On the Riviera there's barely a summer night without a music festival bonding an enthusiastic audience, be it around classical, jazz, rock, pop or electronic music.
Ready to wave your arms in the air to French Touch DJ sets? To grin beatifically to feel-good songs or suspend time in the company of virtuoso soloists? Throughout the summer the Côte d’Azur's stages welcome a host of renowned stars alongside talented young musicians out to make a name for themselves. Among the most prestigious events is the Monte-Carlo Sporting Summer Festival over July and August, when the Salle des Etoiles will host some of the world's greatest pop artistes such as Rod Stewart, Jamie Cullum and Tom Jones. Over in Puget-sur-Argens the music will also be in full swing all summer long at the Festival du Mas des Escaravatiers, a prime Provençal party place with an eclectic programme including the feminine Lou Doillon, the energetic Tambours du Bronx, Jeanne Added, and Yuri Buenaventura's danceable melodies.
Jazz and world music
In early July the friendly ambience of Vence's Nuits du Sud, its mascot an effigy of director Téo Saavedra, sets the tone on Place du Grand Jardin, starting with a concert by Cock Robin and the opinionated Zaz. In Beaulieu-sur-Mer, the Nuits Guitares will strum away for three nights headlined by Emir Kusturica & The No Smoking Orchestra's wild gypsy rock, Christophe with his new album Les vestiges du Chaos, and Thomas Dutronc delivering his pop sounds with gypsy-like virtuosity. Thanks to the iconic Jazz à Juan, the Pinède Gould will echo to the hits of Earth Wind & Fire, Gregory Porter, Diana Krall, soul diva Selah Sue and electric-bass pioneer Marcus Miller. Having drawn 60,000 people last year, the Nice Jazz Festival has programmed no less than 31 concerts for this edition, among them Massive Attack, Robert Plant, Melody Gardot and Ibrahim Maalouf. Additionally it's holding the second Nice Music Live nights featuring rap by Maître Gims, DJ The Avener, sunny duo Fréro Delavega and rock band Louise Attaque, plus a Silent Event, meaning a concert you listen to through headphones.
Beaches to classical venues
Between its sea and mountains the Riviera offers some fantastic venues. Head to the heights for La Turbie's Musicales du Trophée in August with violinist Liza Kerob and soprano María-Cristina Kiehr. "Nowhere else does there exist a place more unusual, more unexpected, more suspended in space than the Festival de Musique de Menton," according to Jean Cocteau. Here the stones of the Basilique Saint-Michel Archange will vibrate to the torch-lit music of pianists Boris Berezovsky, Nicholas Angelich, and Khatia Buniatishvili accompanied by violinist Renaud Capuçon. Thanks to Saint-Paul de Vence's Festival de Musique de Chambre, Vadim Repin is giving his only French concert this summer in the delightful setting of Place de la Courtine, and the Quatuor Modigliani is performing for the first time with the Lithuanian Julian Rachlin. Les Nuits du Château de la Moutte in Saint-Tropez starts off with a tribute to Franz Liszt, whose daughter Blandine lived here, while in Cannes music lovers will flock to the forecourt of the Notre-Dame d’Espérance church for the Nuits Musicales du Suquet featuring Francis Huster reading Le songe d’une nuit d’été (A Midsummer Night's Dream) with pianist Giovanni Belluci. The festivities culminate on the beach in August with the Plages Electroniques, when all the young hipsters will bop 'til they drop to Nina Kraviz's futuristic sounds, Carl Craig's groove pearls, Apollonia's dazzling sets and DJ Snake's sound tsunami. A 2016 season packed with thrills to dance and vibe to.
Puget-sur-Argens : Festival Le Mas, jusqu’au 6 août. lemas-concert.com
Monaco : Monte-Carlo Sporting Summer Festival, du 2 juillet au 20 août. www.montecarlolive.com
La Turbie : Musicales du Trophée, du 5 au 26 juillet. www.musicalesdutrophee.fr
Vence : Nuits du Sud, du 07 au 23 juillet. www.nuitsdusud.com
Nice : Nice Music Live, du 13 au 26 juillet. festival.nicemusiclive.fr
Antibes : Jazz à Juan, du 14 au 24 juillet. www.jazzajuan.com
Nice : Nice Jazz Festival, du 16 au 20 juillet. www.nicejazzfestival.fr
Cannes : Nuits musicales du Suquet, du 18 au 23 juillet. www.cannes.com
Beaulieu-sur-Mer : Nuits guitares, du 21 au 23 juillet. www.lesnuitsguitares.com
Saint-Paul-de-Vence : Festival de musique de chambre, du 22 au 31 juillet. www.festivalsaintpauldevence.com
Menton : Festival de musique de Menton, du 29 juillet au 14 août. www.festival-musique-menton.fr
Saint-Tropez : Nuits du Château de la Moutte, du 1er au 13 août. lesnuitsduchateaudelamoutte.com
Cannes : Plages électroniques, du 4 au 6 août. www.plages-electroniques.com
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