This year again the Festival is the scene of many world premieres, inviting listeners on novel musical journeys. At the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, three composers (Lara Morciano, Samir Amarouch and Eric Montalbetti) propose three new pieces each, in close connection with the Arte povera of Pier Paolo Calzolari. Laurent Cuniot reinvents TheSong of the Earth in his new score inspired by Gustave Mahler’s work. Sophie Lacaze invites us to meet the culture of Aboriginal Australians in her latest opera, L’étoffe inépuisable du rêve. And dreams are also what the “musical siesta” is about, a special occasion devised by flutist and composer Fabrice Jünger to premiere his piece for flutes and electronics, Naisei.
SATURDAY 16 MARCH 8:00 PM — Théâtre des Variétés Sophie Lacaze L’étoffe inépuisable du rêve, chamber opera in 2 acts world premiere, a coproduction of Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain (France) – Clermont Auvergne Opéra (France) – Festival Ars Musica (Belgium)
SUNDAY 24 MARCH & SUNDAY 7 APRIL 11:00 AM — Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, Villa Paloma Lara Morciano, Samir Amarouch, Eric Montalbetti Works for clarinet, for accordion and for cello world premieres, commissioned by Printemps des Arts de Monte-Carlo
FRIDAY 29 MARCH 8:00 PM — Théâtre National de Nice, salle des Franciscains Laurent Cuniot The Song of the Earth, for mezzo-soprano, tenor and sixteen instruments world premiere, commissioned by Printemps des Arts de Monte-Carlo
For the first time, the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco and Printemps des Arts de Monte-Carlo joined forces to create an event at the crossroads of visual arts and music. Carte blanche was thus given to Lara Morciano, Samir Amarouch and Éric Montalbetti to compose pieces inspired by the exhibition “Pier Paolo Calzolari – Casa ideale” at Villa Paloma.
Born in Bologna in 1943, Pier Paolo Calzolari is considered as one of the leading artists of Arte Povera, an Italian artistic movement of the 1960s-70s characterised by the use of “poor” materials as well as the transient and process-oriented dimension of the artwork. Calzolari thus became known for the poetics of fragility displayed in his works which made use of natural, unstable materials such as frost, steam, tobacco leaves, etc.
And aren’t fragility and transience also features of music itself?What is left of music once the instruments have fallen silent? Impressions, memories – those which Véronique Fèvre (clarinet), Fanny Vicens (accordion), Frédéric Audibert (cello) will create for the listeners to hold on to. As another celebration of the flying of time.
