The programme for the 40th anniversary edition of the “living art” Printemps des Arts festival has been released, and the ticket office has opened too. Here are all the details.
For 18 days next spring, the Principality will be filled with music and creativity when the Printemps des Arts festival returns for its landmark 40th edition.
“After 39 springs, the Festival remains faithful to what constitutes its essence: creation, the meeting between the arts, the rediscovery of works from the past which challenge us differently every day,” says Princess Caroline of Hanover, the ever-dedicated president of the event. “These works are neither immutable nor timeless: they are the fruit of a living art which is perpetually renewed, according to the style of the performers, according to the imagination of the listeners, according to the context in which the music is heard.”
NATURE AS THE STAR
Running from 13th March to 7th April, this celebration of the arts will place a heavy focus on our collective home – the planet Earth – and our relationship with nature, the environment and the circle of life.
This will be apparent in many aspects, but perhaps none so directly as through the works of Brazilian photographer, Sebastião Salgado, which can be explored at the screening of ‘Le Sel de la Terre’ on 17th March at the Cinéma des Beaux-Arts.
“Sebastião Salgado makes us understand that art is not limited to the beauty of light or the power of contrast; Salgado informs us, his way of fixing the ephemeral stirs our reflection, leads us to consider our world differently,” says the Princess of his unique talent.
It is a theme to be heard as well as seen and another highlight of the programme will be the iconic Gustav Mahler orchestral masterpiece, ‘Song of the Earth’, which will be performed in three different ways on three dates: 16th, 29th and 31st March.
As Bruno Mantovini, the Festival’s Artistic Director, so colourfully explains, “Nature and the animal world will also be in the spotlight during concerts offered by The Amazing Keystone Big Band [on 31st March], which will give a swinging vision of Camille Saint-Saëns’ ‘Carnival of the Animals’, by the Parisii Quartet [on 6th April], who will play the music of Joseph Haydn, the most earthly of all composers, and by the Unisoni Ensemble [on 30th and 31st March] who will introduce us to a veritable musical bestiary at the crossroads of the 17th and 18th centuries.”
SPECIAL CONCERTS AND EVENTS
Music is, of course, central to the event, and next spring’s programme will see some of today’s best performers taking on works by the musical geniuses of the past, from Johann Sebastian Bach, and Johannes Brahms to Maurice Ravel, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert and Felix Mendelssohn.
One particularly special event on the agenda, which is also very likely to sell out quickly, is an enchanting dinner-concert, where several musical works will intermingle with the delectable dishes of Chef Yannick Alléno . The sense of smell will be brought into the mix as, courtesy of perfume maker Clémence Besse, an olfactory interpretation of the ‘Song of the Earth’ using scent will be portrayed.
The programme in full can be found here and tickets are available now on the Printemps des Arts website. Click here for reservations.
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Photo credit: Le Festival Printemps des Arts