Festival d'Aix-en-Provence Sets 2016 Season

The 68th season of the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, under the leadership of General Manager Bernard Foccroulle, will present an international roster of artists in six major vocal productions plus an opera-in-concert from June 30 - July 20. New Festival productions this year are Mozart's Cosi fan tutte directed by Christophe Honoré and conducted by Louis Langrée with the Freiburger Barockorchester; Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande led by Esa-Pekka Salonen with the Philharmonia Orchestra; and completing the Festival's Handel Cycle, Il Trionfo del tempo e del disinganno conducted by Emmanuelle Haïmwith Le Concert d'Astrée. In addition, the 2016 season will feature a concert version of Rameau's Zoroastre with Raphaël Pichon leading the orchestra and choir of the Ensemble Pygmalion.

The Festival will also present two world premieres. The first, from the young Czech composer Ond?ej Adámek, is Seven Stones, which combines 16 singers and a surrealistic libretto from Icelandic author Sjón in stories about the symbolism of the stone. The second production, Kalîla wa Dimna by Palestinian composer Moneim Adwan, is based on a collection of 8th century fables and is the first opera ever written in Arabic.

Season highlights include the second installment in a three-year Stravinsky Cycle begun last year, presenting the composer's opera-oratorio Oedipus Rex coupled with his Symphony of Psalms directed by Peter Sellars, in addition to orchestral works including The Rite of Springand music to the ballet Agon, choreographed by Karole Armitage. All will be led by Esa-Pekka Salonen with the Philharmonia Orchestra. The Festival's 2016 line-up also features Créations, a series of more than six musical events dedicated to new music. Créations includes two world premieres and covers everything from jazz, electronica, and vocal music to spoken word and more. Complete details of Festival d'Aix-en-Provence 2016 can be found in the Program Listing section below.

A leader in the world of opera, the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence's 2016 season of wide-ranging events will roll out in outstanding historical venues, including an open-air theater, in and around the picturesque Provençal city of Aix. Sustaining the principles of its mission, the works programmed by Festival d'Aix-en-Provence demonstrate a devoted commitment to present innovative productions of operatic classics, to champion the creation of new works by contemporary composers, and to return rarely-heard masterpieces to the stage.

"Every audience that comes together as a community for a work of art shares an experience of our humanity," said Festival d'Aix-en-Provence General Director Bernard Foccroulle. "Since becoming director in 2007, I have endeavored to present programming that nurtures that kind of experience and the coming season is no exception. From two world premiere operas to classic works re-imagined and a new series entirely devoted to contemporary music, Festival 2016 offers something for everyone. And, while I am stepping down from my position as Festival Director to explore new artistic chapters in December 2017, I have made every effort to ensure that the next two editions are among the best in the Festival's history."

OPERA

Mozart: Cosi fan tutte

One of Mozart's most popular works, Cosi fan tutte was the first opera performed at Festival d'Aix-en-Provence in 1948. Composed from an original libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte in 1790, the plot follows a lively exchange between two friends, Guglielmo and Ferrando, initiated by the philosopher Don Alfonso. Alfonso challenges them by questioning the fidelity of their fiancées, Fiordiligi and Dorabella. The young men, cut to the quick, bet on the loyalty of their lovers without considering the consequences of a game that is ultimately not so innocent. The cast will include soprano Lenneke Ruiten (Fiordiligi), mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey (Dorabella), soprano Sandrine Piau (Despina), tenor Joel Prieto (Ferrando), bass Nahuel di Pierro (Guglielmo) and baritone Rodney Gilfry (Don Alfonso).

This new Festival production of Cosi fan tutte is staged by French filmmaker Christophe Honoré-who directed Dialogues des Carmélites and Pelléas et Mélisande at the Opéra National de Lyonto great acclaim-and conducted by Mostly Mozart Festival Music Director Louis Langrée leading the resident Freiburger Barockorchester. Jérémie Rhorer will conduct the two last performances.

Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande

In the Festival's new production of Pelléas et Mélisande, Golaud (sung by bass-baritone Laurent Naouri) struggles with the mystery of Mélisande (soprano Barbara Hannigan), an enigmatic young woman he met in a forest and has married. His half-brother Pelléas (baritone Stéphane Degout), has also fallen for her, but the two must conceal their love. The cast also includes bassFranz Josef Selig (Arkel), mezzo-soprano Sylvie Brunet-Grupposo, (Genevieve), soprano Chloé Briot (Yniold) and bass Thomas Dear (Doctor). Director Katie Mitchell, following her successful Festival productions of Alcina, Written on Skin, and Trauernacht, rediscovers her favorite territory of dream-like images in this drama about jealousy that kills, from the death of Pelléas by the sword of Golaud to that of Mélisande.

Pelléas et Mélisande is conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London.

Handel: Il Trionfo del tempo e del disinganno (The Triumph of Time and Truth)

Il Trionfo del tempo e del disinganno is the major vocal presentation in the final installment of the Festival's three-year Handel cycle, following the world premiere production of the composer'sAriodante in 2014. Composed in 1707 when Handel was in his early twenties, the work is his first oratorio, written in two parts with a libretto by his patron, Cardinal Pamphili, Il Trionfofeatures the four characters of Beauty, Pleasure, Enlightenment, and Time engaged in an ethical parable set to music. The drama of Handel's sensuous Baroque work effectively shows how Beauty, endlessly contemplating itself in the mirror of Pleasure, is brought to truth by Time and Disillusion. The production features soprano Sabine Devieilhe (Bellezza), Argentinian countertenor Franco Fagioli (Piacere), contralto Sara Mingardo (Disinganno) and Michael Spyres (Tempo).

Il Trionfo del tempo e del disinganno is a new Festival production conducted by early music specialist Emmanuelle Haïm, and directed by the inventive Polish opera and theatre directorKrzysztof Warlikowski, founder and Artistic Director of the Nowy Teatr (New Theatre) in Warsaw.

Igor Stravinsky: Oedipus Rex and Symphony of Psalms

The double bill of Oedipus Rex and Symphony of Psalms is part of the Festival's Stravinsky cycle "Theatrical Works - Sacred Works" launched last season with Perséphone and Les Noces.

First performed in concert version before its presentation at the Vienna State Opera in 1928, the theatrically powerful opera-oratorio Oedipus Rex uses a speaker to narrate the ancient tragedy, and gives a central place to the chorus. The plot tracks Oedipus (sung by Canadian tenorJoseph Kaiser) who, after discovering that he has murdered his father and married his mother (Lithuanian soprano Violetta Urmana), gouges out his eyes and leaves in exile to Colonus, guided by his daughter Antigone. The cast will also include bass-baritone Sir Willard White (Creon, Tiresias, Messenger), tenor Joshua Stewart (Le Berger) and Pauline Cheviller (Antigone).

Symphony of Psalms was composed three years later "for the glory of God," as a piece for chorus and orchestra and marking the composer's reconciliation with the Russian Orthodox Church. Taking up the Book of Psalms from the Bible, the work inaugurates the sacred symphony genre.

Oedipus Rex and Symphony of Psalms are conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen with the Philharmonia Orchestra and directed by Peter Sellars. This revised version for the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence is based on the Los Angeles Philharmonic production and co-produced with the Philharmonia Orchestra.

Ond?ej Adámek: Seven Stones (World Premiere)

Ondrej Adámek's Seven Stones brings 16 singers into an opera combining cultures, voices, and instruments in seven scenes. The story is inspired by the tale of a mineralogist who travels from Buenos Aires to Paris and from Japan to Iceland in search of the stone almost used to stone to death the adulterous woman saved by Christ. Along the way, the collector finds many more of these, and each scene in the opera revolves around the symbolism of the stone, which can be primitive, poetic, or transformed into a weapon of war. Adámek joins with surrealist Icelandic author Sjón to bring the stones to life with vocalists who, in addition to singing Sjón's libretto-where one meets not only Marie Curie, but Edvard Munch and Jorge Luis Borgesas as well-also play a number of surprising objects or instruments, some specially invented for the production. They are joined by the Accentus/Axe 21 chamber choir, dedicated to the performance of new music.

Seven Stones is directed and choreographed by Eric Oberdorff, Director and Founder of the Compagnie Humaine, and commissioned by the Festival d'Aix and the Académie.

Moneim Adwan: Kalîla wa Dimna (World Premiere)

Kalîla wa Dimna is the first opera ever composed in Arabic, the work of Palestinian composer and musician Moneim Adwan. Performed in Arabic and French, the opera is based on a famous collection of 8th-century oriental fables of the same name. The stories tackle questions of power and vengeance and were intended for the moral education of princes. The Arabic version is attributed to Iranian scholar Ibn al-Muqaffa. Two author-librettists, Fady Jomar and Catherine Verlaguet, have crafted the Festival production of Kalîla wa Dimna as a tale told in flashbacks by the beautiful Kalila, who speaks from the kingdom of the dead.

Wishing to improve his modest position, Dimna decides to approach the king, who is worried about Chatraba, a subversive man who has criticized the power of kings. To calm the king, Dimna suggests that the two men meet, but they get along too well at his expense. Jealous of their unexpected fellowship, Dimna constructs a Machiavellian plan that will lead to a death sentence for Chatraba. The score is interpreted by five singers and an ensemble of five musicians.

Kalîla wa Dimna is led by composer and violinist Zied Zouari, and directed by Olivier Letellier, aformer artist at the Académie of the Festival d'Aix. The world premiere Festival production was commissioned by Festival d'Aix-en-Provence and the Académie du Festival d'Aix-en-Provence.

Jean-Philippe Rameau: Zoroastre (Concert Version)

One of Rameau's greatest successes, Zoroastre paved the way for Mozart's The Magic Flute by promoting the ideals of Freemasonry. First performed in 1749 at the Paris Opera, the lyric tragedy in five acts follows the prophet Zoroaster as he seeks to introduce a new religion celebrating goodness and capture the heart of Princess Amelite, heiress to the throne. He struggles with the evil sorcerer Abramane, and Erinice, another princess in love with him, but Zoroaster and Erinice emerge victorious from their battle with the universal themes of good and evil. This concert version of Zoroastre will be led by the French Baroque conductor Raphaël Pichon, founder of Ensemble Pygmalion.

ORCHESTRAL CONCERTS

Among the symphonic performances of Festival 2016 are a concert by the resident Freiburger Barockorchester led by concertmaster Petra Müllejans in a Baroque program of Bach and Handel; and an evening with the Mediterranean Youth Orchestra under the baton of Strasbourg Philharmonic Music Director Marko Letonja in works by Strauss, Mussorgsky, and Shostakovich. A special large ensemble performance of Bach's Complete Motets-rarely sung in one concert-will be given by the Pygmalion Choir and its founder, conductor Raphaël Pichon in the Cathedral Saint-Sauveur. And as part of the Festival's Stravinsky Cycle, Esa-Pekka Salonen will conduct the Philharmonia Orchestra in the composer's Symphony of Wind Instruments and Rite of Spring as well as the music from his ballet Agon choreographed by Karole Armitage with dancers from her company, Armitage Gone! Dance.

In addition, Festival 2016 continues its outreach to emerging artists of the Mediterranean area with two new intercultural creations from the young artists of the Medinea network, a groupconsisting of higher education institutions, cultural centers, festivals, music markets, and venues involved in international exchange and collaboration. This season's presentations are Cairo Jazz Station, a performance juxtaposing jazz and the urban music of the Arab world; andZiryab et nous, a work exploring a new vision of Arab-Andalusian heritage.

CHAMBER MUSIC AND RECITALS

Chamber music highlights include an all-Mozart concert by the Van Kuijk Quartet; Une Cigogne de Nuit (The Night Stork), an evening of unconventional instrumentation with guitarist/composer Emmanuel Baily; two concerts by the Arcanto Quartet as part of its Carte Blanche à Jean-Gulhen Queyras series in programs ranging from Purcell and Britten to Bach and Berg (the cellist Queyras founded the Arcanto Quartet); Carte Blanche to Raphaël Imbert, a concert showcasing a dozen Mediterranean Youth Orchestra musicians in a work collectively composed by the Ensemble following its workshops with saxophonist and jazz musician Imbert; and Jean-Gulhen Queyras Invites Stéphane Degout, a program showcasing the world premiere of Le Poète inachevé, a work for cello and baritone commissioned by the Festival from Gilbert Amy.

Recitals

Performing the Festival's recital events are soprano Chloé Briot and pianist Michalis Boliakis, who join together for Gypsy Melodies, a duo-recital of music by Duparc, Debussy, Faure, and Ravel; Les Péchés de Rossini (Rossini's Sins), an evening presenting soprano Katharina Melnikova, bass Scott Conner, and pianist Hélio Vida in a celebration of Rossini duets and arias; and the duo of pianist Alexander Melnikov and cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras in an all-Beethoven program.

CRÉATIONS, A SERIES OF NEW MUSIC

New to Festival 2016 is Créations, a series of more than six performances dedicated to new music. Among the events on the Créations roster is a concert featuring the world premiere of Benjamin de la Fuente's Le Poète inachevé performed by former Festival Academy artists; theTana Quartet, which celebrates the 80th birthday of composer Philippe Boesmans with one of his new works; and Carte blanche à Raphaël Imbert, an evening of new works by the saxophonist/composer combining spoken word, jazz, and improvisation featuring vocalistMarion Rampal with an unconventional instrumental ensemble.

19th ACADÉMIE DU FESTIVAL D'AIX-EN-PROVENCE

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 space to contemplate and experiment with the creation of opera, as well as an opening for young artists to launch their careers. It offers them the opportunity to participate in residencies, and to perform in concerts and opera at both the Festival d'Aix and on tour throughout the year in France and abroad.

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, around a hundred 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 welcomed more than 10,000 spectators last year-will give audiences the chance to discover 300 young artists from 40 countries in more than 50 public events including master classes, public performances, concerts, and recitals. Public events and programs will take place from June 9 to July 20, 2016.

The multiple Academy residencies at Festival d'Aix-en-Provence 2016 will focus on three categories; Melody & Creation, Chamber Music, and Mozart, all led by Internationally-renowned artists including director Katie Mitchell, pianist Mikael Eliasen, violinists Johannes Meissl (Artis-Quartet) and András Keller (Keller Quartet), cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras (Arcanto Quartet), conductor Marko Letonga (Strasburg Philharmonic Orchestra), and vocal professor Susanna Eken (Royal Danish Academy of Music).

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

From June 4 through 29, visitors to Aix will be able to see operas, concerts, recitals and master classes-many of them FREE-showcasing the young artists of the Académie du Festival d'Aix in addition to established musicians appearing in the Festival in July. A special highlight of Festival d'Aix in June will be the 9th annual PARADE[S] on June 26, a free open-air event on the Cours Mirabeau. This year's PARADE[S] is titled African Angels, and features the Cape Town Opera Chorus in a joyous mix of traditional African chant, American gospel, music dance and operatic arias.

Highlights of the 2016 Festival d'Aix in June include Et Tachons d'epuiser la Mort dans un Baiser (Let's Try to Defeat Death with a Kiss), a music theater work based on excerpts from Debussy's opera La Chute de la maison Usher (June 29); violinist Zied Zouari with a musical journey exploring his Indian/Oriental heritage (June 14); Solomax, an evening of improvised music for saxophone with Raphaël Imbert (June 23); and a three-concert choral series in the Silvacane Abbey by Les Voix de Silvacane (June 17-18). 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.