In these times of restrictions and uncertainty, the 11th Biarritz Piano Festival was finally able to take place. The organizers have proven that with a little inventiveness and effort, it is quite possible to give concerts despite the new sanitary restrictions. To do this, they had to redesign the famous rotunda of the Bellevue space, and imagine a new seating plan that the prefecture approved. The 700 seats originally planned have been reduced by two thirds, and seats have been arranged in groups of one, two or three, depending on the spectators coming alone or accompanied.
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Receiving fewer audiences also offered the advantage of dispensing with a defined placement, which allowed the ushers to place the music lovers as they arrived, calm and without jostling. Alexandre Tharauda opened the ball with two recitals of 1h each. Here is another find of the organizers to satisfy the greatest number: asking the artists to give two short recitals rather than a long evening. Alexandre Tharaud, who perfectly personifies French elegance, was greeted with thunderous applause. Marie-Ange Nguci followed, whose concert Le Figaro broadcast live. It was then the turn of Alexandre Kantorow, the current sensation of the French piano, to enchant the public with a program essentially devoted to Brahms, apart from the encore, taken again at the end of Stravinsky's Firebird. A classic on the way to becoming a hit if we believe its effect on the audience!
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Thomas Valverde, who is also the artistic director of the festival, for his part devoted his two concerts to Beethoven, sneaking in short personal compositions which blend perfectly with the music of the master of Vienna. Paul Lay, the last artist to occupy the stage, also paid tribute to this composer, for concerts more oriented towards improvisation and jazz in a perfect balance between fantasy and respect for the original work. Unusually, the poster for this edition was exclusively French: inviting foreign artists turned out to be too perilous in view of the pandemic. Next festival in Biarritz: Le Temps d'aimer, from September 11 to 20, an unmissable event for dance lovers. We can only wish him the same success.
