From July 4 to 29, 2022, cellist Gautier Capuçon will embark for the third time on a tour of free concerts across France, to which he has decided to involve, since last year, young professional artists. To participate in A summer in France, in the first part of the concerts, they have until December 3 to apply.
The 2022 tour is thought by Gautier Capuçon as a boost given to young instrumentalists to access the stage.“We know how difficult it is to find your first concerts in normal times when you come out of a high school or when you have a conservatory prize”, notes the star cellist. “But there, in this period of resumption of the epidemic and especially after the cessation of activity of a year and a half that we have known, it is almost mission impossible for them!”.
New talents, aged 18 to 25, and freshly graduated from a conservatory or recognized music school (see conditions on the page ofA summer in France), will have to have the level, of course. But above all a desire pegged to the body. “I especially need them to adhere to the project. That they show me their commitment, their passion, and the need to play. It’s by playing that we learn, I’ve been on stage for twenty years, and at each concert I learn “, cowardly convinced, the musician who has just released a triple box set at Erato (Souvenirs) on the occasion of his 40 years, including 35 spent alongside his instrument.
The tour was born from Capuçon’s desire to “bring music to more people and to small towns and villages where we often have less access to culture”, he recalls. But there is more. Since the Covid, the musician has observed, “an urgency in sharing the emotions of music, which we did not perceive before. Because we know today that it can be threatened”, he insists. It is this urgency to play that he wants to share with the new candidates, who will have to express themselves, during the selection, as much in their music as in an oral exchange which will follow the auditions next January.
Baroque, classical, contemporary, jazz: all repertoires are accepted and candidates can apply alone or in training (up to sextet) in all instrumental categories. Once they are chosen, it will be up to them to come up with a program. “It’s also their concert, I want them to make it their own. What do they want to interpret? What suits them? How do they want to present themselves to the general public?” The repertoire will be built little by little with the advice of the cellist. “It’s a matter of perception, of desire. Sometimes we rework the form a bit, and build it together.” The master classes, a kind of very advanced rehearsal with Capuçon, will take place at the end of May 2022 to be ready in July.
The challenge of the selection for young people is to get the first part of a touring concert, which is not so common in the classical world. “These first parts, in pop, rock, we’ve been practicing that for ages! We use the notoriety of a great artist to be able to present to the public and to professional actors, young people who we do not know, and this is extremely important! “. Gautier Capuçon knows that in his own way, he moves the lines. “I’ve been thinking about it for a long time. And I’m going to develop this.”