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Day: 8 February 2021

Leader of ‘Modern Cuisine’ to head Monaco restaurant

by: Cassandra Tanti
08/02/2021

Yannick Alleno, holder of nine Michelin stars, will head his first restaurant in Monaco at the Hermitage Hotel, in what can only be described as a major coup for the Principality.
The exciting news was kept tightly under wraps until Monday when, in the Belle Epoque hall of the Hermitage Hotel, Société des Bains de Mer (SBM) Chairman and CEO Jean-Luc Biamonti excitedly revealed to local press the imminent arrival of one of France’s most respected chefs.
“We do not want to sit idly by in this crisis, we want to make sure that Monaco remains a city that is alive,” said Mr Biamonti. “That is why we have decided to take this initiative.”
Yannick Alleno made his debut at the Vistamar in July 2020 when he and his team from Paris cooked for the ‘Star Dining’ concept championed by Hermitage Managing Director Louis Starck.
It was a pivotal moment for both Alleno and Starck and set them on a path that will, in a few short months, finally align their futures and propel the one-starred Vistamar restaurant further on to the culinary stage.

Photo: Yannick Alleno, Louis Starck and Jean-Luc Biamonti during Monday’s press conference, by Monaco Life

“I think we both felt a strong friendship last summer, and it was an important moment for Louis Starck to bring people back to the terrace of the Hermitage,” Chef Yannick Alleno told Monaco Life. “So, we started to talk to Jean-Luc Biamonti about the future, and I am just so proud to now be a part of the Hermitage.”
Yannick Alleno is one of the world’s most respected and charming chefs. He heads the Pavillon Ledoyen in Paris, which alone features three of his starred restaurants: Pavyllon, which received its first Michelin star this year just months after opening, L’Abysse sushi restaurant, which was elevated to two stars, and three Michelin starred Alléno Paris, boasting some of the capital’s most sought after tables.
He also has the three Michelin starred Hôtel Le Cheval Blanc in Courcheval, bringing his total number of Michelin stars to nine. Then there are a host of other restaurants in Marrakech, Dubai and Korea.
So why did he decide to add Monaco to the list?
“I think a place like Monaco needs to be on the gastronomic map, it has to be in the game,” said Chef Alleno to Monaco Life. “Plus, I love Monaco and the French Riviera – the history, the architecture, the art… it is such a unique place with very special vibes.”
The Vistamar will be rebranded Yannick Alléno at the Hôtel Hermitage Monte-Carlo, and the current team will stay on board, including Head Chef Jean-Phillipe Borro.
Yannick Alleno says a cohesion between the two teams is vital to its success.
“It will not be team Alleno against team Vistamar,” he says. “They are happy to see us coming because any reason to preserve staff, particularly right now, is important and courageous. I am very proud to be part of the team. I know we will do a great job.”
The first stage of the transition will include a renovation of the terrace restaurant and a new cuisine. Yannick Alleno will be offering his guests something different while utilising fresh Mediterranean ingredients, adding the famous “Alleno touch”.
That, of course, includes his precious modern sauces created from “extractions”, and his revolutionary sugar-free desserts.
The second shift in 2022 will involve the installation of a glass-house on the terrace, reminiscent of Alleno’s Pavyllon in Paris, and a full interior redesign. The restaurant will have then completed its rebirth and be named Pavyllon at the Hotel-Hermitage Monte-Carlo.
First, Yannick Alleno and the team at the Hermitage hope to open to the public in early April, provided the Covid situation doesn’t derail that plan.
But as any fan of this dynamic, modern chef will tell you, what ever the date, it will be a momentous occasion for the Principality.
 
Top photo of Yannick Alleno by Monaco Life
 
Related stories:
Interview: Leader of ‘Modern Cuisine’ Yannick Alléno
 
 

Communicating with orcas, part 2

by: Kat Pirelli-Zucchetta
08/02/2021

Pierre Robert de Latour, aka the Orca Whisperer, talks to Monaco Life about the healing sound of orcas.
Pierre Robert de Latour may have a background in biochemistry, but he has been working with orcas for over 20 years. The founder of USEA (Undersea Soft Encounter Alliance) and Cetody has more than 6,000 dives under his belt with killer whales.
Orcas are one of 90 species of cetaceans – dolphins, porpoises and whales – and they have a complex way of communicating with vocal and body language, as well as emotional communication, suggests Pierre. They have magnificent structured bodies and can travel at speeds of up to 60 kilometres per hour with endurance. When they move through the water their vocalisations actually change the shape of the water. After so many years working and diving with orcas, Pierre started to realise the healing benefits of their sound waves. Through these amazing experiences, he has been fuelled to create a unique method of healing called Cetody.
In this interview, we unfold the story behind Pierre’s discovery of how orcas echolocation sounds can seemingly heal, detoxify and improve the health and wellbeing of humans as well as each other. Pierre’s wellness facility project located in France is based on the alternative medicine known as sound therapy. The technique of sound healing using instruments such as tuning forks and Tibetan bowls has been around for centuries. Pierre’s facility offers this alternative approach to healing but with a twist – the sound of orcas. He has combined his own experiences, knowledge, science and advanced recording devices to offer people the opportunity to feel and heal with the sound of orcas.
Monaco Life: Pierre, can you tell us about Cetody and Cetosonotherapy (CST)?
Pierre Robert de Latour: Cetody is the commercial name of my concept using Cetosonotherapy, which is a technique to heal people. Cetosonotherapy is a holistic method of care that uses the therapeutic virtues of sounds produced by cetaceans. It is part of alternative medicines using the therapeutic properties of sounds that include Sonotherapy (tuning fork, Tibetan bowl…) and Musicotherapy, and is based on the fact that cetaceans have developed the ability to use sounds in the liquid element to communicate between themselves, to locate their prey and also to heal themselves – knowledge that they have been transmitting from generation to generation for millions of years.
Can you tell us about a unique healing experience you have personally experienced while diving with orcas?
My strongest experience was during my first attempt at recording the songs of whales and orcas in Norway. It took place after dark. With some crew members, we stopped our boat in the middle of a fjord. We could hear the breaths of cetacean right next to us without being able to see them. When I plugged in the hydrophone, I was mesmerised by the beauty of these songs, by their depth. It was an unforgettable, almost mystical experience. We remained silent, stunned. We looked at each other without being able to speak. Everyone was crying on the boat; beautiful tears of radiant happiness. No one felt the biting cold any more. Orcas and whales were celebrating. What were they celebrating? I still do not know. But these songs that rose from the depths were like a symphony. The symphony of the abyss that healed our souls.
You mentioned during our last interview that after 22 years of expeditions with orcas, you believe that they can change and heal us. Can you describe exactly what you mean by that?
This is truly a remarkable point that I have noted over the years. I have guided more than 1,500 snorkelers in underwater close encounters with orcas and whales. Like me, these people all came with their own life experiences, their questions, and their scars. We maintained strong bonds, even when the adventure was over. For the most part, these people have seen their lives changed, and what is notable is that these changes are always in the direction of the “better”. Doubts give way to clairvoyance; choices are more obvious; scars disappear; the pain subsides whether moral or physical. It is this observation that made me seek a reason for these changes, and which made me hypothesise that everything comes from sound.

Pierre Robert de Latour applying his CST therapy

What do you believe are the benefits of Cetosonotherapy (CST)?
Cetosonotherapy is applied in addition to allopathic diagnosis and modern medicine and, depending on the technique of care applied,
– relieves physiological and psychological imbalances,
– maintains one’s life force, natural balance and youth,
– regenerates tissues, repairs and rejuvenates cells,
– eliminates toxins,
– prevents the appearance of pathologies by strengthening the immune system,
– can accompany pregnancy (preparation for childbirth), menopause or andropause,
– improves sleep, relaxation, general well-being,
– reduces stress, anxiety, tinnitus, phobias, depressive syndromes, some cases of autism,
– promotes concentration,
– increases physical and sports performance (individual and team), and the libido.
Once your centre is up and running, what would a CST session consist of? 
The sounds used in CST are specifically selected according to my experience for their beneficial effects and come from the following species: orcas, humpback whales, false orcas, dolphins, and sperm whales, recorded with Aquarian Audio hydrophon H1A (1 Hz to 100 KHz), PA1-PIP buffer amp and Zoom H1 Handy Recorder in wav files.
These sounds selected during our tests are called the Healing Cetaceans Sounds (HCS) and their application is achieved through three different Cetosonotherapeutic techniques:
– Cetaceans Sounds Meditation (CSM) involves arranging patients who are lying down in a circle around an acoustic speaker producing the SCR;
– Vibratory Contact Care (VCC), where the principle is to apply the HCS directly in contact with the skin of the patient in specific areas by means of a vibrating speaker. HCSs spread directly in the body;
– Immersive Sound Massage (ISM), where the patient is positioned in a pool or spa with an immersed underwater speaker producing HCS. The sounds propagate in the liquid element at a speed of 1440 m/s due to the density of the water (330 m/s in the air) and reach the target tissues and organs of the organism producing their repairing effects.
What message do you have for our readers that can benefit the lives of orcas? 
We are spending billions of dollars exploring the stars, looking for some form of extra-terrestrial intelligence, yet beneath the surface lives a brilliant civilisation: cetaceans. We know they are intelligent, that they have a language, but we do not know what they are saying to each other, nor what they are trying to tell us.
We must protect our oceans. Let us protect these magnificent creatures that inhabit them. Let’s discover the secret of their language and access their knowledge. We will then be able to heal ourselves thanks to the song of cetaceans.
The inventor Nikola Tesla used to say: “If you want to unlock the secrets of the universe, you have to think in terms of vibration, frequency and energy”.
I, Pierre the orca whisperer, have a message for Elon Musk: if you want to unravel the secrets of the universe, you have to understand the language of orcas, whales and dolphins. Because, for millions of years, they have already thought in terms of vibration, frequency and energy.
 
 
For more information, visit:
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TheOrcaWhisperer/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pierre-robert-de-latour-the-orca-whisperer-aa47a227/
 
Related stories:

Communicating with orcas

 
 

Saying goodbye to Jean-Marc Giraldi

by: Stephanie Horsman
08/02/2021

Prince Albert has joined friends, family and colleagues of Jean-Marc Giraldi for a fitting send-off at the Yacht Club of Monaco. The President of the Nautical Society of Monaco and Vice-President of the International Moto-Nautical Union passed away on 28th January from complications related to Covid. He was 62.

It is clear that Jean-Marc Giraldi left his mark on the Principality, evidenced by the turn out for his memorial service on Saturday 6th February.

As a man whose life revolved around the sea, it was more than fitting that his farewell be on the water. It was a solemn and dignified ceremony, during which the relics of Monaco’s patron saint, Saint Devote, were presented, while rose petals were thrown into the sea and fog horns from surrounding boats punctuated the winter silence in a mournful homage.

Giraldi, a native of Menton, discovered a love for rowing at an early age and was a stand-out from the start.

“Spotted by Jean-Louis Antognelli, he joined the Monegasque club in the mid-1970s with his brother Philippe. He became a trainer there,” says the Monaco Nautical Society in a press statement.

Rowing led him to practice other sports including power boating – becoming the 2000’s offshore World Champion, jet-skiing, and in 1988 he even tried out for Prince Albert’s Olympic bobsled team. Though he didn’t make the cut, the two men became life-long friends.

Ü Presidente, as he liked to be called, was also treasurer of the International Moto-Nautical Union in addition to President of the Nautical Society.

“Always present on the Quai Louis II, attentive to people and in detail, his stentorian voice resonated until the end of December 2020, when his fight against Covid-19 began,” the Nautical Society said. “He leaves behind an immense void and an example of righteousness, benevolence, intelligence and loyalty.”

 
Photo by Michael Alesi for the Government Communication Department
 
 

#8MarsMonaco to honour heroines of Covid

by: Cassandra Tanti
08/02/2021

The Principality will mark International Women’s Rights Day this year by honouring the females who have been working at the frontline of Monaco’s fight against Covid-19.
On Monday, exactly one month before its annual #8MarsMonaco campaign, the Women’s Rights Committee announced that International Women’s Rights Day 2021 will take on a special theme.
The campaign will highlight the heroines on the frontline since the lockdown of March 2020.
“A year after the first confinement, it seemed obvious to me to thank these women in the shadows who worked for the general interest,” said Céline Cottalorda, Interministerial Delegate for Women’s Rights.
Artist Anthony Alberti, alias Mr OneTeas, has again produced a series of photographic portraits which will be presented at the entrances to the Principality, on the Rock, and in the Fontvieille shopping mall.
Meanwhile, due to constraints surrounding the pandemic, the works at the Ministry of State will be inaugurated via a video broadcast on the committee’s social networks and on the government communication channel Monaco Info from 8th March, giving the public an opportunity to discover all of the works on display throughout the city.
 
Photo by Michael Alesi for the Government Communication Department
 

Exciting new exhibition comes to NMNM

by: Stephanie Horsman
08/02/2021

A new exhibition by renowned Japanese artist Shimabuku is bringing a touch of the East to the Principality with The 165 Metre Mermaid and Other Stories at the New National Museum of Monaco-Villa Paloma.
The idea for the exhibit arose from a medieval legend that was told as an epic poem. The artist uses the theme to tell of his “adventures and encounters as he goes with the flow, roving between his native Japan and Monaco via Brazil, Australia and many other lands,” according to the New National Museum of Monaco (NMNM).
In a unique combination of land art, writings, performance, cooking and music, Shimabuku’s acts are spun together to form a narrative thread for exhibition, which uses his installations, films, photos and sculptures from the past three decades to create one magical event.
Shimabuku was born in Kobe in 1969 and studied at the Osaka College of Art before transferring to the San Francisco Art Institute. He then moved to Berlin in 2004 where he lived for 12 years before returning to Japan, where he took up residence in Naha, on Okinawa, where his family comes from.
Shimabuku describes his work as “poetical-philosophical, questioning our relationship with otherness and engaging with an individual or collective action of care and attention.”
Initiated on Norihama beach after the 2011 tsunami, the installation Erect has led to a new specific production created in Monaco following the poem-protocol established by the artist.
“Placing things upright. Placing the lying things upright. Placing the trees and stones that lie on the beach upright,” the artist says of his works. “With the collaboration of many people, we will place many things in an upright position. We will try to put our energy together to place huge trees as well in an upright position. This should make something that lies in our hearts stand up in an upright position.”
The exhibit will be accompanied by a catalogue published by the NMNM in conjunction with Berlin publisher Manuel Raeder, and will feature previously unpublished work by Nicolas Bourriaud, Claire Restif and Rikrit Tiravanija.
The 165 Metre Mermaid and Other Stories will run from 19th February to 3rd October.
 
Photo by Shimabuku
 

AS Monaco rack up another victory

by: Stephanie Horsman
08/02/2021

AS Monaco saw their seventh straight victory when they faced off against Nîmes Olympique at Stade des Costières on Sunday night, but it was no walk in the park for the Red and Whites as both sides fought hard for their goals.
It was a nail-biter right from the start. Only three minutes into play, Aleksandr Golovin made the opening goal with a left-footer that landed beautifully in the net giving them an almost instant 0 to1 advantage.
Not 10 minutes later it was history repeating itself as Golovin was again Johnny-on-the-spot, knocking one just below the crossbar to give Monaco a 0-2 advantage. This could have been 0-3 by the 17th minute, if a goal by Wissam Ben Yedder had not been ruled out.
Down, but by no means out, Nîmes lashed back 10 minutes later with a fantastic goal by, Lucas Deaux, breathing life back into the match. Zinédine Ferhat followed up soon after, evening the score to 2-2.
No more goals were made in the first half, so both teams went into the locker room on even standing.
After halftime, and just after the hour mark, it was again the unstoppable Aleksandr Golovin who made a magnificent free kick that landed in the bottom corner of the net. Now back in the lead, Monaco were not about to let it go.
Kevin Volland knocked a beauty between the posts in the 77th minute, giving Monaco a two point lead at 2-4.
Nîmes Niclas Eliasson brought his team to within one goal, with a top corner shot that made its way past Lecomte, putting them to within spitting distance of the tie. Fortunately, the Red and Whites were able to hold them off and the match ended in a 3-4 win for Monaco.
“Everyone saw us winning easily,” said Coach Niko Kovac, “but I want you to remember that I said we were going to face a difficult team. I have played a lot of matches like this, I told my players, and at the press conference I said that no Ligue 1 team is easy to play against, especially when they are fighting for survival.”
This win leaves Monaco still in fourth place in Ligue 1 standings, three points behind PSG and eight off the top spot held by Lille. Coach Kovac says he knows what needs to be done to boost Monaco into the top three.
“The difference between Monaco and Lille, Paris and Lyon is that these three sides have had the opportunity to work together for many years, they know each other perfectly. Moreover, they concede fewer goals than us. We need to improve on the defensive side of things.”
The Red and Whites play again on Wednesday night when they face off against Grenoble.
 
(Monaco Life with AS Monaco press release, photo by AS Monaco)