URBAN GUIDE

All summer long the region is abuzz with performing arts festivals. For 50 years now our towns and villages have been yearly enlivened by a varied array of music, drama and dance events.

Today’s amazing abundance of cultural events in Provence has its roots in the pagan and religious festivals of old and the democratisation of leisure in the post-war boom years, when paid holidays and education had become the norm. Cultural centres sprang up everywhere, aided by local and regional goverment and the policies of culture ministers like André Malraux and Jack Lang. Suddenly there were venues for live entertainments and people with the leisure to enjoy them. These days, you’d have to be blind and deaf to miss one or other of Provence’s super festivals! Here’s just a sample.

Le Festival d’Avignon (Ultra)-violet
Pink for girls, blue for boys, mix them together for violet. Every year the Avignon festival turns the town and its environs upside down, and perhaps more so than ever this year, because the festival is exploring issues of gender, sexuality and trans identity. Thomas Jolly with Seneca’s Thyeste, choreographer Emanuel Gat and the Modern ensemble with Story Water, François Chaignaud with Romances inciertos, Phia Ménard and Didier Ruiz: each tackles the subject in their own way. Among the many delights of this 72nd Avignon festival is the return of Sasha Waltz. And there’s drama, dance and finance at La Scierie with Pur Présent. Official festival and fringe both kick off on 6 July; the official festival closes on 24 July and the fringe on the 29th.
festival-avignon.com

Le Festival d’Aix The other golden oldie
Almost as much a part of history as the Avignon festival but not as old as the Chorégies d’Orange, the Festival international d’art lyrique in Aix-en-Provence has its 70th birthday this year. Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, Prokofiev’s Fiery Angel, Mozart’s Magic Flute, Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Adamek’s Seven Stones and finally the trio Adwen, Moody and Van Der Harst with Orfeo & Majnun, midway between East and West. This virtuoso opera season runs from 4 to 22 July.
festival-aix.com

Les Chorégies d’Orange Grand old lady
In one of the most majestic relics of imperial Rome, 8300 music lovers from all over the world gather, cushions under their arms, to settle on the semi-circular tiers of the Roman theatre. Let the show begin! But the Chorégies, now in its 150th year, is in mortal (financial) danger. And this year’s updated programme, less middle-brow and more innovative than usual, has to compete with the World Cup, happening at the same time. As well as the operas, which include Boito’s Mefistofele to open the festival and a dazzling Barber of Seville to close it, there are concerts and a film concert (Disney’s Fantasia) for a great month of music from 5 July to 4 August.
choregies.fr

Other dates
On 15 and 16 June, Marsatac transform Parc Chanot into a tropical beach with turbocharged hip-hop and artificial palms. From 14 to 22 June it’s Musique à Bagatelle with free concerts of jazz, swing and blues. The Festival de Marseille runs from 15 June to 8 July with various performing arts, and Des Mots des Étoiles, Marseille’s first open-air drama festival, is at Théâtre Sylvain on 4 and 5 July. From 9 to 15 July Les Suds offers days and nights of world music in the majestic Roman theatre in Arles. Another grand venue is the Renaissance courtyard of Château d’Empéri in Salon-de-Provence where the 26th Festival International de Musique de Chambre runs from 25 July to 8 August. The Musicales du Luberon, from 21 July to 8 August, is a great occasion to discover the villages of this magical area as well as enjoying the concerts and operas. 
And there are Les Nuits d’Istres in Istres, Musiques, Danses et Voix du Monde in Martigues, Charlie Jazz in Vitrolles and La Font de Mai in Aubagne, partnering the Jazz des Cinq Continents for one of its shows. The list is too long and the nights too short to take them all in!

Par Gérard Martin