Don't talk to him about institutionalization, it bristles him:
“In ten years, our festival has not been institutionalized: it has become humanized”
, corrects Dominique Bluzet.
The one who claims to have deeply questioned his role as theater director since the pandemic assures him:
“At a time of inclusion, and of all-out social concerns, excellence is not a bad word.
There are still people who think that it is an elitist concept which would in fact exclude part of the population.
I think the opposite.
She is the ultimate emotion.
The one to which everyone is entitled.
We cannot ask the question of cultural excellence without at the same time asking the question of the spectator who would come for the first time, or the spectator of 8 or 9 years old.
An opinion shared by Solesne Loy.
The young violinist, who is already part of the educational team at the Jaroussky Academy, has developed an important educational component for the Easter Festival aimed at very young children.
The latter will be set up this year, as part of the program A festival in sharing, which already brings together the various master classes, concerts outside the walls and in the region, and other social actions implemented for a few years by the event.
"It's a program that already represents 10% to 12% of the festival's budget, and which for us has become, in the same way as the Génération @ Aix concerts, part of our DNA"
, continues Dominique Bluzet.
“We were doing actions for schoolchildren in this context, but we still lacked a section for toddlers,
adds Renaud Capuçon.
However, at a time when we are discovering a little more each day the benefits of music from the first months of life, reaching very early childhood seemed essential to us.
Read also Aix-en-Provence Easter Festival: the chef's surprise
Singing tomorrows
Of which act.
From this year, in addition to the traditional concerts for families, Solesne Loy will host, ahead of the two concerts for families offered by the festival (
Pierre et le Loup
in jazz version, April 1, and
Monsieur Crocodile is very hungry
, by Joann Sfar and Marc-Olivier Dupin, April 8), several workshops for children.
“For the moment, we are mainly aimed at the public of 7 to 12 years old, but we aim to extend them to the youngest from next year, to gradually move towards 2-3 years old”
, she says.
Handling real musical instruments, making other more original ones, reappropriating stories and characters by means of masks that they themselves will have made, but also an introduction to conducting or meetings with the musicians of Génération @ Aix.
Give back to music one of its first virtues: that of bringing together people from different backgrounds and ages around a common emotion
Solesne Loy, soloist
“We want them to be able to feel like spectators, musicians and actors at the same time”
, continues the young instrumentalist and violin teacher.
Which confirms that there is, among the musicians of his generation, an increasingly important desire to address very young audiences.
Not only to "train" future spectators, or to encourage the vocation of professional musicians, but also to
"give back to music one of its first virtues: that of bringing together people from different backgrounds and ages around a common emotion.
This can be done in a concert hall.
But also within a family.
We know that when children take part in this type of workshop, they then tell their parents about it.
And that promotes a real moment of exchange.”
Read alsoAix-en-Provence: a weekend to enjoy art and family outings
Moreover, the young woman would like to go even further, by setting up in the years to come "preludes" to the big evening concerts for toddlers who cannot accompany their parents.
“We would ask the young musicians of Génération @ Aix to play them excerpts from the works programmed during the concert and to quickly present the works, so that parents and children can discuss them again together before and after the concert, and thus discuss what they felt each on their own.”
The violinist Solesne Loy has developed an important educational component for the Easter Festival for very young children Aix-en-Provence Easter Festival_Caroline Doutre
To be continued.
For now, between the workshops offered by the festival at the Théâtre du Jeu de Paume as well as at the Conservatoire, and the two sessions with primary school pupils that Solesne Loy will lead on the sidelines of the event, this new part of the festival shares should make it possible to reach nearly 200 children.
A number promised to grow exponentially in the years to come.
Enough to augur a bright future for the Aix public over the next ten years.
And allow the festival to gain a little more in "humanity", by
"instilling in these very young children, who are no less future adults, the desire for shared emotion"
, concludes Dominique Bluzet...
