Much to admire at Aix about Les Talens Lyriques’s Bach cantatas

FranceFrance Aix-en-Provence Easter Festival [4] – Bach: Anna El-Khashem (soprano), Mari Askvik (alto), Nick Pritchard (tenor), Adrien Fournaison (bass), Namur Chamber Choir, Les Talens Lyriques / Christophe Rousset (conductor). Grand Théâtre de Provence, Aix-en-Provence, France, 20.4.2025. (CC)

Tenor Nick Pritchard and conductor Christophe Rousset © Caroline Doutre/Festival de Pâques

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Aix’s carefully programmed Haydn, Tchaikovsky and Mozart is an afternoon of great beauty and power

FranceFrance Aix-en-Provence Easter Festival [3] – Haydn, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Grand Concert pour les Aixois: The Strings of Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra / Gábor Takács-Nagy (conductor). Cathédale Saint-Saveur, Aix-en-Provence, France, 20.4.2025. (CC)

Gábor Takács-Nagy conducts The Strings of Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra © Caroline Doutre/Festival de Pâques

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Memorable Chan, Capuçon and OSR concert at Aix, with moments of magic beyond count in Prokofiev

FranceFrance Aix-en-Provence Easter Festival [2]: Ogonek, R. Strauss, Prokofiev: Renaud Capuçon (violin), Orchestre de la Suisse Romande / Elim Chan (conductor). Grand Théâtre de Provence, Aix-en-Provence, France, 19.4.2025. (CC)

Elim Chan conducts the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande © Caroline Doutre/Festival de Pâques

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Notable young talent on violin, flute, and viola excel at Aix

FranceFrance Ravel, Fauré, Saint-Saëns – Génération @ Aix: Anneleen Lenaerts (harp/mentor), Thomas Briant (violin), Sara Ferrández (viola), Alberto Navarra (flute). Théâtre du Jeu de Palme, Aix-en-Provence, 19.4.2025. (CC)

[Clockwise from l] Anneleen Lenaerts, Thomas Briant, Sara Ferrández and Alberto Navarra

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Pierre Audi introduces the 77th edition of the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence (4 – 21 July 2025)

The 77th edition of the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence from 4 – 21 July 2025

The metamorphosis of Calisto, the reincarnation of Buddha, the transformation of Louise, the protean Don Giovanni… The focus of the 2025 edition of the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence (for more information click here) is clearly on the inexorable mutability of all things and the perpetual reinvention of the self. ‘There is nothing in the whole world which is permanent. Everything flows onward; all things are brought into being with a changing nature’ says Ovid in his Metamorphoses; and this is reflected in Cavalli’s La Calisto, which depicts a fascinating continuum between nature, mankind and the gods.

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Rameau’s lost Samson is evidently a labour not only of love but also of conviction for all

FranceFrance Festival d’Aix-en-Provence [5] – Rameau, Samson: Soloists, Pygmalion / Raphaël Pichon (conductor). Théâtre de l’Archevêché, Aix-en-Provence, 12.7.2024. (MB)

Samson at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence 2024 © Monika Rittershaus

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Despite reservations, memory of Gluck at Aix will doubtless endure

FranceFrance Festival d’Aix-en-Provence [4] – Gluck, Iphigénie en Aulide and Iphigénie en Tauride: Soloists, Le Choeur d’Astrée (chorus director: Richard Wilberforce), Le Concert d’Astrée, Emmanuelle Haïm (conductor). Grand Théâtre de Provence, Aix-en-Provence, 11.7.2024 (MB)

Iphigenie en Tauride at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence 2024 © Monika Rittershaus

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