In ten years, the Easter Festival of Aix-en-Provence will not have imposed itself only as the temple of chamber music excellence.
It has also become the home of major orchestras.
From youth orchestras, such as the Gustav Mahler Orchestra, invited from the first year, to the oldest phalanxes in Europe, such as the Staatskapelle in Dresden!
From France's flagship formations (the orchestras of Radio France, the Paris Opera, but also many regional orchestras), to world references such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Opera Orchestra or well the Budapest Festival Orchestra.
The latter is also returning to the Grand Théâtre this year, after a first appearance in 2016, for a
Third
by Mahler that has remained in all the memories of festival-goers.
This year, it is with Richard Strauss that
Ivan Fischer
will grab the pulpit of his orchestra.
The Hungarian conductor, anxious to defend his country's repertoire, will also accompany Renaud Capuçon in Bartok's
Concerto No. 1
(April 3).
He is not the only great chef to return under the skies of Aix, for the 10th anniversary of the event.
François-Xavier Roth
, who has become a regular, will bring his Cologne orchestra there for the first time (April 10).
Lionel Bringuier
, present last year with Nice, will this time oversee the young people of the Karajan-Akademie (April 13).
Semyon Bychkov
, there from the first year with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, will present to the public, in Mahler, the Czech Philharmonic with which he has established since 2018, as musical director, an incredibly beneficial artistic relationship (April 4).
Pianist Marielle Labèque, who shares his life, and her sister Katia will also be present, alongside another baton who has already marked the history of the festival, and who returns this time as a singer:
Barbara Hannigan
(
Electric Fields
, April 11).
Read alsoAix-en-Provence Easter Festival: sharing excellence from 7 to 77 years old… And beyond!
“A whirlwind of great orchestras”
In the midst of this
“whirlwind of great orchestras”
, as Renaud Capuçon defines it, several prestigious baguettes will also join the big family of the festival for the first time this year.
Fabio Luisi
will thus pay a tribute to Wagner, mirroring the
Flying Dutchman
, with the essential RAI National Symphony Orchestra (April 8).
René Jacobs
, with his B'Rock Orchestra (April 6), will be keen to remind people that the Baroque has always had a place at the festival (
Christophe Rousset
is, moreover, returning the next day to conduct
Bach's
Saint Matthew ).
After the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, the other phalanx founded by the late Claudio Abbado, his Mozart Orchestra will come under the baton of
Daniele Gatti
(April 12).
Finally,
Klaus Mäkelä
and the Orchester de Paris, who had never come for Easter before, will accompany another expected return: that of the pianist Yuja Wang, in the creation of a concerto by Magnus Lindberg composed especially for her (15 april).
