In the soft and deep night, the Music Festival of Menton, in the Alpes-Maritimes, invites the most great classical artists from around the world until August 13, 2022.
To open this 73rd edition, the forecourt of the Saint-Michel Basilica was coiled with the voice of the great soprano Natalie Dessay in an unexpected register: a program of musicals featuring the greatest standards of the genre.“I’m very happy to be back for the third time and I hope it’s not the last because I still have a lot of strings to my bow”, assures the musician.
Accompanied on the piano by Yvan Cassar, Natalie Dessay, her husband Laurent Naouri and their daughter, Neïma performed a repertoire entirely dedicated to musicals. The public was able to savor the tunes composed by Leonard Bernstein for the film West Side Story, but also excerpts from Wizard of Ozof crazy girl or the composer of film music, Michel Legrand. The audience was over the moon. “The decor, the sounds, the beautiful voices, it’s a dream come true”rejoices a spectator.
After a long career in opera singing, Crowned with six Victoires de la Musique, Natalie Dessay takes great pleasure in exploring another repertoire. “The opera is over and I have loved musicals since my childhood, so I have been training for three or four years with lessons”, she confides.
For its 73rd edition, the Menton Music Festival can be enjoyed in several sites in the city. From the Saint-Michel basilica, to the square of the United States passing by the esplanade of Sablettes and the Palace of Europe, the music resounds in all the alleys of the pretty city of the Riviera.
This year, the organizers wanted to attract more people with concerts at reduced prices (from €15) but also technical innovations and new listening experiences. “We have “concert silence” headsets connected to a Wifi terminal and a piano which allow you to hear concerts taking place in the Parc du Pian and to walk in this magical olive grove which dominates the new port of Menton”, explains Paul-Emmanuel Thomas, artistic director of the festival.
On the program of upcoming concerts on the forecourt of the Saint Michel Basilica: the Quatuor Ebène and Nicolas Altstaedt, the Jonaska Ensemble, the Talens Lyriques and Christophe Rousset, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Daniel Lozakovich and Alexandre Kantorow, Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Fazil Say , without forgetting the prodigious Nobuyuki Tsujii or Matthias Goerne
The Menton Music Festival continues until August 6, 2022