Flavio Losco, 1st violin, Philippe Tallis, second violin, Sophie de Badonneche, viola, and Étienne Mangot, cello, brilliantly interpreted The Summer from the Four Seasons, a superb concerto in three movements.

Magnificat and Gloria at Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas in pictures

Bernard Chilini, Maire de Figanières, Dominique Chabert, curé de Figanières et Françoise Barre

L’Ensemble Parnassie du Marais, dirigé par Brigitte Tramier

Venice Gate of the Orient

For the closing concert, Wednesday 25 July in the Church N.-D. Of the Assumption of Callas, the harpsichordist Brigitte Tramier and her ensemble Parnassie du Marais, had reserved for the Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas the creation of their new original, fresh and very pleasant show: Venice Gate of the East. This enchanting spectacle plunged the public into the festive atmosphere of the Baroque Venice, for a musical stopover on the Silk Road.
The soprano Lucille Pessey and the counter-tenor Maximin Marchand, accompanied by the virtuoso Brigitte Tramier on harpsichord, Pascal Gallon at the lute, baroque guitar and theorbo – and flute – and Mathias Autexier on the various traditional percussions, explored the many riches of the 17th century Venice, a crossroads of European and Eastern cultures, where the musical currents intersect in an original polyphony: Sefarad chants and aria of Monteverdi Opera, traditional dances and streets serenades.

Venice Gate of the Orient at Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas in pictures

Callas, a step towards the Gorges du Verdon

A few kilometers from the Muy, surrounded by a terroir dedicated to the vine, Callas is a first stage of charm on the way to the Gorges du Verdon. The village owes its notoriety to the famous Hostellerie des Gorges de Pennafort and its starred chef Philippe Da Silva, a haven of peace and gastronomy overlooked by the Pennafort Chapel, where an annual pilgrimage takes palce in an outstanding landscape. In addition to its quality restaurants, gastronomy and lifestyle are also well represented in the village: the Moulin de Callas presses a famous AOC virgin Olive Oil, Gold Medal in Paris. Gold Medals also for the Balsam and Trois Bois old vintage vinegars from the Vinaigrerie du Clos Saint Antoine. Finally, equally famous, the wine of the Bastide du Plan, also Gold Medal of, sublimates the dishes of the gastronomes in the region.

www.callas-festival.com

Château Sainte Roseline, Etienne Viard Between Shadow and Light

Château Sainte Roseline, in association with the InsidOut Gallery, is presenting the monumental and undulating works of sculptor Etienne Viard, evoking Nature.

Château Sainte Roseline in Arcs-sur-Argens (Var), thirty minutes from Saint Tropez, Cannes and the Gorges du Verdon, has made of Art one of the pillars of its image. For its summer exhibition, Aurélie Bertin, owner of the domain, hosts the monumental, powerful and undulating works of the sculptor Étienne Viard.

Walking between vines and sculptures

Art lovers can discover the long curves of rusty steel by the sculptor Etienne Viard, at the time of their walk in the vineyards, in the gardens of the Château Sainte Roseline, the cellar of the estate or in the cloister, the time of a summer exhibition. Each visitor can, according to their imagination, interpret the illusory and sculptural forms of the works in a different way. These monumental sculptures dotting different places of the domain are the most representative of the work of the artist and come to replace that of Benoît Lemercier.

Between shadow and light

The sculptor Etienne Viard lives and works in the Vaucluse. A self-taught artist, he began his career working on ceramics. He discovers the Corten steel, and fell in love with this steel with forced surface corrosion, used for its appearance and resistance to atmospheric conditions. From then on, the artist devoted himself entirely to this monumental art inspired by nature. During his walks, he captures tiny sensations in the vegetable or mineral world, which he then seeks to retranscribe in his artistic creations: aquatic undulations, movements of rain, geological strata. Defined as a steel sculptor, Etienne Viard tames with energy and rigor this powerful and rigid material that presents itself in bar or in thick sheets. Each work, whether monumental or modest, is the subject of a reflection on drawing, cutting or model. Then the artist carves, shapes and bends each piece, giving it flexibility and poetry.

The exhibited works

The strong and supple lines of its sculptures, drawn up horizontally or in sinuous curves, their openings towards the light, give the impression of escaping and rising towards an infinite space. Etienne Viard’s work is expressed in a minimal affirmation, that, without being ascetic, always allows him to accede to an ingenious simplicity.
The exhibition at Château Sainte Roseline is made up of six abstract works in steel in the image of plants inhabiting the nature of the park, against the vineyards of the estate. The monumental pieces of steel are named: 6 Lames horizontales, Carte en Noir, 4 Lames verticales, Ayin, 6 lames verticales, Carte, Croisée, Végétal, Oblique, Tempora and Ombre.

An internationally renowned artist

Etienne Viard has been represented for over ten years by the Galerie Berthet-Aittouares in Paris and since 2012 and by Galerie Pascal Lainé in Ménerbes. His works are world-wide acclaimed: in 2000, the artist exhibited at Galerie Modus in Berlin, in 2003 at the Cité Radieuse, Le Corbusier in Marseille and Espace Gaillane in Avignon.
In 2004 and 2005, he exhibited at the Avant Garden Gallery in New York and in 2007 at the Galerie Berthet Aittouarès in Paris. In 2009, the artist moved to Place Saint-Sulpice in Paris. In 2010, he presented his exhibition Le Thor, Monumental Sculptures, at the Fondation Pierre Salinger. In 2011 his monumental sculptures dialogue with the paintings of Jean Degottex, at Art Paris and the Galerie Berthet-Aittouares. In 2015, he is at BRAFA, with the Berthet-Aittouarès gallery in Brussels.
His works are also part of public and private collections such as those of the Conseil Général de Dordogne, Manoir de Soisay, Société d’aménagement urbain SADEV 94, Association Honoré 91, Paris, Letcher & Schoenfeld, New York, E. & J.J Queyranne, Thomas Pheasant, Washington, Université Jean Moulin, Lyon 3, Collection temporaire, Orangerie du Sénat, Paris.

A journey between History and Contemporary Art

The Château Sainte Roseline is one of the richest historical sites in Provence. Its chapel houses the mummified body of Sainte Roseline, the daughter of the lord of the Arcs, the Marquis of Villeneuve. Roseline helped the poor, an aid that brought her the Miracle of the Roses. She died in 1329. Following her sanctification, the abbey took the name of Saint Roseline, whose 19th century reliquary stands in the chapel between a baroque altarpiece by the Bréa brothers, stained glass by Jean Bazaine and Raoul Ubac, a mosaic signed Marc Chagall and a bas-relief by Diego Giacometti. The Château Sainte Roseline has built its notoriety in the culture thanks to its acquisitions and sculptural exhibitions. Indeed, the domain has for years maintained a special and strong bond with contemporary art. More than a passion, it is a real art of living for its owner Aurélie Bertin.

Château Sainte Roseline, a pioneer in wine tourism

One of the pioneers of wine tourism with its visits around its prestigious AOP Côtes de Provence wines, walks in the vineyards, in the gardens or in the cellar, the domaine has been hosting for some 15 years many cultural events of international quality such as the Salon des Plantes et des Roses, the Journée des Vendanges and the Gloriana Classical Music Festival (Tuesday August 8, 2017 – 6.30 pm). These events offer an exceptional moment of sharing in an exceptional place, while taking advantage of the richness of the Provençal heritage that makes its DNA.

Exhibition Etienne Viard
From June 30 to September 30, 2017
Free access

Château Sainte Roseline
1854 Route de Sainte-Roseline
83460 Les Arcs
Tel: +33 (0)4 94 99 50 30

www.sainte-roseline.com

Étienne Viard at Château Sainte Roseline in pictures

Italian Music at Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas

The Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas will present from July 16 to 25, 2017, superb works of baroque Italian music interpreted by prestigious ensembles.

The Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas in the Var (Callas Ancient Music Festival) has been bringing together for 27 years remarkable ensembles of interpreters exploring the vast repertoires of baroque works, written from the Renaissance to the “classical” period. Françoise Barre, President of the Festival, presents this year again a gorgeous program for the 2017 edition: Pergolese and Vivaldi in the spotlight, the most beautiful arias for Castrats, oriental influences with a Baroque Venice, splendid works such as the Gloria and Magnificat…

Program of the Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas

Concert de Hostel-Dieu en 2016 ©YesICannes.com

Sunday July 16: Another Stabat Mater – Pergolese, by the Concert de Hostel-Dieu
Chuch N.-D. de l’Assomption of Callas at 6 pm
The ensemble will perform Pergolese‘s Another Stabat Mater, re-orchestrated for 5 soloists and 7 instrumentalists, based on an unpublished manuscript preserved in Lyon, with traditional Neapolitan polyphonies and tarantellas.

Composed of singers and instrumentalists specialized in the interpretation of the 18th century vocal repertoire, the Concert de Hostel-Dieu comes back to Callas under the direction of Franck-Emmanuel Comte.

Wednesday, July 19: Florilèges for Castrats – Baroque Ensemble of Monaco
Church Saint-Sylvestre of Claviers at 9 pm
Florilèges for Castrats by the Baroque Ensemble of Monaco, who will perform in duet and solo the most beautiful tunes from the fascinating world of the castrats with 2 solo singers and 5 instruments.

Faithful to the Baroque history of the Principality, the formation defends the most beautiful pages of the XVII-XVIIIth century repertoire, and recreates works from European baroque music, that by hundreds, forgotten or unrecognized, remain to be discovered.

Friday July 21: Folies and Vivaldi – Ensemble Les Passions
Chuch Saint-Etienne of Bargemon at 9pm
Folies and Vivaldi performed by the Ensemble Les Passions which will offer various lights of the famous theme of the Follia with 8 musicians, including Jean-Marc Andrieu on the recorder.

Created by the renowned flutist Jean-Marc Andrieu in Toulouse in 1986, Les Passions – Baroque Orchestra of Montauban, is an ensemble specializing in the practice of period instruments; the number of instrumentists varies according to the music interpretations.

Sunday July 23: Gloria and Magnificat – Ensemble Les Zippoventilés
Church Saint-Michel of Figanières at 6pm
Gloria and Magnificat – 2 major works by Vivaldi by the Ensemble Les Zippoventilés, including 3 soloists (soprano Lisa Magrini, alto and tenor), a choir of 12 singers and an instrumental ensemble of 7 instrumentists with Flavio Losco, 1st violon and Étienne Mangot on the viola de gamba.

Created in 2013 by the organist Benoit Dumon, Les Zippoventilés, a formation established in Cassis, explores the repertoire for vocal soloist accompanied by an instrument as well as works for choir and orchestra on ancient instruments.

Tuesday 25 July: Venice Gate of the Orient – Ensemble Parnassie du Marais
Church N.-D. of the Assumption of Callas at 9 pm
The Ensemble Parnassie du Marais will plunge into oriental influences with soprano Lucille Pessey and contre-tenor Maximin Marchand, lute, harpsichord, percussion, which will describe the festive atmosphere in the baroque Venice, Venice Gate of the Orient and a stopover on the Silk Road.

Created in 1986 and directed by harpsichordist Brigitte Tramier, this ensemble with variable geometry interprets works from Renaissance and baroque on ancient instruments, exploring both the great works of the repertoire and the little-known pieces.

Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas
July 16 to 25, 2017
Reservations:
– On-site ticketing
– Tourist Office +33 (0)4 94 39 06 77
Monday to Friday from 9:15 am to 12:15 am and 1:45 pm to 6:00 pm
– or by mail on callastourisme@dracenie.com

Callas, a stop on the road to the Gorges du Verdon

Perched between sea and mountains on the hills of Provence, surrounded by a terroir dedicated to the vine, Callas is a first stage on the route to the Gorges du Verdon. In addition to the Callas Ancient Music Festival, the village owes its notoriety to the famous Hostellerie des Gorges de Pennafort and its starred chef Philippe Da Silva, a haven of peace and gastronomy in an exceptional landscape overlooked by the Chapel of Pennafort, place of an annual pilgrimage. In addition to a quality restoration, gastronomy and art de vivre are well represented in the village: the Moulin de Callas presses a famous virgin olive oil, Médaille d’Or in Paris. Gold Medal also for the à l’ancienne Vinegar Cru Confidentiel by the Vinaigrerie du Clos Saint Antoine, soon presented in an old restored chapel of the 12th century. Finally, equally famous, the wines from the Bastide du Plan, Gold Medal also, sublimate the dishes for the gastronomes of the region.

www.callas-festival.com

Extra magic!

This year, an exceptional concert will be performed on August 10th in Callas at 9pm by the Musique Cordiale International Festival of Seillans, in partnership with the Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas. This is the “Vespers of the Virgin” a prestigious work of Monteverdi under the direction of Graham Ross. Admission: 20 € / 30 €, free for children.

Registration and reservations: www.musique-cordiale.com and +33 (0) 7 87 46 99 27

Kristian Fait Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres à Grasse

Le célèbre dessinateur Kristian a reçu des mains du sénateur Jean-Pierre Leleu les insignes de Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres à la Villa Fragonard à Grasse.

Kristian est un dessinateur humoristique qui vit et travaille sur la Côte d’Azur, dans le charmant village de Cabris au dessus de Grasse. La carrière du dessinateur débute dans les années 80 avec des dessins d’humour et d’actualité réalisés pour la presse écrite nationale et internationale, la télévision, le Festival International du Film de Cannes, la Coupe du Monde de Foot… Son talent s’est ensuite exprimé avec succès dans des dessins publicitaires, des affiches, des logos, des dessins de communication d’entreprise, des décors de théâtre, des maquettes de chars pour le Carnaval de Nice, des décorations de carrosseries de véhicules…

Jean-Pierre Leleu, Kristian, Jérôme Viaud et Nathalie

Des expositions dans le monde entier

L’artiste Kristian a été élevé au rang de Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres lors la dernière promotion de cet ordre par Audrey Azoulay, la Ministre de la Culture. Cette décoration lui a été remise à la Villa Fragonard à Grasse par le sénateur Jean Pierre Leleu, en charge de la culture et de la communication au Sénat, en présence de Jérôme Viaud, Maire de Grasse.
Aujourd’hui, ces dessins d’humour et d’actualité font l’objet de plus de 12 000 publications en France et à l’étranger. Ses œuvres ont été exposées dans divers salons d’humour en France, Belgique, Allemagne, Espagne, Italie, Estonie, Bulgarie, Canada, Brésil, Mexique, au Musée Océanographique de Monaco, au Musée Peynet d’Antibes et au Japon depuis 1996 (Tokyo, Yokohama, Fukuoka, Osaka, Natasha) ainsi qu’en Colombie en 2008.

Un parcours riche et sans faute

Lors de son discours, Jean-Pierre Leleu a tout d’abord exprimé sa fierté d’avoir été choisi pour remettre à Kristian cette haute récompense de l’État. Il a ensuite rappelé l’engagement de Kristian dans le monde de la culture et du monde artistique. Il a aussi évoqué le riche parcours du dessinateur de talent qui, à l’âge de 3 ans, dessinait déjà les magazines de mode lors d’une maladie qui l’isola du monde pendant 4 ans.
“A 16 ans, tes dessins sont pour la première fois publiés dans un magazine local. A 20 ans, tu montes à Paris pour collaborer à Femme Actuelle et à Ici Paris et tu rentres à Nice Matin à 25 ans”.
Il a également produit une vingtaine de films, dont certains ont été présentés dans des festivals très prestigieux comme le Festival de Cannes.

12 000 publications en France et à l’étranger

Jérôme Viaud a quant à lui a déclaré: “Vous faites désormais partie de cette communauté d’hommes et de femmes, qui demeurent à la fois le reflet de la société française, et qui incarnent aussi un modèle à suivre pour les générations futures. Vous êtes l’auteur de 12 000 publications en France et à l’étranger et dans tous les médias. Vos affiches ont été vues et appréciées par des milliers de personnes. Vos œuvres sont exposées partout en Europe, au Japon, en passant par la Chine, le Brésil, l’Argentine, le Mexique et nous sommes tous admiratif dans votre implication pour le deuxième plus grand carnaval au monde: le Carnaval de Nice!”

Jean-Pierre Leleu, Kristian & Pierre Bornet, Maire de Cabris

Cabris son village d’adoption

Après avoir remercié Jean-Pierre Leleu, son épouse Nathalie (qui sont à l’origine de cette belle surprise qu’il ignorait totalement), les personnalités présentes ainsi que ses amis présents, Kristian a évoqué avec émotion ses parents, grands parents et sa fille Lola, dont il regrettait l’absence, et son attachement à Cabris, ce magnifique village qui l’a accueilli il y a de nombreuses année et à son ami, le Maire Pierre Bornet. Plutôt que de parler de ses dessins, Kristian a tenu à déclarer, après 35 de carrière en tant que dessinateur: “Il est loin le temps ou j’étais le plus jeune pro de France…”, lui qui pourtant a toujours l’impression d’être au début de sa carrière, tant il lui reste de chose à faire. Il a aussi évoqué les personnalités qui ont compté et qui comptent encore dans sa vie d’artiste, en concluant que son talent est peut être d’avoir su tirer le meilleur de ces rencontres.

De nombreuses personnalités et amis

De nombreuses personnalités ont partagé la joie du dessinateur: Philippe Castanet, Sous-Préfet des Alpes Maritimes, Jérôme Viaud, Maire de Grasse, Pierre Bornet, Maire de Cabris, Thierry Ocelli, Maire d’Opio, Gérald Lombardo, Maire du Rouret, Pierre Aschieri, Maire de Mouans-Sartoux, Simone Torres, Adjointe au Maire d’Antibes à la Culture, et des représentants du Maire de Cannes et de Théoule-sur-Mer. De nombreux amis entouraient Kristian, comme le paysagiste Jean Mus, le parfumeur Jean-Claude Ellena, le dramaturge Guy Foissy, Marc Goujon, directeur du Musée Peynet, Anny Courtade, Présidente du Racing Club de Cannes, Ivan Coste Manière, Président du Comité Olympique Régional, Jean Marc Michel, Président de l’Union des Journalistes de Sport en France et de nombreux journalistes.

L’ordre des Arts et des Lettres

L’ordre des Arts et des Lettres récompense les personnes qui se sont distinguées par leur création dans le domaine artistique où littéraire ou par la contribution qu’elles ont apporté au rayonnement des Arts et des Lettres en France et dans le monde. Selon l’ordre de préséance, les Arts et Lettres se placent en 14ème position juste après l’Ordre du Mérite Maritime et avant les Croix de Guerre. L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres comprend trois grades : Chevalier, Officier, Commandeur.

L’actualité de Kristian

Kristian expose actuellement à New York jusqu’à la fin du mois et trois de ses chars défilerons lors du tout prochain Carnaval de Nice en l’honneur de Carnaval Roi de l’Énergie. Il expose actuellement à Cuneo en Italie en collaboration avec l’Alliance Française au Palazzo della Provincia, Corso Nizza, du 13 au 19 février 2017.

www.grasse.fr

La cérémonie à la Villa Fragonard en images

Hommage aux victimes de l’attentat de Nice

Musée d’Art Classique de Mougins On Virtual

The Musée d’Art Classique de Mougins now offers its exceptional collections only a click or finger away on a computer, smartphone or tablet.

The Musée d’Art Classique de Mougins (MACM) – the small Louvre in Mougins – offers to visitors its collections of classical art in the heart of the village. Over four floors, you can admire more than 900 classic and contemporary works of art from Chris Levett‘s collections, an English art collector. All these wonders can now appear from virtually any angle, all over the world, on the screen of a computer, a smartphone, or tablet through the innovative application of interactive virtual tour MACM 4D.

World class collections

The MACM boasts outstanding world class collections of Roman marbles and bronzes, Greek sculptures, Egyptian sarcophagi, vases, coins, jewelry and glass objects in a perfect state of preservation, spanning over 4,000 years of history. The second floor houses the largest private collection in the world of arsenal of ancient weapons. To these classic works mingle a hundred contemporary works of art by artists such as Picasso, Chagall, Matisse, Duffy, Cézanne, Degas, Klein, Man Ray, Cocteau, Sosno, gently mixed in the old works as a mirror to pass through the centuries.
Requests for loans of objects are numerous and many works from the MACM find a place in exhibitions at the Royal Academy and Sir John Soane’s Museum in London, the Prada Foundation in Venice, the Roman Museum in Cologne, the Museum Braunschweig in Germany, or the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

Bringing the museum to everyone, everywhere

One of the fundamental principles of the Musée d’Art Classique de Mougins (Mougins Museum of Classical Art) is to be accessible to all public. However, there are more than 55,000 museums in the world, and even the most motivated art lovers can visit only a few, and often is unable to repeat the experience.
To meet the growing demand of visitors from our era, all generations considered, and those who can not travel, or don’t have the means, the MACM has developed in partnership with Navigator 4D, a 4D virtual tour to offer the world the treasure of their collections, and enable to discover and revive its exhibits in a virtual, but very realistic interactive dimension.
Visitors from around the world can visit the museum in virtual reality and see all the works – even those on loan in other museums – with a digitalization and navigation technology, the MACM 4D application. The museum will also enter into classrooms and lecture halls at the university and will allow the audience to share on social networks their enthusiasm for the masterpieces they admire.

Images of exceptional quality

The digitalization technology has offered images of exceptional quality, giving a realistic dimension to the visit of the Musée d’Art Classique de Mougins. The visit with guided visit or free walk option, is interactive: visitors can wander at leisure through the aisles of the museum, zoom in to admire the paintings closely, handle the works, observe them under every angle and in every detail, all with great fluidity. Explanations are available on single click.
The extras of the interactivity: the app also provides a detailed catalog of the entire collection, with thematic categories and a search engine as well as a feature to see in situ object in their room at the museum. The application is available in 5 languages: English, French, German, Italian and Russian, and soon other languages will complement the language offer.

Leisa Paoli, Director of the Musée d’Art Classique de Mougins discussed the functions and potential of this new tool at the Salle Courteline in Mougins on the launch of the application, accompanied by Dimitry Lobachev, the founder of the company Navigator 4D in Vilnius, Lithuania and creator of the application MACM 4D.

MACM 4D will be available soon on Apple Store or Google Play Store. For now, it is available on DVD Rom and USB at 25 € or 15 € in download version at the museum shop or on the website:

www.mouginsmusee.com

Festival of Russian Art: Tribute to Russian Ballet

The 19th Festival of Russian Art in Cannes closed on August 27, 2016 with of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons in tribute to the great Russian Ballet.

The 19th Festival of Russian Art, which took place in Cannes from August 23 to 27 in Cannes, finished in apotheosis with the brilliant closing night at the Grand Auditorium of the Palais des Festivals. The dancers belonging to most of the famous dance school in Moscow interpreted excerpts from classics of Russian repertoire, jewels illustrating with pomp and panache the great tradition of the School of Russian Ballet.

Cannes digs its furrow in excellence

The evening will forever remain engraved in the memory of 1, 500 spectators attending the charming tombé de rideau full of charm and grace through a superb musical choreography by Miagkov on Vivaldi‘s Four Seasons. The time of this exceptional evening, the city of festivals turned into the World’s Capital of Dance. If the biggest stars of the 7th Art have chosen to raise Cannes as a world capital of cinema, it is the same for the Festival of Russian Art, the largest in France. Its fabulous line-up of stars offered to connoisseurs of dance was a compelling evidence that it continued without complex its cultural advance in the furrow of excellence it has drawn over the years.

A dizzying whirlwind of dancers

Marked by the presence of the future stars of the Moscow dance, the event will stay in Cannes cultural annals. The choreography demonstration was brilliant, punctuated by the sublime performance of the members of the body of the Moscow Ballet, the famous school recognized as the best in the world. A dizzying whirl of dancers from Moscow’s Lavrovsky Choreographic School, accompanied by soloists Evgeny Zhukov and Daria Yurchenko from the Stanislavsky Theatre in Moscow and Anastasia Zakharova from the Bolshoi, astonished the audience with their interpretation of emblematic ballets extracts like Gisele, Coppélia, Don Quixote, on the music of Tchaikovsky, Debussy, Bocharov, Hertelde and Vivaldi.
This original production allowed the public to discover a great symphony of dancing, touching and wonderful, performed by one of the most creative ensemble of the Russian dance scene, which, since 1989, has attracted an international audience.

Gisele, Coppelia, Don Quixote

At the beginning of the show, the stage of the Grand Auditorium is in the dark. Suddenly, the folded men’s body, forming a compact circle, expand. Dressed in leotards and tights, the dancers twist and distort on the rhythm of a music that grabs you guts.
Then, the fine, athletic body dare all movements, all jumps, be they soft, lush, supple, powerful, technical or graceful. The dancers give the impression to execute their moves effortlessly and their expertly mastered bodies seem to be constantly in weightlessness.
Place then to the choreography and music of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. The ballerina perched on their tips, with their airy grace, seem to float in the air.
Their elegance, the graceful movement of their hands and their fingers stretching to the sky, their delicate looks, sets and costumes with enchanting Slavic tones and the palette of emotions and magic, enraptured the audience. At the end of each dance, a round of applause greeted the elegance of the dancers when saluting the crowd.

A large scale artistic event

Successful operation seduction for this sold out dance show to better to say goodbye to this large scale artistic event that has once again allowed to enjoy one of the most creative ensemble of the Russian dance scene which, since 1989, has captivated the Russian and international public.

www.palaisdesfestivals.com

Altin Kook at Festival of Russian Art

The Festival of Russian Art in Cannes opened on August 23, 2016 with the Folkloric Ballet of Khakassia and its legendary show Altin Kook.

The Festival of Russian Art – 19th edition – took place in the prestigious Palais des Festivals in Cannes. In opening, the Republic of Khakassia and its striking spectacle Altin Kook offered to discover the extraordinary culture of one of the most unknown land of the great Russian Federation.

A strong and ancestral friendship

The relations of friendship that unite Russia and France are strong and old. As often, they were built and strengthened via the culture. Since 2006, Russians become for five days in Cannes attentive hosts to present us a beautiful view of their culture and their traditions.
The Festival of Russian Art and its rich program consisting of music, dance, folklore, painting, circus arts, gastronomy, offer a nice dive into the world of artistic excellence in all its forms. A captivating and unique journey of its kind, thanks to the talent and interpretation of internationally renowned artists, acclaimed on the major international stages.

Khakassia, land of legend

For a thousand years, the five hundred thousand inhabitants of the Khakassia, tiny republic of Russia located in southern Siberia, have been living on a land of legend. On this land made of taiga, vast forests, steppes as far as the eye can see, mountains and fantastic rides in nearby Mongolia plains, the Khakassians have the distinction of honoring the spirits of the water and mountains with a shaman.

Spells and ancestral beliefs

With the show Altin Kook ballet, the Debussy theater audience was carried away in a captivating and mysterious dive in the heart of the huge ice Siberian expanses. In the first part, on a contemporary choreography, a story based on an ancient legend inspired a kind of Swan Lake ballet in which wonderful flamingo metamorphose into beautiful girls, on a background of spells, cuckoos, knights, hunters and fighting. Throughout the show, the dancers, wearing their fox fur hats, wearing gleaming dresses and shod in black leather or animal skins boots, offered the spectators a fantastic staging composed of breathtaking acrobatics, impressive improvisations and dance of great artistic technicality.

Music, songs and traditional dances

In the second part, came the artists of the ballet Altin Kook and the ensembles Koun Souzy and Ulguer from the Philharmonic of Khakassia. Musicians and singers accompanied by their six-string chatkhane and singing with throaty voice coming from the depths of time, seeming issuing a sound lava from their bowels, astonished and delighted the audience of the Debussy Theatre. Dancers clad in traditional dresses with bright colors and surrounded by multi-colored ribbons fluttering in the wind, slipped on stage in convolutions adjusted to the millimeter. Each performed the choreographics without effort: a feast of ease and grace.

The Festival of Russian Art

The Festival of Russian Art which runs for five days in August in the Capital of Cinema, from 23 to 27 August this year, is part of the favorite rendezvous that punctuate the Franco-Russian relations. This high quality artistic event elegantly concludes the summer the City of Festivals. It is co-produced by the Foundation for Russian Culture, the City of Cannes and the Palais des Festivals and Congresses.

The show Altin Kook

The show Altin Kook is a creation dating back to 2014. It was achieved through the collaboration of two complex folklores from the Philharmonic Society of Khakassia, Ulguer and Koun Suzi, with the support of the Ministries of Culture of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Khakassia.

www.palaisdesfestivals.com

Festival Pantiero: Electro Music and Mediterranean

The Festival Pantiero, devoted to emerging contemporary music, offered a rich and audacious programming around the rock and pop aesthetics.

The Festival Pantiero has been offering each year for 14 years the best of the international electric music scene. Away from the glitz of the Croisette, the artistic director Jean-Marie Sevain signs again an always more demanding programming, both for its musical quality, both rich and audacious, that scenic. A true pioneer of novelties, he made this major musical event an ideal platform for young talent. Electronic music, rock, hip-hop, techno, rap, groove, trip-hop, jungle, have become in recent years the DNA of this unique-of-its-kind festival.

Novelties and discoveries

The 2016 edition of the Festival Pantiero took place on August 19 and 20, 2016, on the roof terrace of the Palais des Festivals in Cannes. In this magical place, where the sky often merges with the Mediterranean blue, the capital of cinema was turned for two nights into the capital of electronic music. The internationally renowned bands inflamed the Cannes scene like the band Femme and its pop music or the electro music of the famous St Germain group. Beautiful discoveries were offered in the first part to the public with nabds like Jessica 93, Grand Blanc, Debruit or African 68. A nice balance between established artists and discoveries for this festival that is closing in music a rich and beautiful summer season that is coming to an end.

A very Femme start

The evening of August 19 started on a flying GrandBlanc band and the presentation of their new album Mémoires Vives (Vivid Memories), released in February. Their synthetic, abrasive and complex, music, the heavy sounds with the hoarse voice of Benoît David and Camille Delvecchio, immersed the audience in a mysterious and mesmerizing atmosphere.
Then, the French rock group, Jessica 93, and their dark and hypnotic music, from beyond the grave took to the stage.
After a short and refreshing intermission very appreciated by the public, the band Femme – already scheduled in 2011 and 2014 – invaded the huge stage of the Festival Pantiero. The group, whose members are from Britain, Biarritz, Marseille and Paris, have in a few years gained a great reputation and has established definitively three years ago with the song with pop intonations Nous étions deux (We were two), whose heady chorus won in a few months the French ears.

Africa is swinging in Cannes

Eclecticism was king on 20 August, with Débruit alias Xavier Thomas, a brilliant and unique artist. The musician offered the public a mix of music from elsewhere, hip-hop and electro. Fascinated by Africa and the Orient, the musician who has the art of building relationships between tribal rhythms and traditional songs, offered the fans a psychedelic music, a surprising mixture of sound.
Africaine808 took to the stage later with a duo composed of Normad and Dirk Leyers. The first is a figure of the Berlin street art and a black music nerd. The second is an enthusiast of minimal techno who now prefers more syncopated sounds. Together they distilled at a both African, Latin, jazz and funk music.

St Germain, icon of the French Touch

Then came the highlight of the show with St Germain and his favorite performer, Ludovic Navarre, known worldwide thanks to its African rhythms and electronic sounds, drenched with house, jazz and blues music. After two years of touring around the world in the 2000s with the album Tourist which was a huge success (3 million copies) and a break of 15 years, Ludovic Navare returned to the Pantiero stage with his 9 musicians. This icon of the French Touch fetched inspiration from Mali. All from Mali, Senegal, Brazil and the Caribbean, the musicians who accompanied him played their traditional instruments: kora, balafon, ngoni, percussion and flute. A brilliant interpretation with rhythm, which gave the Cannes public the opportunity to make a nice immersion in the African musical world. A nice bridge between Africa and the West.

Jean-Marie Sevain, artistic director

Originating from Cannes, Jean-Marie Sevain spent many years in the middle of independent music, as a DJ but also as head of a club near Lyon in the 90s. He is also co-founder of Génération Spontanée, a structure producing concerts in Lyon. Since 2002, he is the artistic director of the Festival Pantiero, whose programming is a reflection of is rich and varied course.

www.festivalpantiero.com

Fête de la Poterie in Vallauris

The Fête de la Poterie in Vallauris, annually celebrated since 1981, honors the many potters who made the reputation of the Capital of Ceramics.

The 33rd Fête de la Poterie (Pottery Festival), organized by the city of Vallauris Golfe-Juan on August 14, 2016, in collaboration with the Tourist Office, the potters and shopkeepers in the city, was the occasion for a huge party celebrating the pottery in all its forms. For one day that stretched late into the evening, artists and studios showcased their ephemeral creation in a crazy atmosphere punctuated by music and orchestras.

Art in the street

The artisans settled in the streets invited young and old children to attend demonstrations of turning, cooking and decoration in workshops spread across the center of Vallauris. Each visitor could discover the skills of these talented artisans while participating in the manufacture of a small pot, a vase or a taraïette (small Provençal pot) they could then take away as a souvenir.
A day on which the shadow of Jean Marais and Picasso wass hunging, two famous Vallauriens of adoption. The statue of the Man with the sheep, that sits on the square before the church, was donated by Picasso to the town.

Many events and animations

The day of the Fête de la Poterie was punctuated by numerous events including a solemn mass, a lively parade by flag wavers, street artists, acrobats, jugglers and orchestras, demonstrations of turning, stamping and decoration, a calligraphy workshop, a cartoonist who was sketching portraits. The smaller could participate in many games such as running boards topped with a pottery they should not drop to expect win the race.

www.vallauris-golfe-juan.fr

Galerie Vendôme: Joie de Vivre with Mathias

The new Galerie Vendôme of contemporary art, exhibiting La Joie de Vivre by artist Mathias, gives a facelift to the antiques district in Nice.

The Galerie Vendôme just opened its doors in Nice. Located not far from the harbor and the old town, in the heart of the antique district and very trendy “little Nice Marais “, the gallery aims to provide visitors with a permanent, interactive and exciting art show. This summer, the artist Mathias will exhibit his joy of living through an exhibition of figurative works. The painter invites us to discover his version of the life he sketches with happiness over the course of his encounters and travels.

Mathias, painter of the ordinary

Born in Nice, Mathias is a passionate traveler. After traveling the world, the artist offers us in this superb exhibition his paintings and drawings of a multitude of characters interwoven with each other, moving in a world that is or has been part of the artist’ universe and life.
Sketched in gouache, watercolor or acrylic, and enhanced with grease pencil in a colorful original, refined and elegant style, Mathias’ works invite us to travel into his world from childhood until in the autumn of life. A universe that reflects his course as a traveler, a lover of typical locations, regions or countries and that always includes situations and places dear to his heart.
Whatever the subject, the time entered or selected slices of life, the scenes exposed at Galerie Vendôme evoke a life course or friendship, travel, vacation, beach, entertainment, parties, cafes, art, happiness, joy.

Works populated with icons

Beyond his seemingly ordinary characters, the artist also refers in his work to the great names of visual arts, photography and fashion such as David Bowie, Helmut Newton, Yves Saint Laurent, E. Green and Baryshnikov among others. In some of these works, these daily icons appear and sometimes repeat themselves as characters in scenes that flirt with cartoons.

Mathias exhibition
Joie de Vivre
From August 11 to September 14, 2016
Galerie Vendôme
16 rue Emmanuel Philibert
Quartier des Antiquaires – Port of Nice
Tel: +33 (0) 4 92 04 50 32

www.galerie-vendome.com

Barnabé at Nice Art Gallery

Adjoining the Galerie Vendôme, the Nice Art Gallery, in partnership with EDR architectural, presents the ephemeral exhibition of young and talented Nice artist Barnabé.

Barnabé’s ghosts

Barnabé, whose real name is Pierre-Emmanuel, is 22 years old. Expert in Street Art, the artist who boasts a casual style, came to fame by creating a logo that quickly became a cartoon character. His paw and his signature is a funny little ghost that you can found throughout his works.

At the Nice Art Gallery, the artist shows us, through 24 monographic canvases with acid colors like apple green, yellow or turquoise blue, his playful, magical, merry universe like the hilarious Pink Panther alongside a radiant schtroumf.

Barnabé
Nice Art Gallery
In partnership with EDR architectural
16 rue Emmanuelle Philibert
Quartier des Antiquaires – Port de Nice
Tel : +33 (0)4 93 31 21 46

www.gcagallery.fr

Galeries en Fête in Vallauris

Every first Thursday of the month, Vallauris, the Capital of Ceramics, becomes a huge open air art gallery revealing the creativity of new artists.

Vallauris is a city of arts and crafts and pottery tradition since ancient times linked to its subsoil rich in clay. Every first Thursday of the month, the city of Picasso, the capital of Ceramics, gets alive with a collective vernissage of all the art galleries and artist studios to the delight of fans of beautiful and innovative artistic creations.

A collective galleries opening

Every first Thursday of the month, in the end of the day when the sun sets, a new life prevails in the historic center of the city of potters. The city comes alive and looks like a huge art gallery in the open air for many visitors who stroll in a warm atmosphere, smiling, with a glass in hand through the galleries and art studios.
Ceramists, photographers, painters and sculptors open at night for a collective painting. They present their new collections to the public as well as the artists they have invited to exhibit for a month in their galleries.
For a night time, the public can then discover and share their impressions on the works of creators showcased in some 70 studios and 30 galleries the city includes.

Many places of Art

In the same time than this group vernissage, all art venues open their doors to the public. Enthroned in the central square, the Château e Vallauris, former priory of the Lérins Abbey, is one of the few Renaissance buildings in the region. It houses the National Picasso Museum War and Peace, with since 1959, in its Romanesque chapel, Pablo Picasso‘s greatest work, a monumental fresco of nearly 100 m2.
At the foot of the city, is the studio and gallery of the most famous French film actors, Jean Marais, installed in 1973 in Vallauris to create paintings and sculptures.

The museums of ceramics

The Magnelli Museum, the Ceramics Museum, welcomes some collections devoted to the Florentine painter Alberto Magnelli and frequent exhibitions of artists with international fame.
The Municipal Museum of Ceramics shows various aspects yesterday and today’s ceramics from Vallauris and the winning works at the ceramics biennial as well as objects from the culinary tradition of ceramic.
Vallauris also organizes the International Biennial of Ceramic Art which takes place every year in early summer.

All this heritage has allowed the city of Vallauris to be recognized by the label “Ville et métiers d’art.”

www.vallauris-golfe-juan.fr

Wine Man Show: Humor at Commanderie de Peyrassol

At Commanderie de Peyrassol, the Wine Man Show by comedian Eric Boschman has enhanced spirits in spirit, the “tears” of wine in laughter to tears and the jokes in divine nectars.

Commanderie de Peyrassol hosted in the heart of the summer an exclusive performance of Eric Boschman‘s show, the Wine Man Show, claiming Neither Gods nor Masters, but Red Wine ! An exceptional event punctuated with tasting of prestigious wine, which took with the jokes, the public around the world to discover the fascinating world of wine, a nectar that became a divine. A world tour in the best possible way: a glass in hand.

Born 8,000 years ago in Georgia

Lovers of Provence, good wines and jokes gathered at the Commanderie de Peyrassol for the Wine Man Show by Belgian comedian and sommelier Eric Boschman on the theme of Neither Gods Nor Masters, but Red Wine. The show was at the height of their expectations.
Eric Boschman, the genius Belgian sommelier, a multifaceted artist, revisits the history of wine through the centuries and continents, and takes us on a journey according to his fancy humorous anecdotes on the history of wine, an amazing journey through the wine world, that started some 8,000 years ago in Georgia.

The wine, nectar of the gods since ancient times

Eric Boshman loves wine, dining, food history. The table is his profession and his passion. Eric qualifies as a born storyteller who transmits his experience and made his profession of it. Through his stories, his anecdotes about wine, nectar of the gods since ancient times, the public of passionate and amateurs consumers get their heart’s content sharing, glass in hand, the journey of the vine which widespread in the world thanks to the religions and religious services, using or advocating the wine.
From ancient Afghanistan to the vibrant shores of the Mediterranean or, with a mix of fado, land and Atlantic Ocean that bathes Portugal, not to mention France and its friendly Bordeaux region, Chile and the conquistadors, first importers of the precious nectar in the 16th century to the new world, to finally land the kingdom of kangaroos, Australia.

The love of wine, a culture to learn

Eric Boshman’s tastings illustrate the history of wine, tinged with humorous anecdotes. Throughout the show, the sommelier of humor tells us with good words that the love of wine, it is also a culture that inculcates and improves over the years and tastings.
But he admits that one can also enjoy a good wine without knowing all the technical details of winemaking and lambasted the “sommeliers masturbators” from restaurants and wine bars, and their overused expressions. During this truculent Wine Man Show – often improvised – he happily toasted with the public who taste wines and listen to his sound advice with his inimitable tone and his banter.

Toasting is essential!

Eric Boshman initiated the public wine tasting, explaining that the tulip glass allowed to concentrate the flavors and discover their full extent. For the five senses to operate at a tasting, the comedian explained that toasting allowed to balance by the clink of glasses that is requesting the hearing.
During the show, the audience enjoyed 6 high quality wines:
Bernard Massard – Cuvée de l’Ecusson – Sparkling wine
Baron Edmond de Rothschild – Aguaribay Malbec 2012
Château Peyrassol Rosé – 2015 – AOC Côtes de Provence
Long Row Shiraz red – 2011 – Australian Wine
Château Malescasse – AOC Haut Médoc – Cru Bourgeois – 2009
Porto Quinta da Corte – Tawny Reserve 2013 – Portugal

Eric Boshman, multitalented artist

Eric Boshman, co-author of the book Le Goût des Belges, is a multi-talented artist. Named best sommelier in Belgium in 1989, he worked at Bruneau and at Romeyer before creating his own restaurant: Le Pain et le Vin, in Uccle. Thereafter, he left his restaurant when it was distinguished by one Michelin star, because he felt no more pleasure to work in the kitchen, being too extrovert. His desire was to express in an other way.
He then turned to the media (press, radio and TV) to share his passion with thousands of lovers of good wine and good food. Eric Boshman has also developed the Food and Wine Academy where he teaches oenology, organizes tastings and events around the table and wine, hosts and participates in TV shows such as Joëlle Scoriels‘ No Frills on RTBF. he is now a reference person in the world of wine in Belgium and a must comedian with his show Wine Man Show.

A treasure by the Knights Templar

Founded in 1204 by the Knights Templar, the Commanderie de Peyrassol has always had an agricultural and wine activity. At the foot of the Massif des Maures, the Commanderie covers nearly 850 hectares, including 93 dedicated to the cultivation of the vine, dotted with oaks and olive groves. Thanks to its exceptional natural situation, the Commanderie was a stop and rest venue on the road to the Holy Land, for passing pilgrims.
The vineyard flourishes on a clay and limestone soil favorable to viticulture, with abundant water in the subsoil. Since the early planted varieties, generations of winemakers have put their expertise at the service of the vine and wine, cultivating fervently this exceptional terroir.
In the 80s, Françoise Rigord took the winery to summits when she decided to sell the wines in bottles. Since 2003, Alban Cacaret manages the Commanderie de Peyrassol alongside his uncle, Philippe Austruy, owner since 2001.
Together they have given the estate its former influence, and made the Commanderie de Peyrassol one of the most famous vineyards in Provence.
The estate produces Clos Peyrassol AOP Rosé, Red and White, a Commanderie de Peyrassol AOP Côtes de Provence, a Viognier IGP Portes de la Méditerranée and a Merlot IGP Portes de la Méditerranée.

Art in the vineyards

One can spend a day at the Commanderie de Peyrassol as there are many beautiful things to discover: the domain is dotted with works of art, according to a path in the vines that you can also visit aboard a carriage. After the huge “Callade”, a bridge leads to an 800 m2 art gallery that offers temporary and permanent exhibitions.
The estate also has gorgeous guest rooms and a guest table, where the chef sublimates products from the terroir and fresh vegetables from the garden of the estate.

www.peyrassol.com

Chambres d’hôtes ©Commanderie de Peyrassol

Ballet2000 Prizes: Tribute to Maya Plisetskaya

The Ballet2000 Prizes brought in Cannes a stellar line-up of international stars who paid tribute to the great ballerina Maya Plisetskaya.

Ballet2000 Prizes were handed out on July 31, 2016 at the International Dance Gala at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes. A fully-packed Lumière Theatre hosted classical dance lovers from around the world and key personalities from the world of ballet. The Lifetime Achievement Prize, the most prestigious award, rewards each year a personality who accomplished an exceptional career in the world of choreography like Maya Plisetskaya, Alicia Alonso, Rosella Hightower and Violette Verdy.

Rodion Shchedrin, guest of honor

During this prestigious event devoted to dance, a brilliant tribute was paid to the great Russian ballerina Maya Plisetskaya, who joined the legend since her death last year. The star would have been 90 years old this year and to honor her memory, her husband, the famous Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin, was the guest of honor of this sublime evening gala organized by the Ballet2000 Magazine.

Tribute to Maya Plisetskaya

To start the evening, a film traced the previous prize-giving ceremonies of the Lifetime Achievement Prize, created by the Ballet2000 magazine, which for the first edition in 2004, crowned Maya Plisetskaya. The images showed the great ballerina of Russian ballet (79 year-old at the time) who, after receiving the prestigious award, danced the solo Ave Maya Maurice Béjart created for her.
Her husband Rodion Shchedrin had then accompanied her on piano by playing the notes of Gounod’s Ave Maria while Maya, very elegantissima in a costume designed for her by Pierre Cardin, danced simple steps crowned with her beautiful port de bras, while holding two beautiful red Japanese fans. At the press conference which took place the day before, before an audience of journalists, Alfio Agostini, president of the jury, critic and manager of Ballet2000 editions, recalled that Maya was the first ballerina to receive this award.

World-renowned dancers

On this sumptuous gala evening, prestigious dancers of international fame like Aurélie Dupont (new director of the Ballets de l’Opéra de Paris), Diana Vishneva, Friedemann Vogel, Oscar Chacón, Kateryna Shalkina… Many other stars and soloists from large global companies (La Scala, the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, the Spanish National Ballet, the English National Ballet in London, the Ballets de Monte-Carlo) offered a superb program of solos, pas de deux and ballets extracts. The evening of choreographic excellence gave pride to emotion!

New awards presented

The Lifetime Achievement Prize 2016 was awarded to Hans van Manen, the great Dutch choreographer, whose multifaceted work, both rigorous and open, has had a profound influence on all modern European ballet in decades.
The gala evening was marked by the handing out of three new prizes, the Maya Prizes. They were presented to Aurélie Dupont, star and new director of the Ballet de l’Opéra de Paris, Diana Vishneva, star of the Mariinsky Ballet of St. Petersburg and the American Ballet Theatre of New York and finally to Friedemann Vogel. The dancer of the Stuttgart Ballet is pursuing his career at full speed by performing in parallel on the biggest stages in the world with prestigious companies.

Ballet2000 Prizes giving ceremony

To finish this evening devoted to stars of the dance, the dancers present on stage had the honor of receiving the Ballet2000 Prizes. These awards reward the dancers who distinguished themselves on the last major international tours. The winners: Óscar Chacón and Kateryna Shalkina (Béjart Ballet Lausanne), Viktoria Tereshkina and Vladimir Shklyarov (Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg), Osiel Gouneo (English National Ballet, with his partner Jem Choi), Virna Toppi and Jacopo Tissi (Teatro alla Scala, Milan), Sergio Bernal (Ballet Nacional de España), Davide Dato (Vienna Opera), Maëva Cotton and Alessio Passaquindici (Ballet Nice Méditerranée, Nice Opera) Anjara Ballesteros (Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, with her partner Lucien Postlewaite).
A special medal was awarded to Sarah-Jane Brodbeck, Arman Grigoryan, Vahe Martirosyan, Arsen Mehrabyan, Galina Mihaylova, Tigran Mikayelyan, Mia Rudic from the company Forceful Feelings, a singular group of Armenian dancers, all boys, principal dancers in international companies but who are committed to let the world know the ballet of their country.

The jury

The winning artists were selected by a jury composed of 18 personalities including journalists from the Ballet2000 magazine and other great names of the international press: Erik Aschengreen, Leonetta Bentivoglio, Erik Aschengreen, Leonetta Bentivoglio, Valeria Crippa, Clement Crisp, Gerald Dowler, Elisa Guzzo Vaccarino, Marc Haegeman, Anna Kisselgoff, Kevin Ng, Jean Pierre Pastori, Emmanuèle Rüegger, Roger Salas, Sonia Schoonejans, René Sirvin – coordinator of the jury – and Alfio Agostini, organizer of 2000Ballet Prizes.
The event this year was co-directed by Askaneli Art, VisualClassics, Palais des Festivals de Cannes and Ballet2000 with the support of Rosatom, under the artistic direction of Irma Nioradze, star of the Mariinsky.

The evening ended with a charity auctions sale. The money raised will assist those affected by the terrorist attack in Nice.

www.Ballet2000.com

Voix en Vigne: Maria Callas, a Life, a Destiny

Béatrice Uria Monzon et François Chaplin

Voix en Vigne, the Lyrical Festival at Chateau Roubine, celebrated the music of Chopin and the destiny of Maria Callas, performed by two exceptional artists.

Voix en Vigne, organized by Valérie Rousselle, owner of Chateau Roubine, delighted his public this year with two concerts on Saturday, July 30, 2016, bringing together two virtuosos, Béatrice Uria Monzon and François Chaplin, guests of the world’s largest lyric stages.
In the castle park bordered by vineyards, under the stars in the summer sky, the magic of Chopin‘s music and the fabulous destiny of the greatest singer of all time, Maria Callas, have charmed many music lovers, amateurs of lyric art and art of living.

Two concerts, two virtuosos

The show began with a Chopin recital entitled A lover of bel canto, masterfully interpreted by the international virtuoso François Chaplin. After the intermission dedicated to the art of living and wine discoveries, the famous mezzo-soprano Béatrice Uria Monzon delighted the large audience with Maria Callas, a life, a destiny. This sumptuous opera program accompanied by François Chaplin, punctuated by the most beautiful pages by Puccini, Bellini, Verdi and Bizet, perfectly illustrated the life and loves of “La Callas”, with the fascinating musicologist and poet Alain Duault as narrator.

Frédéric Chopin, the Lover of Bel Canto

In the first part, François Chaplin interpreted Frederic Chopin’s sublime music, a composer who dedicated his life to his “bright little poems”, the “Nocturnes“. In love with a Polish girl, he composed his Farewell Waltz because the parents refused the musician and sent their daughter to Paris. Hoping to see her again, he follows her to Paris and compose for her the Grande Valse Brillante. With Franz Liszt, he is at the origin of the modern piano technique and his influence is at the origin of a whole line up of great composers. Francois Chaplin played the Polonaise Opus 26 No. 1, the Nocturne Opus 9 No. 1 , some Mazurkas, the Nocturne Opus 48 No. 1, and finished with waltzes: the Waltz No. 2 Opus 64, No. 1 Opus 69, No. 3 Opus 34 “Grande Valse Brillante”.

Maria Callas, a Life, a Destin

In the second part, the gorgeous and sublime mezzo-soprano Béatrice Uria Monzon revived Maria Callas’ flamboyant destiny through the airs that marked the career and the love life of the most famous divas. “The Callas” triumphed on the most prestigious opera stages of the world: Paris, New York, London, Milan, Venice, Rome, Buenos Aires, Mexico City… and marked forever the opera world by her incomparable wide-ranging voice and dramatic interpretations.
To illustrate this fabulous destiny, Béatrice Uria Monzon sang arias that have marked the career of the brillantissime singer that Maria Callas was.
With Alain Duault as narrator, the fascinating life of Maria Callas is revealed through the arias interpreted by Béatrice Uria Monzon. Maria Callas had her first success with La Tosca and the aria Vissi d’Arte. The mezzo then sang the arias of Gioconda: Suicidio; The Force of Destiny: Pace, Pace mio Dio; Norma: Casta Diva; Cavalleria Rusticana: Voi lo sapete; La Traviata: Addio del Passato; Macbeth: Vieni affretta; Carmen: Habanera.

Sola, perduta, abbandonata

Throughout her career, La Callas demonstrated her energy, her will to win and quite a temper. Asked by Elsa Maxwell, “the Hollywood gossiper”, to express her views on her rival Renata Tebaldi, she retorted: “Let me stop you there! You can not compare the Champagne and Coca-Cola!”
After the vicissitudes of her love life with her husband and Pygmalion, Giovanni Battista Meneghini, her impossible love with Luchino Visconti and Pier Paolo Pasolini, and his love worthy of a Greek tragedy with the Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, Maria Callas is alone in Paris. Her career is at end for her voice, the “voice of the century”, is worn. The last air sung by Béatrice Uria Monzon is extracted from Manon Lescaut: Sola, perduta, abbandonata…

About Béatrice Uria Monzon

Daughter of the Spanish painter Antonio Uria Monzon, Béatrice Uria Monzon spent her childhood and adolescence in her hometown Agen. She enters a high school choir led by Roland Fornerod who introduced her to singing, which becomes obvious for her. After studies in art history, she perfected her musical training at the Ecole d’Art Lyrique of the Opéra National de Paris and quickly begins on the biggest French stages: Lyon, Toulouse, Aix-en-Provence Nancy, Marseille.
Renowned for her interpretation of the great French heroine of Massenet and Berlioz, and for the role of Carmen that she embodied on the major national and abroad stages, the mezzo Béatrice Uria Monzon is among the best voices of her generation. In 2015, she triumphs at La Scala in the legendary role of Tosca.

About Francois Chaplin

Francois Chaplin discovered the piano at the age of 6. After years of learning, he trained with the Bulgarian pianist Ventsislav Yankoff at the National Conservatory of Music in Paris and follows the class of chamber music directed by Jacqueline Robin.
He won his first prize for piano and chamber music in 1987. He then won the Mozart and Robert Casadesus Awards at the international competition of Cleveland, in 1989. These awards mark the starting point for an active and successful international career.
Francois Chaplin played as a soloist with many internationally renowned orchestras (Philharmonic Orchestra of St. Petersburg, the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, etc.)

Exhibition Gregory Berben

Throughout the evening, music lovers were able to admire the works of the painter and sculptor Gregory Berben. Born in Cannes in 1974, Gregory Berben is a visual artist, painter and sculptor, self-taught with an unusual path. A sports professional for a dozen years, he juggled with two careers. As the exhibition succeeded one another, he put away his sneakers to devote himself to art in early summer 2009. His works are an ode to the energy of life. His paintings, collages and original creations based on recycling and his sculptures full of color and intensity, travel the world: Hong Kong, New York, Miami, Monaco, Paris… Since July 2015, the artist has transferred his studio in the residence of artists “Le Suquet Arts” in the old town of Le Suquet, in collaboration with the city of Cannes.

Christian Boeuf – La Bastide des Magnans

Dinner in honor of Italy

During the intermission, the audience enjoyed, under the tall trees of the park Chateau Roubine, some wines Crus Classés from the domain. Chateau Roubine’s Crus Classés were also tasted during the gala dinner which closed the evening, a delicious meal prepared by the talented young chef Christian Bœuf from La Bastide des Magnans in Vidauban. In honor of Italy, homeland of Bel Canto, the chef had prepared a Risotto with Shellfish and Saffron, followed by a Veal Pavé sauce Marsalla with its Eggplant Parmigiano. And for dessert, an Opera was obviously needed.

About Castle Roubine

The Chateau Roubine, managed by Valérie Rousselle, is one of the oldest vineyards in France. Located in the heart of the Var, between Draguignan and Lorgues, it has always been tied to the history of Provence. The vineyard offers the richness of its soil and nature through advanced winemaking equipment. Since 1953, the Chateau Roubine received the appellation Cru Classé for its unique and prestigious Red, White and Rosé vintages: Inspire, Terre de Croix. The Castle recently launched a new iconic Rosé: La Vie en Rose.

chateauroubine.com

Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas: Passions of the Soul

The Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas honored from July 17 to 27, 2016 the baroque music with sublimes works interpreted by prestigious ensembles.

The Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas has been presenting for 26 years some remarkable works performed by international highly talented ensembles. This year, splendid works by Vivaldi, Monteverdi, Carissimi, Handel, Purcell and Bach resonated under the vaults of churches in Callas, Châteaudouble and Figanières. Places of worship became cultural venues, where the mystery of faith is conducive to celebrate the mysteries of the human soul exalted by the baroque music, secular or sacred.

Daniel Maria, Maire de Callas et Françoise Barre

Diversity and quality requirement

At the heart of the Var and the Provencal countryside, between sea and mountains, the charming village of Callas spreads its houses in cascades under the Midi sun, popular with poets and artists. For 26 years, in July, the village provides to music lovers its charms, its gastronomy and its exceptional quality of life during the Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas, chaired by Françoise Barre, also Artistic Director. The works have been performed at the Church Notre Dame de l’Assomption of Callas but also in the churches of the surrounding villages, like this year, in the Church of Notre Dame de l’Annonciation in Châteaudouble and Saint-Michel Church in Figanières.
Advocating diversity, quality and requirement, the Festival was a great success with packed audiences and a public very satisfied with the artistic choices.
Works such as Handel’s Dixit Dominus, the Mass for Four Choirs by Carissimi or Purcell’s Music for a While and Ich Habe Genug by Bach, were interpreted by prestigious formations with period instruments, in which express great performers like Gemma Bertagnolli who sang Vivaldi.

Stir the passions of the soul

Stir the passions of the soul, such is the design of the Baroque era which began in Italy with works by Claudio Monteverdi and ends with the contemporaries of JS Bach and Handel. The baroque style is a learned and sophisticated style, characterized in particular by the importance of the counterpoint, a harmony enriched by the importance given to the ornaments and increased expressiveness of the orchestra with continuo and a group of soloists.
As Jean-Dominique Abrell from the nsemble Energeia recalled, quoting Descartes: “Baroque music emphasizes emotion – the affetti in Italian – to reveal humanity in all that it entails, the sublime and tender as the vile and hideous, inviting music lovers to explore their heart and the depths of themselves. “

Ensemble Archipelago avec Gemma Bertagnolli

Vivaldi – Fury and love between heaven and earth

Opening the Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas, Sunday, July 17 at the Notre Dame de l’Assumption Church in Callas, the Ensemble Archipelago – conducted by 1st violin Lorenzo Colitto – and the soprano Gemma Bertagnolli performed works by Antonio Vivaldi. Four other instrumentalists – 2nd violin, viola, cello, theorbo/chitarra – compose this prestigious ensemble. The concert began with the Farnace air full of tragedy Gelido In Ogni Vena, describing the anguish and pain of Farnace, defeated by Pompey.
La Speranza Verdeggiano, then interpreted is the first Vivaldi opera for Venice, with a libretto by Grazzio Braccioli in 1714. The opera is taking place in the realm of Organa where Angelica wants to end the reign of the sorceress Ersilla.
An oratorio, Armatae Face and Anguibus, a psalm Laudate Pueri and a motet In furore Iustissimae Irae, followed, all brilliantly interpreted by the sublime singer Gemma Bertagnolli.

JS Bach: Ich Habe Genug

On Wednesday, July 20, at Notre Dame de l’Assomption Church, the Ensemble Energeia played works by Bach including the famous Ich Habe Genug, praising the happiness of the person filled with faith and the presence of Jesus. The Ensemble Energeia is composed of Jean-Dominique Abrell (direction, organ and harpsichord), Brigitte Peyré, soprano and Michel Géraud, against-tenor and six instrumentists (1st & 2nd violins, viola, cello, double bass, oboe).
The cantata Ich Habe Genug starting point is the story of Simeon who recognizes the Messiah in the child Jesus and his life is filled with joy. The Ensemble Energeia then performed the cantate Vergnügte Ruh, belibte Seelenlust. The cantata deals with the desire to lead a virtuous life to enter heaven and avoid hell. Another work played, Mein Herz schwimmt in Blut – my heart is bathed in blood – refers to the sinner who finds redemption in God, a meditation on repentance and forgiveness.

The spectacular Dixit Dominus

On Friday, July 22 at Notre Dame de l’Assumption Church, the Concert de l’Hostel Dieu, under the direction of Franck-Emmanuel Comte (organ and harpsichord), performed in the first part some works by Vivaldi, Scarlatti and Handel. The intermission was followed by the Dixit Dominus, a musical work by Handel, composed and created in 1707, whose text comes from the Psalm 101. The Concert de l’Hostel Dieu includes 5 vocal soloists (two sopranos, 1 contralto, 1 tenor, 1 baritone) accompanied by eight musicians.
The ensemble has interpreted excerpts of works by great composers: the opera Dorilla in Tempe by Antonio Vivaldi; the oratorio Quel buon pastor sono io by Antonio Caldera; Cain, ovvero Il Primo Omicidio by Allesandro Scarlatti; Semiramis by Vivaldi. Two works by Handel preceded the Dixit Dominus: Aci, Galatea & Polifermo and La Resurrezione.

Henry Purcell – Music for a While

On Sunday July 24 at Châteaudouble, the Concert de l’Hostel Dieu continued his wonderful musical performance in the Notre Dame of the Annunciation Church, a hilltop village in Dracénie which overhangs the impressive, deep, very sinuous and green Châteaudouble gorges, dug by the Nartuby.
To play Music for a While by Henry Purcell, Franck-Emmanuel Comte conducted the mezzo soprano Anthéa Pichanick, accompanied by two musicians (violin, viola da gamba). Henry Purcell (1659 – 1695) composed secular and sacred music, and wrote for the royal events.
Music for a while, one of the finest arias by Purcell, exalts the power of music to soothe – for a while – pain and suffering of the soul:
Music for a while shall all your cares beguile, wond’ring how your pains were eas’d
And disdaining to be pleas’d till Alecto free the dead from their eternal bands,
Till the snakes drop from her head, and the whip from out her hands.

Baroque and sacred polyphonic music

The closing of the Festival de Musique Ancienne de Callas took place on Wednesday, July 27 at Figanières in the Saint-Michel Church. The prestigious Ensemble Baroque de Monaco under the direction of Mathieu Peyrègne, has performed works by Monteverdi & Carissimi, among the most beautiful polyphonic works of sacred and baroque polyphonic music of the Seicento: Claudio Monteverdi, with sung pieces for 5, 6 and 8 voices with 2 answering choirs, a cappella or with accompaniment, with Camille Mugot at the harpsichord. In the second part, the ensemble played an unprecedented mass by Giacomo Carissimi: a masterpiece for four choirs, sixteen voice sounding their beautiful harmonies by sets of responses.

Callas, a stage on the road to the Gorges du Verdon

A few kilometers away from Le Muy, surrounded by a terroir devoted to vines, Callas is a first step on the road to the Verdon Gorges.
The village owes its fame to the famous Hostellerie des Gorges de Pennafort and its starred chef Philippe Da Silva, a haven of peace and gastronomy overlooked by the Chapel of Pennafort, venue of an annual pilgrimage in an exceptional landscape.
Besides its quality restaurants, gastronomy and lifestyle are also well represented in the village: the Moulin de Callas presses a famous extra virgin olive oil, Gold Medalist in Paris. Gold medal also for the “à l’ancienne” Vinegar vintage Confidential from Vinaigrerie du Clos Saint Antoine. Finally, equally renowned, the wine from La Bastide du Plan, Gold medalist also, sublimates the dishes of the regional gourmets.
At the bottom of the village, the J.M. Blanc workshop perpetuates the popular Provencal tradition with its hand-painted santons and cribs accessories.

www.callas-festival.com