For its 68th edition, with performances taking place from July 29 to August 13, the Menton Music Festival, masterfully led for the past five years by conductor Paul Emmanuel Thomas, offers us magical moments with international artists, some of whom will be performing in Menton for the first time.
Other artists have left their mark on the festival, and the discerning audience will thus have the pleasure of welcoming the much-anticipated return of the virtuoso Turkish pianist Fazil Say. He has been nicknamed the festival’s darling child.
It was Andrรฉ Bรถrรถez, the creator of this Menton event, who introduced us to Fazil. The Menton Music Festival is an alchemy, a perfect harmony of sounds and music. Menton is a symbiosis between simplicity and prestige; simplicity in its design and prestige with its lineup featuring the most renowned artists. The forecourt of the Basilica of Saint Michael with its buildings, the sea, and the mountains is an opera setting in itself.
Furthermore, this year Menton innovates with the concert version presentation of an opera: a Baroque opera by Monteverdi, “The Coronation of Poppea.” The settings are perfectly baroque, and the music will slowly rise and disperse over this forecourt, barely disturbed by the gentle splash of waves licking the shore.
The piano, violin, and harp are the privileged instruments. Music lovers will be delighted with this program where concert, chamber music, and opera are the chapters of this festival, whose pages we are eager to turn. Last year, we were offered the first part of Beethoven’s complete piano concertos, and we will have the pleasure of discovering the second chapter of this complete work.
In Menton, they know how to go beyond the classical, and this year tango has its moment of glory with “Noche Tango” (Tango Night). Alas, all good things must come to an end, and this festival will conclude with a vibrant tribute to Vivaldi.
The Menton Music Festival takes place at two prestigious venues in the pearl of France: the forecourt of the Basilica of Saint Michael and the Jean Cocteau Museum. Like any other festival, Menton has its “off” sessions on the Francis Palmero esplanade. It is an opportunity for the general public to discover lyrical art with free concerts.
Just like in Avignon, the “off” is a magnificent opportunity to stimulate one’s sensitivity with these concerts discovered perhaps by chance. From July 29 to August 13, Menton will live to the rhythm of music whose notes lose themselves in the starry night of an azure sky.
Thierry Jan
