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Month: September 2020

Photos: Monaco celebrates historic concert under the stars

by: Cassandra Tanti
22/09/2020

Cecilia Bartoli, the future Director of the Opera de Monte-Carlo, has made her mark on the Principality, performing with the Musiciens du Prince-Monaco in the first cultural event to take place in the new Place du Casino.
140 years after the inauguration of the Monte-Carlo Opera and the Salle Garnier by the great Sarah Bernhardt, Cecilia Bartoli, together with the Musiciens du Prince-Monaco, inaugurated the brand-new Place du Casino with a concert on Saturday 19th September.
Organised by Monte-Carlo Société des Bains de Mer Group and the Monte-Carlo Opera, the concert was honoured by the presence of HSH Prince Albert and HRH Princess Caroline of Hanover, accompanied by Beatrice Casiraghi and members of the Princely family.
“It is a pleasure and an honour for us to welcome Cecilia Bartoli and Les Musiciens du Prince-Monaco,” said Jean-Luc Biamonti, CEO of Monte-Carlo Société des Bains de Mer. “We could not have hoped for a more beautiful cultural event for the new Place du Casino, whose open and flexible configuration now makes it possible to welcome such public events.”
Mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli, recognised as one of the most beautiful voices in the world, Principal Conductor Gianluca Capuano, and the Musiciens du Prince-Monaco delighted 200 privileged guests who had gathered in front of the legendary Casino de Monte-Carlo, performing a series of famous arias and a repertoire inspired by the 17th and 18th centuries.
It was the first public performance by Cecilia Bartoli since her position as Director of the Opera was announced late last year.
“For the Monte-Carlo Opera, it is also a joy to showcase the talent of Cecilia Bartoli, who will assume her direction from January 2023,” said Jean-Louis Grinda, Director of the Monte-Carlo Opera.
Cecilia Bartoli will be the first female in the opera’s history to take on the position.
Saturday night’s ensemble was created in July 2016 by the Opéra de Monte-Carlo under the direction of Jean-Louis Grinda, with the support of Prince Albert II of Monaco and the Princess of Hanover. The concert is part of a European tour which will take the ensemble to some of most beautiful venues and festivals across the continent and serves as a prelude to  the Opéra de Monte-Carlo’s new season, which begins on 21st October 2020.
 
Click on the pictures below to enlarge…
 


 

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Top photo: © Monte-Carlo Société des Bains de Mer – JC Vinaj
 
 

Brighter, faster and more powerful

by: Stephanie Horsman
22/09/2020

The Principality now has a new, easily identifiable way to locate electric vehicle recharging stations, introducing bright yellow ‘Monaco On’ recharging points that are also faster and more powerful.

Due to higher demand, the government of Monaco is gradually replacing randomly-placed self-service outlets with electric vehicle service stations in public car parks and on the road, grouping together several terminals as a way to make them more readily recognisable to users.

The new outlets will be faster and more powerful, in response to the latest breed of electric and hybrid vehicle’s needs. They have always been free to use, only now, they will be more clearly recognisable and efficient.

The Casino, Grimaldi Forum and Portier car parks are already equipped and the Fontvieille Shopping Centre is next on the list. A total of 91 fast charging stations are installed or in the process of being installed. 71 of them are 7kva stations and 20 are 22kva stations. On the road, nine sites are on offer. There are 11 fast charging stations, seven semi-fast charging stations and four slow charging stations currently online.

There will be more stations rolling out in the next few weeks and they will mostly be found in high-traffic areas such as shopping areas or attractions. To coordinate and unify, the on-street terminals will soon be dressed in yellow like those in the car parks, making them amply visible to motorists.

“Ecological vehicles should be favoured in an urban space such as ours. It is in this perspective that the government is now developing an ever larger and more efficient network of charging stations, which are gradually being revamped in order to be noticed more easily, thanks to the Monaco On brand,” said Minister of Equipment, Environment and Town Planning Marie-Pierre Gramaglia.

It marks the next step in the government’s ongoing policy to support the use of electromobility in the Principality. Policies to this effect have been in place since 1994 and include such benefits as reductions in prices of annual public parking subscriptions, free street parking and no annual registration fees. There are almost 1,000 free charging points around the city, and no resident is more than 300 metres from one of these stations.

 
Photo from left to right: Gilles Manera of the Public Parkings Service, Minister of Equipment, Environment and Town Planning Marie-Pierre Gramaglia, Director of the Mission for the Energy Transition Annabelle Jaeger-Seydoux, and Director of Urban Planning Jean-Luc Puyo © Communication Department / Stéphane Danna

 

 

Peace and Sport unveils new app

by: Stephanie Horsman
22/09/2020

A new app by Monegasque organisation Peace and Sport is making it easier for educators and facilitators to spread the message of using sport as a means of creating a more peaceful and non-violent world.

Joël Bouzou, former World Champion and Olympic gold medallist in the Modern Pentathlon, first hit upon the idea that sport could be a tool used for peace back in 2007. This seed of an idea became Peace and Sport, his charitable foundation that has been a success in turning conflict into friendly play.

Since its inception, Peace and Sport has been critical in helping child soldiers reinsert themselves into normal society; it has given war orphans new-found confidence and refugees a purpose; and has helped give kids access to education who may otherwise not have that option.

Photo: President and Founder of Peace and Sport Joël Bouzou© Manuel Vitali/ Communication Department

On Monday 21st September, the organisation led by Mr Bouzou, rolled out a new app to get their message out to even more people. The launch was attended by Monegasque dignitaries including Minister of State Pierre Dartout, National Council Vice-President Brigitte Boccone-Pagès, and Director General of the Department of the Interior Christophe Prat.

Created in collaboration with Nice company MyCoach, the new application brings together an e-learning platform with instructions for facilitators, educators and teachers who may not be well-versed in the world of sport. Videos and tutorials show them how to incorporate the methodology developed by Peace and Sport to help displaced and underprivileged children and adults learn new sets of values under the auspice of friendly competition.

The app also features a way to make it possible to track the results of the work being done in order to attract more investment and interest in the organisation. 

 
 
 
 

New carpooling app launched

by: Stephanie Horsman
21/09/2020

Klaxit has been launched in Monaco and the government is hoping the carpooling app will have an impact on the tens of thousands of workers who travel into and out of the Principality every day.

The short-distance carpooling app has already found success in France and is now available for commuters in Monaco who are looking for ways to lessen the traffic burden and help the environment. In addition to ride-sharing, Klaxit offers workshops, reports, milestones and documentation so users can follow the impact of the app.

Twenty-five companies, all signatories of the National Pact for Energy Transition and representing 9,300 employees, are participating in the programme. The aim is to quickly hit a “critical mass” of users in order to best assess how effective the app is.

“50,000 French and Italian employees travel to the Principality daily, most of them by car, with an average occupancy rate of 1.1 people per vehicle. This flow of employees, which is obviously essential to the economic dynamism of the Principality, poses a huge challenge particularly in terms of congestion and greenhouse gas emissions,” said Marie-Pierre Gramaglia, Minister of Equipment, Environment and Town Planning.

Despite current health restrictions which limit the number of people able to ride together, the government decided to go ahead with the launch. The reasoning is that mobility solutions to cut pollution and traffic are “essential” to Monaco and delaying won’t alter that, especially as the goal is to cut traffic density by 20% in the next decade, equalling levels not seen since 1990.

The experiment is due to last one year as a collaborative public-private venture supported by the Mission for the Energy Transition, the Directorate of Prospective, Urban Planning and Mobility, and the Department of Digital Services.

 

 

Celebrities to support Prince at fundraising gala

by: Cassandra Tanti
21/09/2020

Singing legend Sting will be honoured at this week’s Monte-Carlo Gala for Planetary Health, as Prince Albert rolls out the red carpet to raise money for his Foundation’s conservation efforts.
For the fourth year in a row, the exclusive gala will bring together global philanthropists, policy makers, business leaders, scientists and celebrities on the terrace of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo.
Organised by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, this year’s event will be held under the theme ‘The Ocean, Earth and Humanity’ and take place on Thursday 24th September.
17-time Grammy award winner Sting will be honoured by the Prince for his deep commitment to the preservation of the planet and indigenous communities. He will follow in the footsteps of previous honourees Leonardo Di Caprio, Orlando Bloom and Robert Redford.
Academy award winning actress Dame Helen Mirren, actor Andy Garcia and actress Kate Beckinsale will serve as Masters of Ceremony.
Guest list aside, one of the highlights of the Monte-Carlo Gala for Planetary Health is the jaw-dropping auction, which features many lots donated by Prince Albert himself. Last year his customised DaVinci Hyper electric supercar and personal electric powerboat were among the items that went under the hammer of Simon de Pury.
Traditionally, all proceeds go towards the Foundation’s priority projects including those mitigating the impact of climate change on the ocean. But in this unprecedented year, the Foundation will also be supporting the Monaco Red Cross in their activities on the ground to fight the global Covid-19 pandemic.
The Foundation says that strict health measures will be applied throughout the evening.
 
Photo: Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation
 
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Planet health in the spotlight

by: Cassandra Tanti
21/09/2020

Surrounding the dazzling Monte-Carlo Gala is a week of exclusive events that are open to the public and also place human and planetary health firmly on the agenda.
While Thursday night’s star-studded gala is likely to draw the biggest headlines, there are a series of presentations leading up to the gala that are also important to the Prince’s cause.
This year, the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation has joined forces with the Yacht Club of Monaco, the Société des Bains de Mer, the Oceanographic Institute, the Monaco Yacht Show, the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco and the Monaco Private Label to support not only the environment, but also the local economy during a week that is normally filled by the Monaco Yacht Show.
The week of events kicked off on Monday 21st with a charity golf tournament organised by the Monaco Private Label at Terre Blanche Golf Club.
Film
There will also be an outdoor cinema installed on the roof of the Monaco Yacht Club, where documentary films dedicated to the environment will be screened. South African explorer Mike Horn will open the week with a preview of his film retracing his last Arctic expedition. Three other documentaries will be presented in collaboration with the Jackson Wild Film Festival: Reef Rescue on the 23rd, Sea of ​​Shadows on the 25th, and Corona – The Pandemic and the Pangolin on the 26th, in the presence of representatives of the production teams.
On Tuesday 22nd September, the Oceanographic Museum will host the screening of Planète Méditerranée, a documentary about the scientific expedition led by diver and marine biologist Laurent Ballesta to discover the little-known depths of the Mediterranean.
On Wednesday 23rd, the Oceanographic Institute will offer a conference dedicated to the Health of the Ocean and Human Health.
Art
Meanwhile, the New National Museum of Monaco and the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation will present Miró: La Peinture au Défi, an exhibition organised by the Joan Miró Estate, his grandson Joan Punyet Miró, and Galerie Gmurzynska in collaboration with the Successió Miró and the Fundación Mapfre. The exhibition brings together 63 works by the artist and will be on show from 23rd September to 25th October 2020 at Villa Paloma.
Meanwhile, one of Joan Miró’s works, generously offered by his grandson, will be auctioned during the Monte-Carlo Gala for Planetary Health.
Fashion
Responsible fashion will be in the spotlight on 23rd September when Pauline Ducruet, daughter of Princess Stephanie, hosts a master class around her Alter fashion brand in the ballroom of the Yacht Club. The designer will offer an exceptional pop-up store during the week, while Tommy Hilfiger will also offer an exhibition of his range of eco-responsible products within the Yacht Club of Monaco.
Gastronomy
On 22nd September at the Monte-Carlo Beach Hotel, Michelin-starred chef Benoit Witz will lead a sustainable cooking master class, highlighting the preservation of biodiversity through the use of local and seasonal produce and those sourced from sustainable fishing practices.
All of these events are by invitation or registration only in an effort to respect the strict health measures in place in Monaco.