A story of faith.
So we could sum up this 2021 edition of the Easter Festival.
An exceptional edition in more than one way.
Artistic, first of all, with a sparkling program which, in the face of adversity, more than ever gives pride of place to youth and daring.
To excellence and sharing.
Daniel Barenboïm and Martha Argerich will rub shoulders with the succession of a Lahav Shani or an Alexandre Kantorow… The
Twenty views on the Child Jesus
, by Momo Kodama, will cross that of Raphaël Pichon on the
Passion according to Saint Matthew
by Bach.
Barbara Hannigan will have a dialogue, in concert, the electro composer David Chalmin and some of the best soloists of their generation - from Adélaïde Ferrière to Bertrand Chamayou…
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“We couldn't have an audience, but we didn't want to give up our DNA either
,” confesses Renaud Capuçon.
The DNA of the Easter Festival is first and foremost the young soloists, who need the light more than ever at this time.
This is why I will close the festival with a carte blanche which will bring together fourteen of them around me.
When I asked them, almost all of them answered me within two minutes.
That says a lot about their thirst for playing! ”
Continues the violinist, co-director of the event with Dominique Bluzet.
But this DNA is also
“the great orchestras and the great names.
Creation.
These moments of sharing and solidarity that are the master class or the concert for Aixois.
Or of spirituality, like those passions that we give every year. ”
The flamboyant conductor and soprano Barbara Hannigan.
Musacchio & Ianniello
That of 2021,
Saint Matthew
, will be broadcast from a highly symbolic place: the Church of the Madeleine.
"It is a place well known to Aixois, not only because it housed many works of art, but also because the building, whose stability was threatened, has been closed for work for years,"
explains Dominique Bluzet. .
It is an incredible metaphor for what we are experiencing, the festival and this period full of symbols and hope that is the Easter period. ”
"The DNA of the Easter Festival is first and foremost the young soloists, who need the light more than ever at this time"
Renaud Capuçon, violinist, festival co-director
And hope, this 2021 edition is not lacking.
His outfit is already a lesson in resilience.
“Last year we learned that the festival could only take place a week before the opening.
We were fortunate to have a patron who told us: “We're here, we won't let go of you.”
This extraordinary solidarity, not only financial but moral, led us to tell ourselves that we could and that we had to emerge stronger from this crisis.
So this year, even without an audience in the room, it was out of the question to give up!
Two years in a row without a festival, it was unimaginable! ”
Continues the patron of theaters.
François-Xavier Roth at the baton and his Les Siècles orchestra.
CAROLINE_DOUTRE
What Capuçon confirms:
“I couldn't even consider a second cancellation.
We are the first big festival of the year.
We must give the impetus for all those who will follow.
A cancellation would have sent the wrong signal. ”
This is also the opinion of CIC, a founding partner.
“Beyond the event itself, it is to music and musicians that we want to express our solidarity.
We never thought that the crisis should slow down our support for the festival.
On the contrary, we want to see in this edition the opportunity to open the festival to as many people as possible… ”
"We want to see in this edition the opportunity to open the festival to as many people as possible"
Renaud Capuçon, violinist, festival co-director
An opening which will therefore pass this year, exceptionally, by the free broadcasting of all concerts in streaming.
"We will offer each Internet user, if they wish, free participation",
specifies Bluzet.
But also through innovation.
Failing to attend the indoor concerts, spectators will benefit, for the first time in the history of the festival, and for the first time in the history of the classic, from the InLive Stream process.
“An immersive multi-screen experience, which allows each spectator to choose their own angle of view, whether they want to zoom in on the pianist's hands or see the singer in full height.
The crisis is what it is, but we wanted to show that it should not be a brake on innovation either, ”
continues Daniel Baal, CEO of CIC.
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“It's not a gimmick,”
adds Renaud Capuçon.
On the contrary, it is a question of bringing the spectator closer to the artist in order to put him back in the center.
This is what we have always defended at the festival: the primacy of the artist.
Just as we did not want this crisis and the constraints of a 100% digital festival to dictate less demanding programming, we wanted to offer spectators an unforgettable and extraordinary experience. ”
Spectators that the event hopes to reach in numbers.
“In 2019, we welcomed 27,000 spectators.
This digital edition offers us the opportunity to go well beyond this figure, and to reach audiences who until then were not, ”
Bluzet analyzes.
Who already warns that the demonstration could, in the future, like miraculous Lazarus, continue to walk on two legs:
"One in face, the other in digital."