The word “festive” is part of “festival.” A word which
encourages us to take advantage of every moment to experience a celebration of
listening to live music. The Printemps des Arts has continued to explore music
said to be “classical” since 1984, to show that it is anything but classical!
It just has to be listened to in new concert formats, with
artists who take risks and stray from the beaten track! Other moments of the
festival are designed to be unmissable experiences, like the Surprise Voyage – a
much-anticipated event which takes you to a secret location – and the Monaco
Music Forum, which mixes jugglers, brass band, dance… in one mad day.
Come and share these moments of pleasure with us.
A
Bit of History...
Founded in 1970 at the instigation
of Princess Grace of Monaco, the Printemps des Arts de Monte-Carlo is an annual
music festival that takes place over four to five long weekends in the
spring. Since 1984, the event has been
presided over by H.R.H. the Princess of Hanover, and in 2003 she named composer
Marc Monnet as artistic director to oversee its development.
With
an emphasis on creation, the Festival ensures that every spring the
Principality is a destination of choice for all those united by a passion for
music and the arts. The Festival’s two main priorities are a pronounced taste
for diversity of artistic expression (music from the 11th to the 21st
centuries, symphonies, operas, recitals, performances, dance, and so on) and a
constant commitment to the highest standards of quality, presenting the finest
artists of the time. Always prestigious, the artistic programme of this major
event on the Côte d’Azur also aims to discover and encourage new talents.
Sometimes
offbeat and unexpected, the Printemps des Arts de Monte- Carlo has been
surprising, thrilling and enchanting audiences for over thirty years.
One
of the things that set the Printemps des Arts de Monte- Carlo apart from other
European festivals is the importance it attaches to discovery, in the broadest
sense of the word: discovery of musical cultures from other continents, with
invitations extended to their finest representatives (sometimes unusual).
Examples include the Congo (Orchestre Symphonique Kimbanguiste / Kinshasa), the
Royal Ballet of Cambodia, Russia (Mariinsky Orchestra directed by Maestro
Gergiev). Also a Japanese weekend, a Hungarian evening, and a Moroccan day, not
forgetting the portraits of composers (Scriabin, Haydn, Mahler, Berlioz, Ives,
and others) and performances from visiting orchestras such as the
Philharmonique Royal de Liège, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre
National de Lyon… and many internationally acclaimed quartets and classic and
contemporary ensembles.
The
Printemps des Arts de Monte-Carlo offers a voyage across the continents, to the
heart of a single destination, on the edge of the Mediterranean.
Every
year, the Festival sees:
- More than 500 guest artists
- Around 30 concerts
- Over 10,000 spectators
- Around
one hundred accredited journalists from the French and international print and
broadcast media.
Iconic
Theatres
They
are as much at the heart of the Printemps des Arts’ success as the performances
themselves. Every year, audiences discover talented artists in an extraordinary
environment. The Salle Empire of the Hotel de Paris Monte-Carlo, the Salle
Garnier in the Opera de Monte-Carlo, the Salle des Etoiles of the Sporting
Monte-Carlo as well as the Oceanographic Museum, the Rainier III Auditorium, the
Galerie Marlborough and the Théâtre des Variétés, host every year the greatest
artists and are the settings for exceptional performances.
FESTIVAL PRINTEMPS DES ARTS
DE MONTE-CARLO
12 avenue d'Ostende - 98 000 Monaco
Tel +377 93 25 58 04
info@printempsdesarts.mc