Warm week-end at Festival de l'Empéri in Salon de Provence!

Sometimes a quiet ride not too far from home with no opera in sight, only nice quartets and quintets to listen to in nice open air surroundings, has plenty of charms and fulfill some purposes.
Having spent some time in China and coming back to the reality of housekeeping then to the arrival of grandchildren,  somehow made a lot to cope with, after three months of farniente.
I did not intend to travel again for musical events to expensive festivals around the world!
So I went  round the corner, took the local bus from Aix en Provence and booked three nights in Salon at Hôtel d'Angleterre, very cosy and affordable, with even a very efficient and discreet air conditioner, plus four very cheap tickets for outdoor concerts mainly.
This is a marvellous way to spend sleepless nights because of the heat.
It was never too warm in the Cour du Château de l'Empéri during the  nights I stayed there.
Watching the stars coming out, the rather scared swifts disappearing promptly in the triangular hole at the first violin bow strikes, then having the tireless cicadas competing with the musicians, gave me endless pleasure to listen to and odd things to glance at.
 The music was really fine and full of happy seriousness and joy. The musicians were at one point or another keeping an eye on each other and smiling. These smiles were the sign of total enjoyment to be out of concert halls and in a closer contact with the audience.

Summery and relaxed, they did not give the impression it was hard work! It was possible to go and listen to them rehearse in the Cour Renaissance.
All the programs were discoveries for me( apart for Harold in Italy) and I was charmed by the young Zaire quartet, the fantastic wind quintet and the orchestra of eleven members for some pieces like Nino Rota 'La Strada' transcription which was a great success and opened the concert at La cour du château for 'Viva Verdi'evening.

I particularly enjoyed the witty clarinettist  Paul Meyer who immediately played the phone jingle which had just disturbed the end of the afternoon concert on Sunday... and the flutist also played an echo of the jingle, all that done with smiles and good humour!

They received great applause at a jazzy piece  of la Strada and gave it as an encore before going up the hill to rehearse for the evening concert up the Castle.
They opened the Viva Verdi concert with the same piece and had also great success!

Dimanche 4 août ,

On Sunday:FREE CONCERTS (with Marseille Capitale de la Culture )

19:00 Place Saint-Michel : La Strada

Bechara El-Khoury

Mare Nostrum: I adored it, really thought I was miles away carried away by the waves of the music.

Deborah Nemtanu (violon) - Maja Avramovic (violon) - Joaquin Riquelme Garcia (alto) - Raphaël Perraud (violoncelle) - Olivier Thiery (contrebasse) - Emmanuel Pahud (flûte) - François Meyer (hautbois) - Paul Meyer (clarinette) - Chezy Nir (cor) - Gilbert Audin (basson)

Nino Rota: Loved the trumpet player most!

Suite de La Strada (arrangement de Ohad Ben Ari)

Deborah Nemtanu (violon) - Maja Avramovic (violon) - Joaquin Riquelme Garcia (alto) - Raphaël Perraud (violoncelle) - Olivier Thiery (contrebasse) - Emmanuel Pahud (flûte) - François Meyer (hautbois) - Paul Meyer (clarinette) - Gilbert Audin (basson) - Chezy Nir (cor) - Sergei Nakariakov (trompette) - Emmanuel Curt (percussions)

21:00 Château de l'Emperi : Alcazar Memories

Leos Janacek

Quatuor à cordes n°2, "Lettres intimes"

Quatuor Zaïde (quatuor à cordes)

Paul Lay

Alcazar Memories

Isabel Sörling (soprano) - Simon Tailleu (contrebasse) - Paul Lay (piano)

Bohuslav Martinu

Quatuor à cordes

Quatuor Zaïde (quatuor à cordes)

Lundi 5 août

On Monday:
There was a change in the program, as the orchestra opened the night with Nino Rota 'la strada'.
then it followed the program but I did not feel like staying for the last part 'Alcazar memories'. Of course it would have been interesting to discover the jazzy tunes I heard singing in my youth, by relatives and on the radio...  here is the trailor I found on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r7B-W55paY

18:00 Eglise Saint-Michel : Déborah Nemtanu & Raphaël Perraud

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Duo pour violon et violoncelle en sol majeur

Deborah Nemtanu (violon) - Raphaël Perraud (violoncelle)

Maurice Ravel

Sonate pour violon et violoncelle en ut majeur

Deborah Nemtanu (violon) - Raphaël Perraud (violoncelle)

Georg Friedrich Haendel

Passacaille (arrangement de Johan Halvorsen)

Deborah Nemtanu (violon) - Raphaël Perraud (violoncelle)

21:00 Château de l'Emperi : Viva Italia

Hector Berlioz

Harold en Italie (transcription pour alto et piano de Franz Liszt)

Amihai Grosz (alto) - Denis Pascal (piano)

Hugo Wolf

Sérénade italienne en sol majeur pour quatuor

Quatuor Zaïde (quatuor à cordes)

Giuseppe Verdi

Quintette à vents (arrangement de Mordechai Rechtmann du quatuor en mi mineur)

Emmanuel Pahud (flûte) - François Meyer (hautbois) - Paul Meyer (clarinette) - Chezy Nir (cor) - Gilbert Audin (basson)

Nino Rota

Nonette pour flûte, hautbois, clarinette, basson, cor, violon, alto, violoncelle et contrebasse

Emmanuel Pahud (flûte) - François Meyer (hautbois) - Paul Meyer (clarinette) - Gilbert Audin (basson) - Chezy Nir (cor) - Maja Avramovic (violon) - Joaquin Riquelme Garcia (alto) - Raphaël Perraud (violoncelle) - Olivier Thiery (contrebasse)

Maja Avramovic (violon)

loncelle)

What I also enjoyed a lot were the refreshing snacks done by local Chefs each night I spent there.
The last one done by La Bastide Chef was a real gem! It looked so Asian to me ! It was delicious and cold with lots of al dente braised vegetables  inside and with a smart thin bamboo stick to deal with!

(Egg plant slice roll filled with little courgettes, red pepper,  tomato cubes, grated hard parmigiano cheese, local olive oil as it is produced there, and a slice of Italian ham on  top of the roll, resting on a thin slice of spicy bread, perhaps cucurma as it was yellow, sunny! with sesame seeds on the crust, delicious vegetable roll! looking like a spring roll in a way! delicious...!!! and adorned with a basil leaf of course, we cannot cook without basil in summer....)
LA BASTIDE DU MOULIN A POIVRE, artisan restaurateur, slow food. 13330 Pélissanne, 0490553051.

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