Summer’s here, which means festivals in such profusion that it’s hard to know which way to turn. Culture is thriving in Provence!
Festival d’Aix en Provence - Contemporary focus
Theatre director and artistic director Pierre Audi is Alain Foccroulle’s successor as head of the venerable Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. Audi founded the Almeida Theatre in London in his youth, then revived the fortunes of the Dutch National Opera and headed the Holland Festival from 2005 to 2014. Quite a track record – on the strength of which, for the 2019 edition, he has put together a programme of major works with a strong dose of modern and contemporary music. Mozart’s Requiem sets the ball rolling in a new production with Raphaël Pichon wielding the baton. That’s at the Théâtre de l’Archevêché, where it’s followed by Puccini’s Tosca conducted by Daniele Rustioni. The Grand Théâtre de Provence is showing The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny by Kurt Weill, then moves on to a living composer, Wolfgang Rihm, with his Jakob Lenz. Coming right up to date, Adam Mao’s opera The Sleeping Thousand is at the Théâtre du Jeu de Paume and Blank Out by Michel van der Aa has its French premier at the Auditorium Campra, Conservatoire Darius Milhaud.
Du 3 au 22 juillet - www.festival-aix.com
Les Chorégies d’Orange - 150-year record!
Rossini’s Guillaume Tell and Mozart’s Don Giovanni vie for top place in this jubilee season. Dance is back, with choreographer Jean-Christophe Maillot and his revival of Prokoviev’s Romeo and Juliet. Also featuring are tenor Ramon Vargas in recital and Jaap van Zweden conducting Mahler’s Symphony of a Thousand. A splendid programme.
Les 14, 15 et 16 juin. Marseille - www.marsatac.com
Festival d’Avignon - Keys to the city
Anyone who hasn’t been to Avignon during the festival hasn’t lived! The town is abuzz with activity, and posters for the fringe festival (a child of May 1968) are pasted up and pasted over and repasted on walls all over town in a battle for the public’s attention. Street theatre troupes patrol the streets handing out flyers in the heat of the day. No fewer than 40 venues are involved, including some listed as Unesco World Heritage sites. Avignon is the undisputed champion for fringe festivals, with all kinds of theatre to choose from. It’s best to book online and buy a season pass, which gets you ticket discounts.
As to the official festival, now in its 73rd year, it turns the great courtyard of the medieval Palais des Papes into a huge open-air stage for contemporary theatre at its best.
Festival d’Avignon, du 4 au 23 juillet - www.festival-avignon.com
Festival OFF d’Avignon, du 5 juillet au 28 juillet - www.avignonleoff.com
Par Dominique Juan
Côteweb 2021, création de site Internet sur Nice