The Beaulieu Classic Festival is celebrating two decades of musical artistry and entertainment, and this year’s line-up is filled with amazing talent in beautiful settings, with the added promise of it being: “Classical…But not only!”
This year’s musical programme for the 20th Beaulieu Classic Festival is set to be unlike other events of this kind, with free concerts, a gala dinner and candlelight performances.
According to the organisers, “Being a festival among many others would not satisfy our public accustomed to the prestigious concerts of the Operas of Monaco or Nice. We had to be different with an atypical program composed of musicians selected for their artistic qualities and their original personalities.”
It kicks off on 10th September in the Place Marinoni with pianist Steve-Villa Massone playing to the crowds, followed by a parade of local schoolchildren accompanied by musicians on stilts around the village. That evening at 9pm, a free concert on the Petite Afrique Beach will take place with the National Orchestra of Cannes playing works by Mozart and Haydn, followed at 10:15pm by a fireworks display.
On the 11th, Jean-François Zygel, improvisational pianist and composer, will be at the Casino de Beaulieu at 6:30pm giving audiences a chance to hear his off-beat and off-the-cuff style.
A free concert on the Petite Afrique Beach will take place with the National Orchestra of Cannes, photo credit Beaulieu Classic Festival
On Tuesday 13th September is award-winning string quartet Quatuor Van Kuijk, who has graced major concert halls around the globe and will be playing in the intimate setting of the lovely Saint Michael’s Chruch.
Next up on Wednesday the 14th are Les Itinerantes, a three-woman a capella sensation, who will be performing during a candlelit concert at Saint Michael’s Church at 8pm, adding an air of mystery and glamour to the event.
Trumpeter Lucienne Renaudin-Vary and accordionist Félicien Brut happily share the stage for the next concert on the 15th at the Casino de Beaulieu at 8pm. The pair perform a heady mix from musette ball to opera, from jazz to romantic masterpieces, in a something-for-everyone evening.
Friday the 16th is the Gala Dinner at the Royal Riviera Hotel for the 20th anniversary with a Roaring Twenties themed night. The dinner show will feature Gaby the Magnificent in a “jazzy musical comedy” combining theatre, singing, and dancing in one fabulous show. There will also be a semi-gastronomic dinner in keeping with theme from Le Jasmin Restaurant.
The Festival concludes on Saturday 17th September with the piano playing duo of Mathias and Julien Cadez, who use a single piano and play side-by-side to amazing effect. The pair combine music, humour and magic in a can’t miss spectacle reminiscent of the great Charlie Chaplin himself.
This year’s European Waste Reduction Week is targeting fast fashion and people in the local community are being encouraged to take part in Monaco’s contribution to the important event.
As Monaco continues down the path of sustainability and environmentally friendly practices, waste management moves higher and higher up the list of priorities.
Enter European Waste Reduction Week (SERD), which runs from 19th to 27th November, a Europe-wide initiative that asks people to take charge and implement awareness-raising actions using the sustainable management of resources and waste in all member countries, European and non-European.
The theme this year is ‘Circular and Sustainable Textiles: Waste is Out of Fashion’, and to make the day a success, the Monaco government has put out a call for participants. People are being encouraged to do what inspires them and volunteer to speak or hold events at work, at schools, at members associations or anywhere they think may make an impact.
European Waste Reduction Week will be inviting people to rethink fast-fashion choices, many items of which end up in landfills or incinerators and are environmentally harmful. The idea is to discover and implement more sustainable solutions and to give textiles a second life.
All proposals are welcome, even if they do not correspond with the theme, so long as they are oriented around the three Rs: reduce, reuse and recycle.
To learn more, join the Department of the Environment for an information meeting on 13th September, the details of which can be received by writing to environnement@gouv.mc
Photo of a Cambodian factory by Francois Le Nguyen on Unsplash
Book your tickets: AMLA Gala to transport guests to mystical Bolivia
The Association Monegasque for Latin America is hosting its annual gala at the Yacht Club of Monaco in September and it will be a spectacular showcase of everything that exotic Bolivia has to offer.
The Association Monegasque for Latin America (AMLA) is teaming up with No Finish Line International for a big night that the organisers are calling two nights in one. The Mystical Bolivia Gala 2022, being held at the Yacht Club of Monaco on 17th September, is introducing Bolivia to attendees whilst also introducing the exporting of No Finish Line Monaco to the South American country.
The night will be filled with authentic experiences involving renowned chefs, artists, musicians, cinema stars and fashion designers to show all the wonders Bolivia has to offer.
The gala will start with a welcome gathering on the Sunset Deck starting at 7pm where guests can enjoy watching chefs cook live, cocktails, painting, an art auction, traditional dance performances, a tombola, and music by Bebe Aponte. Additionally, No Finish Line’s first ever event in the cosmopolitan Bolivian hub of Santa Cruz will be introduced with 2023 being the inaugural year.
At 8:30pm, the crowd moves to the Gala Fusion Dinner Party where the two organisations will make short presentations and show a video about Bolivia followed by introductions to the chefs, a fashion show by Ropsita Hurtado, Deanna Canedo Patiño, Las Diablas and Miss Bolivia 2021 Nahemi Uequin, and guitar music by Piral Vaca. The awards ceremony and announcement of tombola winners comes next with Bolivian actor and singer Milton Cortez performing live as well as the ancestral dance show by ACF. The jam-packed night will continue into the wee hours with music and dancing with Bonny Lovy and Matamba.
The Mystical Bolivia Gala will benefit the Public Women’s Hospital in Santa Cruz as well as efforts being made to diagnose congenital chagas in newborns from infected mothers. The disease is caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, which is transmitted to animals and people by insects and is found only in the Americas, mainly in rural areas of Latin America where poverty is widespread. If left untreated, chagas can be deadly.
AMLA is a non-governmental humanitarian organisation based in the Principality. Its main goal is to build a community where members and any interested parties can build alliances and explore synergistic ideas.
Aside from the gala, they also organise workshops, conferences and musical shows that boast “authentic entertainment, state of the art production and exquisite occupancy”.
Monaco is on a mission to create a whole new business sector: digital, and in order to attract those entrepreneurs, the Principality is passing some very bold laws, most importantly on the use of Blockchain. Fréderic Genta tells us more.
It is impossible to jump into this interview with Interministerial Delegate for the Digital Transition and Attractiveness Fréderic Genta without clarifying exactly what it is we are talking about – law number 995, which was recently adopted by the National Council.
The law builds upon law number 237 that was passed by the council in 2017. Basically, it paves the way for entrepreneurs to use blockchain technology in Monaco. It is a key part of this whole modernisation and digital transition of the Principality, because it effectively helps establish a brand new sector of activity in Monaco, and therefore, a whole new revenue stream for the State.
Monaco Life: Why is the passing of law no°995 so important for Monaco right now?
Fréderic Genta: The law was necessary because it provides the basis for the future of both the digital and finance economies; it gives the key principals, so it is a first step. We the government are very happy to have come to an agreement with the National Council. I think it’s going to equip Monaco to be extremely competitive in this area in 2023. There is still 18 months of work to make sure that every single norm is adapted, translated or created.
It effectively makes Monaco one of the first countries in the world to define blockchain, NFTs, and crypto in its law. What does that actually mean?
I think we were quite forward thinking on everything related to blockchain and consequently NFTs, then the metaverse which is a sub-part of NFTs. But we are keeping things quite flexible. Today, we have put together the blueprint for the future economy and now it is important we develop all that’s needed before the end of 2023 to be ahead of the curve.
How does this law play into the attractiveness agenda of Monaco and who is the Principality targeting by having this law?
This law is fully adapted to our ambitions and attractiveness. Monaco is more and more looking to attract active residents who have a professional life either as a CEO, entrepreneur or investor, and want to pursue and grow in the Principality. They come from European countries – 95% of our residents are from the EU, they are aged between 40 and 50, and they come with their families. We are fully aware that our residents have changed, that they have new needs, and we are really moving to target this new type of resident.
So, having a law that’s going to help the finance and digital sectors grow, by building on digital finance, is a huge asset. We are really targeting those active people who are going to come as residents, then become investors, and then entrepreneurs, because Monaco is really about the people, and those who grow the economy with the creation of companies and investments.
And it’s obviously a smart play by Monaco to pursue digital initiatives that require little office space in a country where space is enormously limited…
For sure, that is why we call the country’s transformation programme ‘Extended Monaco’, because digital is a unique opportunity to make Monaco much bigger, to make the economy much less dependent on square metres, on location and office space.
For us, digital and finance are really two key industries in a world where square metreage is rare and where people have a different approach to work. There has never been a time in history when there was such a great opportunity to be a small city-state.
For Monaco, it is a huge advantage because we can now compete to bring the best and the brightest from big cities. Some other city states have a deep understanding of that already. That’s why Singapore and Dubai are moving so fast in this area; that is why they are tailoring packages for residents and CEOs to come with their cabinets.
With the health crises, we experienced two deep transitions – the environment and digital. It is at the same time great for opportunities – space has never been so less important in an economy, but also the threat – many other competitors are coming to our segment. So, we have to be really aware of the threat while optimistic of the opportunity.
Photo by Monaco Life
How much of the digital transition have you actually spearheaded?
Well, we were behind. When I came, we were in the bottom five of the UN in terms of digital administration. Now, I think we are about the European average and I hope soon we will be in the top 10, or top five.
Before I came, there were 25 online administrative services, today we have 110-120, so there has been a huge increase. Now, every single child in Monaco’s public education system can learn to code from ages three to 18. Last year we were ranked first in the EU in coding. Every single middle school or high school student has a tablet and access to full digital education in every class and on every topic. Monegasques now have access to a digital identity, following our adoption of the Estonian model, and they can do their government and administrative tasks online. There has been a huge improvement on many topics.
I come from a business background – I was a banker, I worked for Google, and Amazon in California, so I was growing the economies of the top tier. That’s why we invested a lot in the Blue Fund and training in Monaco. We are training more than 2,000 workers in digital, and with the Blue Fund we have helped more than 400 companies complete their digital transformation.
So, the first thing we focussed on was services, the second was how to grow our economy in a digital world and how to enable economic growth and ultimately government revenues with this digital transition. Because it is happening anyway, and we have to make sure the government and the country takes their fair share of this evolution.
Speaking of the Blue Fund (subsidies for Monegasque companies to make a digital upgrade), do we know if there is a time limit on that?
We aim to continue it next year because it has been a huge success. For every euro invested, eight euros of revenue was created by the company, which means revenues for the government and the state. It is a very virtuous cycle; we are extremely happy with the results – more than 300 jobs were created with the Blue Fund – so we are very keen to take this approach forward in the future.
Digital and economy are the same word for me. When you speak about digital you are speaking about the economy, and vice versa. It is the exact same topic in today’s world. And that’s where the attractiveness comes in to it. Monaco’s model is to attract entrepreneurs, companies, and investors. Monaco does not have a huge intermarket, it does not produce a lot. The vast amount of the wealth is created through attractivity, so by having attractivity and digital linked, there is a lot of things that can be done together to grow our economy.
What are the digital ambitions of Monaco now?
We have two objectives – first is economic growth. Monaco has to grow its economy more and more; that’s what the government has been doing with start-up hubs MonacoTech and Monaco Boost… we need to have both our classic economy and our future economy. That is the idea behind the laws.
The second is quality of life, how digital can be integrated in the big public policies such as health, education, and mobility, to get results. So, everything related to those priorities will really be pushed forward.
I believe there is also a push to simplify the company creation laws for start-ups in Monaco?
Yes, we are really thinking with the government about modernising the law for company creation, and even further about the life of a company – raising money, different vehicles to invest…
There are things that need to be done because, at the moment, our law is not fully adapted to our economy, which has changed a lot in the last years – the way companies are created, the way they grow and are funded, so we have to adapt our laws to an economy that has fundamentally changed.
Do you feel you have the support you need? Because there appear to be a number of National Councillors that share the same digital vision as you…
It is the Prince’s vision first of all. He gave four priorities to the government: attractiveness, environmental preservation, digital and security. I have the responsibility of two of those, and for sure the whole country is aligned behind the Prince on those priorities. We all know that square metres will not magically appear overnight, and we owe it to our model to have sustainable growth, but we need growth without square metreage, which means finance and digital.
The interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Photo of Frédéric Genta source: Government Communications Department
This year’s Trott ‘n’ Roll charity event will benefit not only children fighting for their lives but will also honour Monaco’s firefighters in a family-friendly day of outdoor pursuits, including bouncy castles, a skate park and even a parade with motorbikes where kids can join and get a ride!
The Flavien Foundation is back with their biggest event of the year. Trott ‘n’ Roll, under the slogan ‘Together, let’s save lives’, will ask the people of Monaco to join them in a day of activities and fun to raise funds and awareness to fight paediatric cancer.
The full day runs from 9am to 6pm on Saturday 17th September at the Jardins d’Apolline and Allée Sauvaigo in Monaco and will feature inflatable structures to play on, a skate park, Star Wars light sabre action, rides for kids on a motorbike parade through the streets of the Principality with a Rebel Riders Monaco Motorcycle Club, Appaloosa Riders or Indian Motorcycle Club member, and demonstrations of first aid methods that could save someone’s life.
Electric bikes from Lenny’s E-Moto will also be on hand as well as Ephemeral Tattoos, who offer real tattoos without a life-long commitment.
Additionally, there will be refreshments so that when hunger strikes, there will be no need to leave the fun.
The raffle will have amazing prizes and tickets will be on sale from 14th September at the shopping centre in Fontvieille, as well as on site the day of the event.
Fondation Flavien has been around since 2014 and was created after the untimely passing of eight-year-old Flavien, a local boy who suffered from brain cancer. In its history, it has collected €743,000 for paediatric cancer research and treatments.
Premier League highlights: Manchester Utd revival continues, City held
Arsenal remain top of the Premier League despite defeat to a resurgent Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday, as Monaco Life takes you around the grounds.
Manchester United 3-1 Arsenal – after a disastrous start to the season, Erik Ten Hag’s men have now won four on the bounce, including against Liverpool and table-topping Arsenal. New signing Antony scored on his Manchester United debut before a Marcus Rashford brace in the second half gave Manchester United the points. They move up to fifth, whilst Arsenal remain top.
Everton 0-0 Liverpool – last season’s Premier League challengers and Champions League finalists Liverpool continue their patchy start to the season with a draw in the Merseyside derby. Both sides had their chances, but neither side managed to break the deadlock.
Aston Villa 1-1 Manchester City – after Erling Haaland gave Pep Guardiola’s side the lead in the second-half, it seemed as though the writing was on the wall. However, a late Leon Bailey strike salvaged a point for Steven Gerrard’s struggling Villa to take them out of the relegation zone, whilst denying City top spot.
Brighton and Hove Albion 5-2 Leicester City – Graham Potter’s side piled the misery on Leicester City, who remain bottom of the league with just a single point from their opening six matches. Despite arguably over-achieving with Leicester in recent seasons, Brendan Rodgers is now under huge pressure to turn things around, and quickly.
Chelsea 2-1 West Ham – Chelsea were perhaps lucky to walk away with all three points at West Ham saw a late equaliser controversially chalked off by VAR. In the end, Kai Havertz’s strike in the 88th minute was enough to give Chelsea the win, which moves them up to sixth.
Brentford 5-2 Leeds United – An impressive Ivan Toney scored a hat-trick at the Community stadium to give Brentford an ultimately comfortable win against Leeds. His recent form has led to calls for him to be called up to Gareth Southgate’s England squad ahead of this winter’s World Cup.
Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Fulham – Tottenham edged London rivals Fulham on Saturday. Harry Kane looked to have sealed the points in the second-half when he double Antonio Conte’s side’s lead, but a later Aleksandr Mitrovic goal halved the deficit, which made for a nervy finish. However, they held on and move up to third.
Nottingham Forest 2-3 Bournemouth – In a clash of the newly-promoted sides, it was surprisingly Bournemouth who came out on top at the City Ground. Having lost 9-0 to Liverpool last weekend, which subsequently saw manager Scott Parker sacked, their torrid run looked like continuing. But having gone into half-time 2-0 down, Bournemouth launched a thrilling second-half comeback, which saw them take all three points.
Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 Southampton – Daniel Podence’s goal just before half-time was enough to give Bruno Lage’s side the victory at Molineux. Both sides will likely finish mid-table this season judging on current form.
Newcastle United 0-0 Crystal Palace – It ended goalless at St James’ Park. Eddie Howe’s Newcastle have enjoyed a steady start to the season, but will be looking to push on and challenge for the European places.
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