Festival d'Aix-en-Provence Announces 2017 Detailed Season

Under the leadership of General Manager Bernard Foccroulle, the 69th season of the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence will present an exceptional collection of artists from around the globe in five major opera productions and 16 recital, chamber music and orchestral concerts from July 3 through 22, plus more than 60 events from the Académie du Festival d'Aix. World premiere highlights feature a fresh conception of the fairytale Pinocchio by Belgian composer Phillippe Boesmans, directed by playwright Joël Pommerat; and the live premiere of British electronic composer Matthew Herbert's Requiem with the Van Kuijk Quartet.

New productions this season include Stravinsky's The Rakes' Progress - embraced by the Festival's three-year Stravinsky Cycle - with conductor Daniel Harding leading the Orchestre de Paris and direction by Simon McBurney; Bizet's Carmen directed by award-winning Russian director Dmitri Tcherniakov and conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado with the Orchestre de Paris; and Francesco Cavalli's seminal Venetian opera, the rarely-performed Erismena, conducted by Baroque music specialist Leonardo Garcia Alarcón. A new production of Mozart's perennial audience favorite Don Giovanni will also be presented, energized with a young cast guided by the dynamically theatrical vision of French director Jean-François Sivadier and Jérémie Rhorer conducting Le Cercle de l'Harmonie Orchestra.

Additional highlights in the season line-up will offer a concert version of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin with Tugan Sokhiev, music director and chief conductor of Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre, leading the musicians of the State Academic Bolshoi Theatre of Russia; Daniel Harding conducting the Orchestre de Paris in a performance of Stravinsky's Suites Nos. 1 and 2 for Small Orchestra, Schubert's Symphony No. 3 in D major and Beethoven's Symphony No. 4 in B flat major, and Concert of Creations, four premieres by four contemporary French composers - including the award-winning young artist Camille Pépin - commissioned by the Académie of the Festival d'Aix.

"The ideals of freedom and democracy that have been so closely aligned with the arts throughout history are being challenged in today's world," said General Manager Bernard Fouccroulle. "This season, the universal themes of Liberté - and its abuse - will permeate the operas of the 2017 Festival. Don Giovanni flaunts the most basic prohibitions of his time with his selfish womanizing while Carmen would rather die than relinquish her freedom. The Rake's Progress portrays a man who is betrayed by society's false values, and follows the devil to a loss of liberty in the madhouse. Cavalli's Eresmena illuminates the kind of imprisonment that may come from passion's fatal blindness. And in Pinocchio, we discover how the puppet, unable to control his impulses, learns he can only truly be free by taking charge of his own destiny. I am eager to share the global importance of artistic and personal freedom with music-lovers around the world this summer, and reflect on the undeniable relevance of those values to modern times."

At L'Académie du Festival d'Aix, an extension of the Festival that serves as a center for training, teaching and professional experience there will be multiple residencies including one on Venetian opera and one on contemporary repertoire and creation inspired by the Festival's productions of Pinocchio and Erismena, as well as those on Mozart and chamber music. The Academy will also offer performances, masterclasses, and workshops as part of its training programs for young musicians. Among the key artists leading this season's residencies and masterclasses are conductors Leonardo Garcia Alarcón and Pablo Heras-Casado; composer Ond?ej Adámek; string instrumentalists Andras Keller, Tabea Zimmermann and David Alberman, saxophonist Fabrizio Cassol; vocal professor Susanna Eken and pianist/coach Jeff Cohen; musicians of the London Symphony Orchestra; and theater director Katie Mitchell.

Festival d'Aix-en-Provence has become a leader in the world of opera since it was founded in 1948. Its broad range of events are presented in and around the charming Provençal city of Aix on stages that range from extraordinary historic venues to a 21st-century state-of-the-art music auditorium and an open-air theater. For nearly 70 years, the Festival has remained steadfast in its mission to present freshly imagined productions of operatic classics, to champion the creation of new works by contemporary composers, and to return rarely-heard masterpieces to contemporary audiences.

OPERA

Phillippe Boesmans: Pinocchio (World Premiere)

Adapted from the 2010 play by Critics' Grand Prix Award-winner Joël Pommerat - founder of the theater company Compagnie Louis Brouillard - the music for Pinocchio was written by Belgian modernist composer Phillippe Boesmans, composer-in-residence at Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels since 1986. In Pommerat's version of this tale, all characters are portrayed by six vocalists in various costumes, including a troupe director who also serves as narrator. Pinocchio will be sung by soprano Chloé Briot, the troupe director by baritone Stéphane Degout, and the fairy by soprano Marie-Eve Munger, all former Academy artists. The bad student will be sung by mezzo-soprano Julie Boulianne, and tenor Yann Beuron will embody the cabaret director, the judge, a crook and a murderer.

The Festival's world premiere production of Pinocchio is directed by playwright Joël Pommerat and conducted by Argentinian conductor/composer Emilio Pomarico leading the Klangforum Ensemble. The opera was commissioned by the Festival and co-produced with La Monnaie/De Munt, Opéra de Dijon, and Opéra national de Bordeaux. The work will have six performances at the Grand Théâtre de Provence from July 3 - 16, 2017.

Georges Bizet: Carmen (New Festival Production)

Bizet's classic tale of the tragic Spanish love triangle that ensnares a soldier, a peasant girl, and a beautiful gypsy is given a deeply emotional look in Dmitri Tcherniakov's version of Carmen. The presentation features former Academy mezzo-soprano Stéphanie d'Oustrac as Carmen and soprano Elsa Dreisig as Micaëla, with tenor Michael Fabiano in the role of Don José.

Spanish maestro Pablo Heras-Casado continues his association with the Festival by conducting the Orchestre de Paris and the Aedes Chorus in this new production of Carmen, directed by the return of the four-time winner of Russia's Golden Mask Award for Best Director of Opera, Dmitri Tcherniakov (Don Giovanni, 2013). The opera will have eight performances at the Grand Théâtre de Provence from July 4 - 20, 2017.

Igor Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress (New Festival Production)

The presentation of The Rake's Progress is part of the Festival's ongoing Stravinsky Cycle, now in the final installment of its three-year series of works surveying the wide range of the Russian composer's creations. The Rake's Progress is Stravinsky's only full-length opera, with a libretto by British poet W.H. Auden. The three-act opera was inspired by an exhibit of William Hogarth's similarly titled 18th-century engravings that the composer visited while in America. The plot follows Tom Rakewell (tenor Paul Appleby), who deserts the loyal Anna Trulove (soprano Julia Bullock), undertakes a disastrous marriage to Baba the Turk (countertenor Andrew Watts), and follows, to his regret, the ill-advised counsel of the devil in disguise, Nick Shadow (Kyle Ketelsen).

The Rake's Progress is directed by Complicité theater artistic director Simon McBurney, whose uniquely fascinating theatrical creation The Encounter had an extended Broadway run in Fall 2016. McBurney is revisiting the Festival following his acclaimed 2014 production of Die Zauberflöte. London Symphony Orchestra principal guest conductor and Deutsche Grammophon recording artist Daniel Harding will lead the Orchestre de Paris with the English Voices chorus. Co-produced with the Dutch National Opera, the work will have five performances at the Théâtre de l'Archevêché from July 5 - 18, 2017.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Don Giovanni (New Festival Production)

Loosely based on the exploits of the legendary Spanish lover Don Juan, Mozart's Don Giovanni was premiered in 1787 and has been one of the world's best-loved operas ever since. In his blithe pursuit of three women - the aristocratic Donna Anna (soprano Eleonora Buratto), former lover Donna Elvira (mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard) and the village beauty Zerlina (soprano Julie Fuchs) - the leading man (bass-baritone Philippe Sly) kills Donna Anna's father, the Commendatore, escapes with the help of his hapless servant Leporello (bass Nahuel di Pierro), and ultimately lands in hell for refusing to repent his sins. This new production features a young cast surrounded by the dramatic staging of author and director Jean-François Sivadier.

Don Giovanni features the return to Festival of two acclaimed artists: director Jean-François Sivadier (2011 La Traviata), and conductor Jérémie Rhorer (2015 Abduction from Seraglio) with Le Cercle de l'Harmonie Orchestra and the English Voices chorus. A co-production of Opéra national de Lorraine, Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, and Teatro Communale di Bologna, the opera will have eight performances at the Théâtre de l'Archevêché from July 6 - 21, 2017.

Francesco Cavalli: Erismena (New Production of L'Académie du Festival d'Aix)

Francesco Cavalli was one of the most important Italian Baroque composers of his time. The opera Erismena received its premiere in Venice in 1655, one of more than 42 operas he wrote for five Venetian opera houses during his lifetime, and likely the first European opera to be translated into English in the mid-17th century. The story is one of kings, princesses, soldiers, and slaves swept away in a plot of love, seduction, abandonment and finally, reconciliation. The work is written as a prologue and three acts, or a dramma per musica - verse drama specifically designed to be put to music - with a libretto by Aurelio Aureli. Featured singers include former Academy artists Francesca Aspromonte (soprano) as Erismena and Carlo Vistoli (countertenor) as Idraspe.

Erismena is conducted by the Argentinian Baroque music specialist Leonardo Garcia Alarcón leading the Cappella Mediterranea ensemble, and directed by Jean Bellorini, founder of the Air de Lune theater company and director of Théâtre Gérard Philippe. Erismena is a co-production of Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg. It will have eight performances at the Théâtre du Jeu de Paume from July 7 - 21, 2017.

Peter Ilitch Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin (Concert Version)

Tchaikovsky's three-act lyric opera Eugene Onegin, based on Alexander Pushkin's novel of the same name, was premiered in Moscow in 1879. The story of youth and bitterness follows a self-centered hero who thoughtlessly discards the true love of a young woman, which leads to a fatal duel with his best friend.

The concert version of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin will be led by Tugan Sokhiev, music director and chief conductor of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, with the soloists, chorus, and orchestra of the State Academic Bolshoi Theatre of Russia. The production will have one performance at the Théâtre du Jeu de Paume on July 19, 2017.

ORCHESTRA CONCERTS

Among the symphonic performances of Festival 2017 are Daniel Harding and his Orchestre de Paris in a program of two Stravinsky works - reflecting the Festival's three-year Stravinsky cycle - as well as pieces by Schubert and Beethoven. The Mediterranean Youth Orchestra will present two concerts, one led by musical director Fabrizio Cassol in a multi-cultural evening of jazz and Mediterranean music, and one conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado offering the spirit of Shéhérazade as interpreted by Ravel and Rimsky-Korsakov. The Mediterranean Youth Orchestra offers talented young musicians from France's Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region and the Mediterranean an opportunity to experience the life of an orchestral instrumentalist and exchange ideas with other musical traditions.

CHAMBER MUSIC

Chamber music highlights include the Viennese ensemble Klangforum with an evening of contemporary solo and ensemble music; and the world live premiere of British electronic composer Matthew Herbert's Requiem, which employs the Van Kuijk Quartet in the established concept of the string quartet, but seen through the prism of electronics. The Béla Quartet will revive the work of three neglected Jewish composers in Trois frères de l'orage (Three Brothers of the Storm). This program also features a Festival commission for a hymn to Camp des Milles, a 1939 internment camp in Aix-en-Provence where many "undesirable" artists were deported. The concert ticket includes a visit to the actual camp site. In A Concert of Creations, audiences will hear the Festival Academy commission of four world premieres by four contemporary young composers-Camille Pépin, Sivan Eldar, Raphaël Languillar, and Oliver Leith. And a Baroque concert titled Italian Muses of the Sun King will feature music director Leonardo Garcia Alarcón as organist on a program showcasing musicians from the Festival's Erismena residency and the broad range of vocal tessitura demonstrated in Venetian opera.

A number of concerts with an international focus will include Fabrizio Cassol's jazz group AKA Moon in a performance of his work De l'Orient aux profondeurs balkaniques (From the East to the Balkan Depths), a free-flowing bridge between the music of the Arab world and the Balkans. In Udopia, Thymios Atzakas' ensemble of saxophone, flute, cello, percussion, and voice provides a musical background to the oud as the star instrument. Cairo Jazz Station, a group at the crossroads of jazz and modern Middle-Eastern music, returns from its Festival 2016 success with a new work titled Fragments d'une Méditerranée actuelle (Mediterannean Fragments); and the Saltana Quartet, comprised of musicians from France, Tunisia and Palestine on saxophone, oud, violin, and percussion, will play an improvisational program titled Voyage d'exil et d'amour (Voyage of Love and Exile).

RECITALS

Festival recitalists will feature Sonia Wieder-Atherton performing her dreamlike work Odyssey for Cello with the recorded voices of 200 young people from the region, and American bass-baritone EVan Hughes with works by Schumann and Sibelius. There will be two duo recitals by HSBC Academy Laureates: soprano Beate Mordal and pianist Nicolas Royez in a cabaret-style evening of music by Britten, Gershwin, Poulenc and Weill; and soprano Emmanuelle de Negri and bass-baritone Edwin-Crossley Mercer with pianist Edwige Herchenroder performing the melodies of Henri Duparc.

20TH ACADÉMIE DU FESTIVAL D'AIX

At the heart of the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence is the Académie, a center of excellence for vocal and instrumental training that provides a place to experiment with the creation of opera and a nurturing center for young artists to launch their careers. In addition, attendees have the opportunity to participate in residencies and perform in concerts and operas at the Festival d'Aix.

Associated with the Académie du Festival d'Aix since 2014, the Mediterranean Youth Orchestra offers talented young instrumentalists from the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of France and around the Mediterranean basin a chance to experience the professional life of an ensemble/orchestra musician. Every year, more than 150 young people of some twenty different nationalities from around the Mediterranean take part in Youth Orchestra sessions, where they benefit from a high level of training as well as first-hand contact with prestigious artists in residence at the Festival d'Aix.

At this year's Festival, the Academy - which welcomes some 8,000 spectators each year - will give audiences the chance to discover 260 young artists from 40 countries in more than 60 public events including master classes, public performances, concerts, and recitals. Public events and programs will take place from June 13 to July 20, 2017.

FESTIVAL D'AIX EN JUIN (IN JUNE): A PRELUDE TO THE FESTIVAL D'AIX-EN-PROVENCE

From June 12 through 30, visitors to Aix will be able to see operas, concerts, recitals and master classes - many of them FREE - showcasing the young artists of Académie du Festival d'Aix as well as established musicians appearing in the Festival in July. One of FESTIVAL D'AIX EN JUIN's popular highlights is PARADE[S], a free open-air event on the Cours Mirabeau on June 26. This year, the Orchestre de Paris under the baton of the brilliant Pablo Heras-Casado, will be joined by six soloists, the Aedes Choir and the Maîtrise des Bouches du Rhône to perform excerpts from Carmen.

Highlights of the 2017 FESTIVAL D'AIX EN JUIN also include Au plus fort de l 'orage (At the Height of the Storm), a Festival Stravinsky Cycle presentation about the music and correspondence of the composer for two voices, piano, and narrator; Les Voix de Silvacane, a series of three vocal concerts celebrating the art of polyphony through the centuries beneath the arches of the Silvacane Abbey; and a multi-genre theater work for young people by the Collective Kahraba addressing the theme of migration using puppets, masks, music and singing. This prelude to Festival d'Aix-en-Provence enables an increasingly larger audience to experience all the musical and educational gifts offered by the Festival. Full details on June programming will be available in May.

DETAILED PROGRAM LISTING

OPERA

Philippe Boesmans: Pinocchio

Opera on a libretto by Joël Pommerat inspired by Carlo Collodi

Emilio Pomarico, Conductor

Joël Pommerat, Stage director

Éric Soyer, Stage and lighting designer

Isabelle Deffin, Costume designer

Renaud Rubiano, Video

Stéphane Degout, A troupe director / a crook / a murderer

Vincent Le Texier, A father / a murderer / a schoolmaster

Chloé Briot, A puppet

Yann Beuron, A cabaret director / a judge / a crook / a murderer

Julie Boulianne, A bad student / a cabaret singer

Marie-Eve Munger, A fairy

Tcha Limberger, Violin
Fabrizio Cassol, Saxophone
Philippe Thuriot, Accordion

Klangforum Wien Ensemble

Grand Théâtre de Provence July 3, 7, 11, and 14 at 8 pm / July 9, 16 at 5 pm
A new production of Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, co-produced with La Monnaie / De Munt, Opéra de Dijon, Opéra national de Bordeaux. Performed in French with French subtitles.

Georges Bizet: Carmen
Opera in four acts; libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, adapted from the short story by Prosper Mérimée

Pablo Heras-Casado, Conductor

Dmitri Tcherniakov, Director and stage designer

Elena Zaitseva, Costume designer

Gleb Filshtinsky, Lighting designer

Stéphanie d'Oustrac, Carmen

Michael Fabiano, Don José

Elsa Dreisig, Micaëla

Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Escamillo

Gabrielle Philiponet, Frasquita

Virginie Verrez, Mercédès

Christian Helmer, Zuniga

Pierre Doyen, Moralès

Guillaume Andrieux, Le Dancaïre
Mathias Vidal, Le Remendado
Chœur Aedes
Maîtrise des Bouches-du-Rhône

Orchestre de Paris

Grand Théâtre de Provence July 4, 6, 8, 10, 13, 15, 17, and 20 at 7:30 pm
A new production of Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, co-produced with Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg. Performed in French with English subtitles.

Igor Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress
Opera in three acts; libretto by Wystan Hugh Auden and Chester Simon Kallman adapted from William Hogarth

Daniel Harding, Conductor

Simon McBurney, Stage director

Gerard McBurney, Dramaturge

Michael Levine, Stage designer

Christina Cunningham, Costume designer

Paul Anderson, Lighting designer

Will Duke, Video

Leah Hausman, Associate director

Julia Bullock, Ann Trulove

Paul Appleby, Tom Rakewell

Kyle Ketelsen, Nick Shadow

David Pittsinger, Trulove

Hilary Summers, Mother Goose

Andrew Watts, Baba la Turque

Alan Oke, Sellem

EVan Hughes, Nick Shadow 2
English Voices

Orchestre de Paris

Théâtre de l'Archevêché July 5, 7, 11, 14, and 18 at 10 pm
A new production of Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, co-produced with Dutch National Opera, Amsterdam. With support from IFILAF and Fondation Meyer pour le développement culturel et artistique. Performed in English with French and English subtitles.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Don Giovanni
Dramma giocoso in two acts; libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte

Jérémie Rhorer, Conductor

Jean-François Sivadier, Stage director

Alexandre de Dardel, Stage designer

Virginie Gervaise, Costume designer

Philippe Berthomé, Lighting designer

Cécile Kretschmar, Hair and make-up designer

Johanne Saunier, Choregrapher

Philippe Sly, Don Giovanni

Nahuel di Pierro, Leporello

Eleonora Buratto, Donna Anna

Pavol Breslik, Don Ottavio

Isabel Leonard, Donna Elvira

Julie Fuchs, Zerlina

Krzysztof Baczyk, Masetto

David Leigh, il Commendatore
English Voices
Le Cercle de l'Harmonie

Théâtre de l'Archevêché July 6, 8, 10, 13, 15, 17, 19, and 21 at 9:30 pm
A new production of Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, co-produced with Opéra national de Lorraine, Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, and Teatro Comunale di Bologna. Performed in Italian with French and English subtitles.

Francesco Cavalli: Erismena
Dramma per musica in one prologue and three acts; libretto by Aurelio Aureli

Leonardo García Alarcón, Conductor

Jean Bellorini, Director and lighting designer

Jean Bellorini and Véronique Chazal, Set designers

Macha Makeieff, Costume designer

Francesca Aspromonte, Erismena

Carlo Vistoli, Idraspe

Susanna Hurrell, Aldimira

Jakub Józef Orli?ski, Orimeno

Alexander Miminoshvili, Erimante

Lea Desandre, Flerida

Andrea Bonsignore, Argippo

Stuart Jackson, Alcesta

Jonathan Abernethy, Diarte

Tai Oney, Clerio Moro
Cappella Mediterranea

Théâtre du Jeu de Paume July 7, 9, 12, 15, 16, 18, 20, and 21 at 8 pm
A new production of Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, co-produced with Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg. Performed in Italian with French and English subtitles.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin (Concert Version)
An opera in three acts; libretto by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Konstantin S. Shilovsky, based on a novelby Alexander Pushkin

Tugan Sokhiev, Conductor

Maria Gavrilova, Madame Larina

Anna Nechaeva, Tatiana

Evgenia Asanova, Olga

Svetlana Shilova, Filippievna

Igor Golovatenko, Eugene Onegin

Bogdan Volkov, Vladimir Lensky

Goderdzi Janelidze, Zaretsky / Le Capitaine

Stanislav Mostovoy, Monsieur Triquet

The Chorus of the State Academic Bolshoi Theatre of Russia

Valery Borisov, Chorusmaster
The Orchestra of the State Academic Bolshoi Theatre of Russia

Grand Théâtre de Provence July 19 at 8 pm
Performed in Russian with French subtitles.

CONCERTS

Laureates HSBC of the Academy (Lauréats HSBC de L'Académie)

From Ecstasy to Sighs (De l'extase aux soupirs)

Emmanuelle de Negri, Soprano (Laureate HSBC 2008)

Edwin-Crossley Mercer, Baritone (Laureate HSBC 2007)

Edwige Herchenroder, Piano (Laureate HSBC 2013)

Duparc: Intégrale des mélodies

Hôtel Maynier d'Oppède July 1 at 9:30 pm

Ensemble Klangforum

Simone Movio: Logos II

Luciano Berio: Sequenza II pour harpe

Beat Furrer: Ira-Arca
Tristan Murail: La Mandragore

Beat Furrer: Intorno al bianco

Auditorium du Conservatoire Darius Milhaud July 5 at 8 pm

Sonia Wieder-Atherton

À voix nues

Sonia Wieder-Atherton, Creation and cello

Franck Rossi, Soundtrack

Xavier Arias, Lights

Hôtel Maynier d'Oppède July 6 at 9:30 pm

Matthew Herbert

Matthew Herbert, Electronic musician

Van Kuijk Quartet (Laureate HSBC 2014)

Haydn: Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 33 No. 2

Matthew Herbert: Requiem (after String Quartet No. 16 in F major, Op.135 by Beethoven)

Auditorium du Conservatoire Darius Milhaud July 7 at 8 pm

Béla Quartet

Three Brothers of the Storm

Robert Pascal: Obscure Lumière

Hans Krása: Theme and Variations

Pavel Haas: Quartet No. 2, Op. 7, From the Monkey Mountains

Erwin Schulhoff: Quartet No. 1

Camp des Milles July 9 at 6 pm

Aka Moon

From the East to the Balkan Depths (De l'Orient aux profondeurs balkaniques)

Fabrizio Cassol, Saxophone, composition

Nedyalko Nedyalkov, Kaval

Tima Nedyalkova, Voice

Tcha Limberger, Violin, voice

Amir ElSaffar, Trumpet, santur, voice

João Barradas, Accordion

Michel Hatzigeorgiou, Bass

Stéphane Galland, Drums

Théâtre de l'Archevêché July 9 at 10 pm

Concert of Creations

Singers and musicians of the Residence Pinocchio
Ensembles of the Chamber Music Residence

Camille Pépin: World Premiere for string quartet, harp, and percussion, joint commission with ProQuartet

Sivan Eldar: World Premiere

Raphaël Languillat: World Premiere

Oliver Leith: World Premiere

Hôtel Maynier d'Oppède July 10 at 9:30 pm

Laureates HSBC of the Academy (Lauréats HSBC de L'Académie)

Life Story

Beate Mordal, Soprano (Laureate 2015)

Nicolas Royez, Piano (Laureate 2015)
Works by Gershwin, Britten, Poulenc, Weill, and Satie

Théâtre du Jeu de Paume July 11 at 8 pm

Orchestre de Paris

Daniel Harding, Conductor

Stravinsky: Suites No. 1 and No. 2 for Small Orchestra

Schubert: Symphony No. 3 in D Major, D. 200

Beethoven: Symphony No. 4 in B-flat Major, Op. 60

Grand Théâtre de Provence July 12 at 8 pm

Laureates HSBC of the Academy (Lauréats HSBC de L'Académie)

The Lyrical Instinct (L'instinct lyrique)

EVan Hughes, Bass-baritone (Laureate 2016)

Hélio Vida, Piano (Laureate 2014)

Works by Schumann and Sibelius

Hôtel Maynier d'Oppède July 13 at 9:30 pm

Saltana Quartet
Journey of Exile and Love (Voyage d'exil et d'amour)

Raphaël Imbert, Saxophone

Moneim Adwan, Oud

Zied Zouari, Violin

Jean-Luc di Fraya, Percussion

Auditorium du Conservatoire Darius Milhaud July 13 at 8 pm

Udopia

Thymios Atzakas, Oud

James Wylie, Saxophone, lyra

Nikos Paraoulakis, Ney flute

Elektra Miliadou, Cello, bass viol

Kostas Anastasiadis, Drums, percussion

Dimitris Zacharakis, Marimba, percussion

Avgerini Gatsi, Voice

Auditorium du Conservatoire Darius Milhaud July 14 at 8 pm

Cairo Jazz Station
Mediterranean Fragments (Fragments d'une méditerranée actuelle)

Abdallah Abozekry, Saz

Ismail Altunbas, Percussion

João Barradas, Accordion

Loris Lari, Double bass

Auditorium du Conservatoire Darius Milhaud July 16 at 8 pm

Mediterranean Youth Orchestra
Intercultural creation

Fabrizio Cassol, Musical director and composer

Hôtel Maynier d'Oppède July 18 at 9:30 pm

Concert Baroque
The Italian Muses of the Sun King (Les muses italiennes du Roi-Soleil)

Singers from Erismena Residency

Leonardo García Alarcón, Musical director and organ

Jacopo Raffaele, Harpsichord
Musicians of the Cappella Mediterranea, Violins

Hôtel Maynier d'Oppède July 19 at 9:30 pm

Mediterranean Youth Orchestra
The Spirit of Sheherazade (L'esprit de Shéhérazade)

Pablo Heras-Casado, Conductor

Mediterranean Youth Orchestra
Rimsky-Korsakov: Shéhérazade, Suite symphonique Op. 35

Ravel: Shéhérazade

Grand Théâtre de Provence July 22 at 8 pm

Subscriptions, Tickets, and Information

Subscriptions will be available from January 23 to 30 at www.festival-aix.com; by phone at +33(4) 34 08 02 17; and at the Festival's box office. Single tickets will be available online starting on January 30, also available by phone on January 30 and February 4; and on the stage of Théâtre de l'Archevêché from 12 pm to 6 pm local time. The box office will then open on a weekly basis starting on February 7.

Festival d'Aix-en-Provence's opera performances will take place at Théâtre de l'Archevêché, Grand Théâtre de Provence, and the Théâtre du Jeu de Paume. Ticket prices for operas range from 10€ to 270€.

The box office can be reached by phone at +33(0)4 34 08 02 17 and by fax at + 33(0)4 42 63 13 74.

More information can be found at www.festival-aix.com.