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Month: December 2021

Stylish Roca team return to winning ways

by: Luke Entwistle
27/12/2021

AS Monaco Basketball brought their three-game losing streak to a comprehensive end with an emphatic 94-56 victory against local rivals Fos-sur-Mer on Boxing Day.
The Roca team were given a pre-match boost as the talismanic figure of Leo Westermann returned following a lengthy absence through injury. In stark contrast, Fos-sur-Mer were left without many key players. Their roster was decimated by Covid, leaving a squad of only eight players, of which just six were professionals.
Monaco didn’t take long to take advantage. Paris Lee started as he meant to go on, registering a flurry of assists and converting a sumptuous three-pointer to give the Roca team a healthy 18-4 lead after just six minutes.
The first-quarter was also marked by the return of Westermann, who wasted no time adding to the scoreline, chipping in with a three-pointer of his own.
An efficient first-quarter from Sasa Obradovic’s men opened up a comfortable eight-point buffer, which was quickly extended in spectacular fashion in the second-quarter. Fos-sur-Mer were feeding off scraps and could only register seven points in the whole quarter.
Monaco, meanwhile, continued to score freely. The side’s phenomenal 60% three-point accuracy was the source of a whopping 54 points over the course of the evening.
Lee and Brock Motum were the main architects of this thrashing. Lee’s incision and vision allowed him to register 24 points and six assists on the night, whilst Motum, after a relatively barren spell, registered 17 points, converting all of his three-point attempts.
Monaco outscored their opponents in every quarter, and the 38-point difference in the score was a fair reflection of the Principality side’s dominance throughout the encounter.
It was an overwhelmingly positive evening for Obradovic’s men, although the victory must be caveated by Fos-sur-Mer’s Covid-disrupted preparations. The return of Westermann, the emphatic scoreline and another man-of-the-match performance from Lee will all give the Roca team confidence heading into their difficult Euroleague tie against Maccabi Tel Aviv at the Salle Gaston Medecin on Wednesday.
 
 
Photo of of Leo Westermann, source: AS Monaco Basketball
 
 
 

Concert tickets available for 39€

by: Stephanie Horsman
27/12/2021

Former First Lady of France Carla Bruni is coming to the Grimaldi Forum on 7th January to perform songs from her anticipated new album, and there are a few seats still available. 
The former French First Lady, fashion model and singer-song writer will be in  Monaco for one night only to showcase songs from her latest self-titled album with 17 new tracks. Carla Bruniwas released in late 2020.
Carla Bruni started her musical career in song writing for Julien Clerc before turning to the microphone herself in 2003 with her smash debut album Quelqu’un m’a dit (Someone told me), which spent 34 weeks in the French Top 10 charts.
Bruni went on to win the Victoire Award for Female Artist of the Year at the 2004 Victoires de la Musique. The same year, Bruni released her second album, No Promises, then the following year she released her third, Comme si de rien n’était (Like Nothing Ever Happened).
After marrying French President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2008, she took a break from music until her husband was out of office and returned in 2013 with the acclaimed Little French Songs. Her follow up, French Touch, was released in 2017, and was the last album she made before returning seven years later with Carla Bruni.
Carla Bruni was produced by the dynamic Albin de la Simone and was their first collaboration together and shows traits from both singer-song writer and producer. His multi-instrument style is evident as is her wont for sweet, poetic lyrics and refined arrangements.
 
 
 

Monaco hits record daily cases

by: Cassandra Tanti
26/12/2021

A third of Monaco’s eligible population remains unvaccinated as hospitalisations surge and new daily Covid cases continue to break records, including 80 on Christmas day.
It was a quarantine Christmas for some this year, with 67 people testing positive for the virus on Friday 24th and 80 people on Saturday 25th – a new record for the Principality.
The increase in the spread of Covid-19 is having a major impact on Monaco’s health system, with 27 Covid patients being treated at the Princess Grace Hospital as of Saturday. Among them, nine are residents, while five patients – all non-residents – are in critical condition in ICU. The hospital has an ICU bed capacity of eight.
Meanwhile, Monaco recorded two Covid-related deaths in the days before Christmas, a 97-year-old and a 77-year-old, bringing the Principality’s total to 38 since the pandemic began.
In January, the Monaco Government is expected to bolster its vaccination campaign as the fifth wave sweeps through the Principality.
According to the latest figures from statistics body IMSEE, 66.7% of the resident population who is eligible for the vaccine – those aged over 12 years – have received both shots.
It means that 33.3% of eligible residents, or a third of the population aged over 12, are still unvaccinated.
People aged over 75 are among the most vaccinated in the Principality at 93%, followed by 77.9% of people in the 55-64 age group.
Just over half of the population aged between 18 and 44 are vaccinated against Covid.
 

Em Sherif to bring Middle East flavours to Monaco

by: Stephanie Horsman
24/12/2021

Lebanese restaurant group Em Sherif is expanding into Europe, and they’re doing it in style by opening inside the Hôtel de Paris.

Mireille Hayek made a name for herself in her native Lebanon as a woman who had a passion for cooking, a dedication to her restaurant and a desire to give her clientele top-drawer service. This trifecta made Em Sherif the go-to place in Beirut for those in the know.

With no formal training under her belt, she opened the first Em Sherif in 2011 and in a decade has been noted as “one to watch” by food guides. In 2021, The World’s 50 Best Group declared the original restaurant in Beirut as one of the top nine female-led restaurants across the globe.

Mireille Hayek quickly expanded her restaurant chain to include 12 Middle Eastern locations, including Kuwait, Dubai, Riyadh, Cairo and Qatar, with an upcoming launch due in London at the famous Harrods department store at the end of this year, one of eight new openings in Europe.

Now, a deal has been struck for her delicious cuisine to come to Monaco in the spring of 2022. It will be only the second launch in Europe and the first on the continent, where it will take over the space left by Alain Ducasse’s Omer restaurant in the Hôtel de Paris.

“Em Sherif is a natural choice for Monte-Carlo Société des Bains de Mer because its values ​​of tradition, transmission and excellence are in perfect harmony with the great ‘Art of life’ at Monte-Carlo SBM,” says Jean-Luc Biamonti, CEO Monte-Carlo SBM. “Renowned for its family cuisine and warm atmosphere, this house is already present in the most exclusive destinations in the Middle East and will offer Monaco, in the heart of the Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo, a brand new concept, which will appeal to our Monegasque and international customers.”

The restaurant, named after Hayek’s son, will serve seductive oriental cuisine for lunch and dinner daily.  

 

 
Photo source: SBM Monte-Carlo
 
 
 

Holiday classic comes to the stage

by: Stephanie Horsman
24/12/2021

No Christmas season would be complete without The Nutcracker ballet, and this year, the Ballets de Monte-Carlo is giving theatre-goers eight chances to live the magic.  

One of the most beloved ballets of all-time is coming to the Grimaldi Forum’s Salle des Princes to end the year with a bang.

The Nutcracker (Casse-Noisette Compagnie) choreographed by Jean-Christophe Maillot takes this classic holiday adventure tale to another level, adding his unique spin to make nights to remember for both young and old.

The Stahlbaum family remains at the heart of the story, with Clara and Fitz at the centre. The usual setting of a bourgeois home is replaced by a dance studio run by their parents without any flourish or flights of fancy.

On Christmas Eve, the Drosselmeyer Fairy brings an unexpected gift to the troupe in the form of a new choreographer who brings a fantastic life and energy to the mix. A short period of internal struggle between the dancers soon gives way magical journey through a winter wonderland leading to the arrival in the country of Confiturembourg where the fun begins.

Tchaikovsky’s timeless musical score accompanying the ballet will be presented by the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Kazuki Yamada.

The show runs for an hour and 40 minutes in two acts. The December performances will run every night from the 28th to 31st, with a 7:30pm start. January shows run from the 2nd to the 5th, with the 2nd being a matinee starting at 3pm. The others will commence at 7:30pm.

To reserve tickets or for additional information, visit the ballet’s website at https://www.balletsdemontecarlo.com/fr/saison-2021-2022/mc/casse-noisette-compagnie

 

 
Photo source: Ballets de Monte-Carlo
 
 
 

Link between Monaco and Alexandria explored in new exhibit

by: Stephanie Horsman
24/12/2021

The Nouveau Musée National de Monaco is hosting an exhibition at the Villa Sauber entitled ‘Monaco-Alexandria, The Great Detour: World cities and cosmopolitan surrealism’, exposing surprising links between these two seemingly different cities.

Created in collaboration with Morad Montazami and Madeleine de Colnet for Zamân Books and Curating, the exhibit hopes to “write a new page in the history of surrealism through Mediterranean cosmopolitanism” using the works of writers, poets, painters, decorators and philosophers who were looking to remain open-minded in times of nationalism and fascism.

The 20th century perspectives are fascinating, even to the most casual visitor, and are comprised of paintings, photos, sculptures, objects, texts, and videos. In all, nearly 300 works are presented, including about 50 from the NMNM collections alongside other Monegasque collections such as the Prince’s Palace, the Audio-visual Institute of Monaco, the Museum of Prehistoric Anthropology, and the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco, as well as exceptional loans from public and private Egyptian collections.

The exhibition takes place until 2nd May 2022.
 
 
Photo: Communication Department / Stéphane Danna