Monte-Carlo Spring Arts Festival

“My end is my beginning”. Such is the title for the upcoming – and determinedly modern – Spring Arts Festival, as chosen by the top international event’s new artistic director Bruno Mantovani.

You are cordially invited to join us on a voyage through time. Not merely "universal" time, but rather the time specific to each creator. For it is only by examining a composer's stylistic evolution throughout his life that we can begin to truly understand his personality. Were Sergei Prokofiev's first compositions already Sergei Prokofiev? How can Claude Debussy's language be defined in his last piano works? What was the aesthetic journey taken by Johann Sebastian Bach's organ pieces? To paraphrase the poem by Guillaume de Machaut from which this year's Spring Arts Festival takes its title, the end of one creative period is often the beginning of another, with creation being a succession of cycles. The programme, and the numerous lectures and round table events held, will offer a wider insight into this theme and others, from writing for string quartets to the identity of Russian music.

Armenia will be celebrated with a series of concerts, in which we shall appreciate the artistic vitality of a country where tradition and modernity have always existed side by side. This ancient nation with its long and often tragic history is a cradle of original creators. The works of artist Sergei Parajanov will be featured in an exhibition, and his fascinating film Sayat Nova will be screened for festival-goers. The ballet 'Sept, les anges du Sinjar' composed by Aram Hovhannisyan and Michel Petrossian and choreographed by Michel Hallet-Eghayan, will pay tribute to Yazidi culture, persecuted over the centuries and still today.

Some concerts will be followed by convivial moments where the artists and audience may come together to talk about the music, and share more in an informal setting. The intimate nature of these "salons" will foster new relationships between performers and audiences.

Cinema, art, dance, and even oenology will be among the disciplines that illuminate the music at this year's Festival.