WE WERE THERE – We witnessed the birth of the Rencontres musicales de Nîmes, which took place from August 17 to 20. Classical music of exceptional quality.
Here’s the new kid on the block for summer festivals. Small in age, big in musical quality. Until then, Nîmes was famous for its Maison Carrée, its Carré d’art, its arenas; there were also its bullfights and its great popular shows in the open air. Curiously, there was no classical music festival, although many places could host them. It is therefore Nîmes which was chosen by a trio of musician friends, who became friends thanks to confinement.
Deprived of concerts, pianist Alexandre Kantorow, violinist Liya Petrova and cellist Aurélien Pascal dreamed. Why not create a festival? And why not in Nîmes? The name of the city came out of the hat thanks to what, in good French, we call a brainstorming. Once the equations, and the unavoidable constraints, – we would say the prerequisites today – it is his name that came out of the hat. We needed a city where the weather is nice in summer (open air requires), which is large and historic enough to offer a choice of venues (depending on the type of music); it had to not already have a classical music festival, and finally it had to be easily accessible (in anticipation of a rise in power in the years to come).
Nîmes imposed itself naturally. And confirmed by chance: Lyia plays on a 1735 “Helios” violin by Carlo Bergonzi that a patron … from Nîmes, Xavier Moreno, has lent to her. This one will naturally become the president of the association of the Rencontres musicales de Nîmes.
So here is our crew on their way to the Roman city, for three evenings and in their troupe six musicians who should be mentioned, as they embody the new generation of outstanding performers: pianist Adam Laloum, violinists Shuichi Okada and Charlotte Juillard , violists Adrien Boisseau and Grégoire Vecchioni; finally the cellist Victor Julien-Laferrière. The number of artists made it possible to get out of the sacrosanct rules of the quartet, and to allow themselves beautiful diversions during three rather specialized evenings, entitled Genesis, Dance of Death et summer nights. The program offers great differences between Beethoven and Korngold, Mahler and Chopin, Liszt and Schoenberg.
On paper, everything was perfect. The organizers had unfortunately forgotten the whims of the sky. That evening, for the premiere, thunderstorms thundered over Nîmes. Forget the pretty cloister of the Jesuits where neither the public nor the instruments could have resisted the downpour. Thank goodness the city’s ecumenism saved the festival. The scene moved from the Catholic cloister to the Grand Protestant temple, a stone’s throw away. Everyone followed, in good spirits. Room full and total triumph.