ACADÉMIE ACADÉMI ACADÉM ACADÉ ACAD ACA AC A

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS BIOGRAPHIES RESIDENCY JUNE 12 — 20, 2020 CHAMBER MUSIC RESIDENCY

The Académie du Festival d’Aix has adapted and developed new online training programs in order to continue to carry out its mission of training and accompanying young musicians in their professional development. Country borders currently pose a challenge to an artist’s mobility and so it becomes important to create new work spaces and meeting places which allow for the preservation of the vital links and intercultural dialogue at the heart of these programs. The training programs were created through a process of reflection and ongoing exchange with the artists and pedagogical experts who were initially involved in training sessions that were scheduled to take place in Aix during the 2020 edition of the Festival d’Aix. Through these newly adapted programs, the Académie du Festival d’Aix continues to defend its values which include artistic excellence, innovation, the expression of cultural diversity, and activities which promote social inclusion. MENTORS PARTICIPANTS The 2020 Académie’s chamber music residency provides five string quartets the opportunity to e-meet and exchange with prestigious artists and perfect their JONATHAN BROWN (VIOLA) STRING QUARTETS interpretations of great classical repertoires and to hone their approach to more ARNAU TOMÀS (CELLO) CONSONE QUARTET contemporary language, all thanks to the use of online communication tools. Master CASALS QUARTET ECHÉA QUARTET classes are supervised by Jonathan Brown and Arnau Tomàs members of the Casals ELIOT QUARTET Quartet, which celebrated its twenty-year career last season, and , altist and GARTH KNOX MONA QUARTET former member of the and of the Ensemble intercontemporain. ALTIST AND FORMER MEMBER OF VIANO QUARTET For the very first time, the Académie is organizing a call for scores by young composers. THE ARDITTI QUARTET AND OF THE Those individuals whose works are selected are invited to take part in the residency. ENSEMBLE INTERCONTEMPORAIN COMPOSERS This period of “joint residency” allows ensembles to interpret a contemporary program CLÀUDIA BAULIES while affording composers the chance to have their pieces performed and to work with CHRISTIANE LOUIS HELENA SKLJAROV the musicians. As this year marks the 250th anniversary of ’s INSTRUCTOR IN ARTISTIC MATIAS VESTERGÅRD birth, his repertoire is taking the place of honor. Young ensembles from the residency ENTREPRENEURSHIP AT THE will juxtapose contemporary works with Beethoven quartets, thus demonstrating how PHILHARMONIE DE PARIS profoundly this German composer continues to inspire young music writers today. In addition, the ensembles benefit from support by the tutor Mark Withers and by MARK WITHERS Christiane Louis – an expert in career development. They discuss with the participants ARTISTIC AND EDUCATION PROJECTS the repercussions of the sanitary crisis in the cultural sector, future prospects for artists, LEADER AT THE LONDON SYMPHONY and tools for handling new and unexpected circumstances. DISCOVERY & FOR THE OUTREACH SKILLS SESSIONS OF THE This residency is supported by Aline Foriel-Destezet FESTIVAL D’AIX

3 MENTOR MENTOR JONATHAN BROWN ARNAU TOMÀS VIOLA — CASALS QUARTET CELLO — CASALS QUARTET SPAIN SPAIN

Born in Chicago in 1974, Jonathan Brown began his musical studies at the age of four, Born in Barcelona, Arnau Tomàs is nowadays recognized as one of the most versatile and later began playing the viola in chamber music ensembles. He studied with Heidi cellists of his generation, combining solistic projects with an intense chamber music Castleman, Martha Strongin Katz and Victoria Chiang, before receiving his Master activity, being the founder of the Casals Quartet and the Ludwig Trio. Prizewinner Degree from the Juilliard School with Karen Tuttle. Upon receiving a Beebe Grant for in several national and international competitions, he gave numerous cello recitals Musicians, he moved to where he studied at the Universität Mozarteum with and appeared as soloist with the Radiotelevisión Española, Sinfónica de Thomas Riebl and . He participated in masterclasses with Diemut Tenerife, Sinfónica de Galicia and Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, among others. Poppen, Sylvia Rosenberg and Donald Weilerstein and has been profoundly influenced In 1992, he participated in a televised masterclass with Yo Yo Ma in the Amsterdam by his lessons with Ferenc Rados and György Kurtág. Concertgebouw, focusing on the suites for solo cello by J.S. Bach. He is regularly invited In 2002, he joined the Casals Quartet, with whom he has regularly appeared in the most in the most important festivals and concert cycles and he took part in the Cellobiennale important concert halls and festivals around the world. The quartet records exlusively of Amsterdam in 2018. for Harmonia Mundi, for whom they have recorded extensively covering a wide range of He has compiled a substantial and extensive discography with repertoire ranging repertoire from Boccherini to Kurtág. from the Baroque Period until 20th century, with more than fifteen cds. Especially He has also been a featured guest of other chamber music ensembles, including the remarkable are his recordings of the Bach suites (2014) and the sonatas and variations Tokyo, Kuss, Miro, Quiroga and Zemlinsky Quartets and the Kandinsky Trio. A dedicated by Beethoven (2016)- in both cases he used historical bows of the composition’s period. performer of new music, he is a fouding member of Funktion and has often appeared In addition to his concert activities, he has been guest professor at the Hochschule für as soloist with BCN216, performing works of and . He is Musik Köln and has given various masterclasses and courses both in Europe and the currently professor of viola and chamber music at ESMUC in Barcelona and assistant United States. professor of viola at the Escuela Reina Sofía in Madrid, and is frequently invited to give masterclasses throughout Europe and America. www.arnau-tomas.com

4 5 MENTOR MENTOR GARTH KNOX CHRISTIANE LOUIS VIOLA PLAYER INSTRUCTOR IN ARTISTIC IRELAND / FRANCE ENTREPRENEURSHIP FRANCE

Garth Knox was born in Ireland and spent his childhood in Scotland. After studying After obtaining a Master of Advanced Studies in Comparative Literature, Christiane at the RCM, he played with most of the leading groups in London in a mixture of Louis began a career in the field of social science research. She worked first as Head all repertoires, from baroque to contemporary music. In 1983, he was invited by of the Documentation Department at the Centre for Employment Studies (known as to become a member of the Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris, the CEET in French), and later for the French National Agency for Improved Working involving extensive solo and chamber music playing, touring widely and appearing in Conditions which is based in Lyon. Alongside this, she continued to do research in international festivals. In 1990, he joined the Arditti , playing in all the collaboration with the Georges Pompidou Centre, the Cinémathèque française and major concert halls of the world, working closely with and giving first performances of with film festivals, while also writing for design, architecture and cinema magazines. In pieces by most of today’s leading composers including Ligeti, Kurtag, Berio, Xenakis, 1996, she joined the Cité de la musique and helped develop their information services Lachenmann, Cage, Feldman and Stockhausen (the famous Helicopter Quartet). He as well as the professional orientation being offered in the music and cultural sector. now lives in Paris, where he enjoys a full time solo career, giving recitals, concertos and Since 2005, she has piloted a program on professional development for musicians. chamber music concerts all over Europe, the USA and Japan. He is also a pioneer of the Her program and its training modules have now been integrated into several different viola d’amore, exploring its possibilities in new music, with and without electronics, and university courses, conservatories and professional support organisations. Since 2016, is in the process of creating a new repertoire for this instrument. she has been delivering these training modules on a regular basis to young artists who take part in the residencies of the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and in the Outreach Skills www.garthknox.org sessions, which help participants gain professional skills that are vital today so that artists can carry out innovative and participatory projects for highly diverse audiences.

6 7 MENTOR PARTICIPANT MARK WITHERS CONSONE QUARTET INSTRUCTOR IN ARTISTIC UNITED KINGDOM AND EDUCATION PROJECTS Agata Daraskaite — violin Magdalena Loth-Hill — violin UNITED KINGDOM Elitsa Bogdanova — viola George Ross — cello

Mark Withers performs old music and creates new music working alongside the widest Formed at the Royal College of Music in London, the Consone Quartet is dedicated to possible range of musicians. He has collaborated with numerous orchestras and opera exploring Classical and Early Romantic repertoire on period instruments. Winners of the companies in his own country and abroad. As a clarinettist playing both period and 2016 Royal Over-Seas League Ensemble Prize in London, the ensemble was also awarded modern instruments, he has appeared with groups such as Orchestre des Champs- two prizes at the 2015 York Early Music International Young Artists Competition, including Élysées, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Orquestra de Cadaqués, where the EUBO Development Trust Prize and a place on the ‘EEEmerging’ Scheme in France. he was a member from 1988 to 2001 working under conductors such as Sir Neville The members are BBC New Generation Artists for the 2019-2021 season, making them Marriner, Gianandrea Noseda and Gennady Rozhdestvensky. He designs and leads the first and only period string quartet in the scheme’s history. creative education and outreach projects as well as training programmes for artists Past performance highlights include acclaimed concerts at London’s Wigmore Hall working in the field. He has directed work for, amongst others, Accentus, the Association and King’s Place, St Martin-in-the-Fields, Cheltenham, Lammermuir, Buxton and of British Orchestras, the Association of French Orchestras, English Concert, English King’s Lynn Festivals. The Consone Quartet is rapidly gaining international recognition, National Opera, Fundació “La Caixa”, Glyndebourne, Insula Orchestra, Orchestra of the having performed in France, Germany, , Bulgaria, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Age of Enlightenment, Orchestre de chambre de Paris, Royal Opera, Academy of the Belgium, Italy and Switzerland. In spring 2018, the ensemble toured in South America, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Théâtre du Châtelet and performing in Bolivia and Peru. The quartet’s debut CD, featuring music by Haydn Ulster Orchestra. He has helped to establish new creative education programmes with and Mendelssohn, was released in 2018 on the Ambronay Label and was met with ensembles including the Hallé Orchestra, the Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France great critical acclaim. The ensemble regularly collaborates with other musicians and the Orquesta Nacional de España and he currently directs ongoing programmes with including the Fitzwilliam String Quartet, members of the Band, Simone Jandl, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Festival d’Aix. Mahan Esfahani, Justin Taylor, Gillian Keith, Jane Booth, Ashley Solomon, and Colin His initial training was at Cambridge University and the Guildhall School of Music and Lawson. In 2020, the quartet celebrates Beethoven’s 250th anniversary in a series embraced mathematics and social psychology as well as music. As such, it is no surprise of programmes at the Concertgebouw Brugge, across the United Kingdom and in that much of his work breaks down barriers between disciplines. He was at the centre two series of the Op.18 quartets, alongside other works. The ensemble has also been of the four years of the LSO’s education activities at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. invited to perform at the Tanglewood Festival in the United States and to do a tour of Projects there ranged from the creation of film scores to work at a WWII transit camp Japan. Other future highlights include concerts at the Newbury, Ryedale, Norfolk & with participants coming from the widest possible segments of the population in Aix Norwich, Brighton and Buxton Festivals, and the York Early Music Festival, as well as a and Marseille. A particular highlight was Boras, a piece devised with choreographer concert at the prestigious BBC Proms in London. Thierry Thieu Niang, that was based on lullabies from the Comoros Islands. The piece was created for the 2012 Festival d’Aix and reprised in London in 2013. He continues to www.consonequartet.com work with the Festival d’Aix, particularly looking at developing skills in young professional artists. Creation (2009-10) and Sleeping Sense (2016) with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment saw him working in tandem with scientists from Oxford University. In 1993, his Gamelan programme with the Hallé Orchestra was awarded a Gold Medal by Queen Elizabeth II for work of lasting value to the community. He has a special interest in music for people with sickness and disability. He has had periods as a resident musician at the Royal Schools for the Deaf in both Margate and Manchester. Since 1998, he has directed the LSO’s programme of work for children in London Hospitals. From 2000 to 2004, he was also a member of staff at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children in London where he worked with children with cancer and heart conditions. Since 1995, he has been an advisor and lead musician for the charity, Jessie’s Fund, providing music for disabled and life-limited children throughout the UK. Jessie’s Fund’s work includes both long-term residencies and training and he directs their training programme for hospice and special school staff. 8 9 PARTICIPANT PARTICIPANT ECHÉA QUARTET ELIOT QUARTET UNITED KINGDOM CANADA / GERMANY / RUSSIA

Aliayta Foon-Dancoes — violin Maryana Osipova — violin Rosa Hartley — violin Alexander Sachs — violin Clara Loeb — viola Dmitry Hahalin — viola Eliza Millett — cello Michael Preuß — cello

Prizewinners of the International Anton Rubinstein Chamber Music Competition The Eliot Quartet was founded in 2014 and has become one of the most engaging (2018) and finalists in the Royal Overseas-League Music Competition (2019), the Echéa and promising string quartets of the next generation. Hailing from Canada, Germany Quartet was formed in 2017 at the of London. It is currently and Russia, the quartet’s members formed the group in Frankfurt am Main and have Chamber Music Fellow at the Royal Academy and artist for the Concordia and City Music since gone on to win prizes at major national and international music competitions. Foundations (2019-2020). The quartet is recent recipient of the Royal Philharmonic The Eliot Quartet is named after the American poet T. S. Eliot whose famous work Four Society’s Albert and Eugenie Frost Chamber Music Prize (2019-2020). The ensemble Quartets was inspired by the innovative late quartets by Ludwig van Beethoven. Eliot, studies with John Myerscough, Levon Chilingirian, Mathieu Herzog, Simon Rowland- like Beethoven, attempted to establish a connection between past, present and future Jones and David Waterman. by breaking away from the accepted classical forms of the time. The four musicians In 2019, it performed Mendelssohn’s Octet with the Selini Quartet at the Musikverein began their chamber music instruction with Prof. Hubert Buchberger and went on (Austria) and collaborated with Marin Alsop at the World Economic Forum (Switzerland). to study with Prof. Tim Vogler at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst The quartet was featured on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune, and more recently on CBC National Frankfurt am Main and with Prof. Günter Pichler at the Instituto Internacional de Música Radio (Canada) as part of their six-week tour of the west coast of North America. It has de Camera at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid. The ensemble has appeared at international festivals such as Ferrandou Musique (France), Festival de Los received valuable musical guidance from Valentin Erben, Oliver Wille, Martin Beaver, Siete Lagos (Argentina), West Cork Chamber Music (Ireland) and Philharmonie’s String and the Mandelring Quartet and enjoys a close working relationship with the esteemed Quartet Biennal (France). The quartet also attended a residency at the Banff Centre pianist . In 2018, the quartet completed a tour-de-force of the music (Canada) in 2019. The Echéa Quartet’s continued dedication to new music is central to competition world, winning second prize at both the Mozart International Competition their work. It has commissioned works by United Kingdom-based composers, including in Salzburg and the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition, becoming Louise Drewett, Freya Waley-Cohen and Robert Laidlow. More widely, the ensemble has the first quartet in 14 years to win the Prize of the German Music Competition as well as worked closely with , Andrew Norman and Henning Kraggerud. three additional special prizes, and capping it off by winning first prize and the special In 2020, the quartet will attend IMS Prussia Cove in London and will be fellow for the prize for the best interpretation of a piece by Karol Szymanowski at the inaugural Advanced String Quartet Program at Aspen Summer Music Festival (United States). International Karol Szymanowski Competition in Katowice, Poland. The ensemble has established itself as a cornerstone of the music scene in its www.echeaquartet.com hometown of Frankfurt, Germany. In addition to regular appearances at the Alte Oper, the Polytechnische Gesellschaft concert series and the Schumann Gesellschaft, the Eliot Quartet opened the Streichquartetttage in 2018 at the Holzhausenschlösschen in Frankfurt, where it had the honour of performing six concerts as artist in residence with guests Boris Brovtsyn, Annika Treutler, Laura Ruiz Ferreres, Torleif Thedéen and Maxim Rysanov the following season. The quartet’s concert schedule includes performances at renowned festivals and concerts series throughout Europe. It has performed at the Bachfest Leipzig, the Kasseler Musiktagen, the Mozartfest Würzburg, the Rheingau Musik Festival, the Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele, the Festival Musica Sur in Spain, the Styriarte in Graz, the Mozarteum Salzburg and the Schubertiade.

www.eliotquartett.com

10 11 PARTICIPANT PARTICIPANT MONA QUARTET VIANO QUARTET FRANCE USA

Verena Chen — violin Lucy Wang — violin Roxana Rastegar — violin Hao Zhou — violin Arianna Smith — viola Aiden Kane — viola Elia Cohen Weissert — cello Tate Zawadiuk — cello

Founded in 2018 at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Formed in 2015 at the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles, where they are Paris, the Mona Quartet have been named in 2018 Artists in Residence at ProQuartet Ensemble in Residence through the 2020-21 season, the Viano String Quartet is the First in Paris, the Foundation Villa Musica in Germany, Dimore Del Quartetto in Italy, Live Prize winner of the 2019 Banff International String Quartet Competition. The quartet Music Now and the Escuela Reina Sofia in Madrid with Günther Pichler (Alban Berg received the Grand Prize at the 2019 ENKOR International Music Competition and second Quartet). Since its formation, the quartet has worked with musical pedagogues such prize at the 2019 Yellow Springs Chamber Music Competition. At the 2018 Wigmore Hall as Luc-Marie Aguera (Quatuor Ysaÿe), François Salque, Jérôme Pernoo, Quatuor International String Quartet Competition it received Third Prize, the Haydn Prize for the best Modigliani, Mathieu Herzog (Quatuor Ebène), Valentin Erben (Alban Berg String performance of a Haydn quartet, and the Sidney Griller Award for the best performance of Quartet), Rainer Schmidt () and Martin Beaver (). the compulsory work, Thomas Ades’ “The Four Quarters”. It received the Silver Medal at The ensemble has been awarded a prize at the Philharmonie de Paris’ third Annual the 2018 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and Third Prize at the 9th Osaka Tremplin as well as the Prix de l’Orangerie de Sceaux and the Prix du Méjan from their International Chamber Music Competition in 2017. The name “Viano” was created to time at the Festival Ravel. describe the four individual instruments in a string quartet interacting as one. Each of the The Mona Quartet represents the unity of four international musical personalities, four instruments begins with the letter “v”, and like a piano, all four string instruments establishing immediately a presence in the French capital at such venues as the Pierre together play both harmony and melody, creating a unified instrument called the “Viano”. Boulez Hall of the Philharmonie de Paris, the Petit Palais, Salle Cortot, Radio France’s The ensemble has performed in venues such as Wigmore Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, Place Studio 104 as well as a feature on “Générations France Musique.” In January 2020, they Flagey, Izumi Hall, and the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. The Viano String Quartet has also were selected among the most promising young quartets from the world to perform at performed with world class musicians such as pianists Emanuel Ax, Elisso Virsaladze and the Biennale of String Quartets at the Cité de la Musique. The quartet has performed Orion Weiss, violinist Noah Bendix-Balgley and vocalist Hila Plitmann. They have played for with artists such as Emmanuel Pahud, Abdel Rahman El Bacha, Paul Meyer, Philippe the Vancouver Chamber Music Society, Beijing International Chamber Music Festival, Salt Graffin and Marie-Joseph Jude, giving debut concerts at the Edinburgh International Lake Chamber Music Society, Grand Teton Winter Music Festival, LA’s Music Guild Series Festival, Festival de Salon-de-Provence, Jérôme Pernoo’s Festival “Les Vacances de and on NPR Host Rob Kapilow’s “What Makes it Great?” Series. Monsieur Haydn”, Festival Debussy and Festival de Dinard. Mesmerised by its talent Committed to engaging with children and communities outside the concert hall, the after their debut at Musique à Flaine, the pianist and composer Abdel Rahman El Bacha Viano Quartet has given presentations for school children and students of all ages through dedicated his piece Prélude à cordes to the young quartet and invited them to perform residencies in Bellingham, Washington—the “Play it Forward” residency, a collaboration at the Royal Theatre in Brussels, broadcasted on Musiq3 during the Classissimo between the Bellingham Festival of Music and the Whatcom Symphony to reach school Festival. In the 2020/2021 season, the quartet will give recitals at the Elbphilharmonie children in the northern Washington State area—Northern Michigan University and the Santa Laeiszhalle Hamburg, the Festival Quartettissimo in Hungary and many other venues. Monica Conservatory. In 2019 they gave multiple performances of Over the Top, a musical encounter interactive presentation they scripted, developed and performed at the Colburn www.quatuormona.com School for inner city school children. The Vianos work primarily with members of the Colburn School faculty, including Martin Beaver, Scott St. John, Clive Greensmith, Paul Coletti and Fabio Bidini. They have received coachings from artists such as David Finckel, Gary Hoffman, Arnold Steinhardt, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and members of the Alban Berg, Brentano, Emerson, Miró , Shanghai, St. Lawrence, and Takács String Quartets. They have attended the St. Lawrence String Quartet Seminar as well as the Norfolk and MISQA summer festivals. During the 2020-21 season, the Viano Quartet will be making debuts in Lucerne, Leipzig, Heidelberg, Eisenstadt, Houston, San Diego, Boston, Toronto, and Chicago. The quartet will also begin a two-year residency at the Southern Methodist University’s Meadows School of the Arts in Dallas, Texas and will serve as the inaugural quartet-in-residence for the Stradivari Festival in Orange County, CA.

www.vianostringquartet.com 12 13 PARTICIPANT PARTICIPANT CLÀUDIA BAULIES HELENA SKLJAROV COMPOSER COMPOSER SPAIN CROATIA

Clàudia Baulies is a composer of contemporary classical music who uses all resources Helena Skljarov (Zagreb, January 1993) graduated musicology on Music Academy, available at her disposal, from classical instrumentation to electric instruments and University of Zagreb (2017) under the mentorship of Nikša Gligo with thesis on electronic music, to write concert music and music for media. She began her music analysis of 20th century music (Schönberg’s Erwartung as a beginning of Atonality). In studies at the young age of three, when she started playing the violin. At the age of 2014, she begins the study of Composition on same university in class of professor four, she also started taking piano lessons. In 2011, she decided to pursue a career in Berislav Šipuš (inscribed directly to 2nd year). In 2018, she won a scholarship from the music composition and thus began taking composition, improvisation, harmony and Croatian Composers Society “Rudolf and Margita Matz” for most prestigious young counterpoint lessons with Anahit Simonian, composer and pianist. In 2015, she began composer in Croatia. In 2018, she received the Rector’s award for composition Pulsar studying at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya, with Christophe Havel and which was premiered in Zagreb by students orchestra and conducted by maestro later with Mauricio Sotelo, and in 2017 in Berklee Online College of Music. Quentin Hindley. She participated in various masterclasses with , Ivan She has worked on many projects throughout her career, both in music for media Fedele, Achim Boenoeft, Yann Robin, Francesco Filidei and Tristan Murail. In 2020, and concert composition. She has written music for a variety of ensembles, ranging she is selected to attend the Composition and Sound Experimentation Workshop in from solo instruments to chamber music and full orchestral scores, writing for great festival Mixtur in Barcelona. musicians such as Vera Martinez Mehner, the Casals Quartet and the Constanze Quartet She has composed a number of works for solo instruments, chamber ensembles, Salzburg. She has also produced many pieces of electronic music using both sound orchestra and a monodrama in two acts. Since 2017, she actively writes music critics synthesis and acousmatic sounds. In regard to music for media, she has composed the as well as reviews of new published editions of contemporary composers (magasine soundtrack of several short films, which have been screened at festivals such as Punto Cantus). Since 2019, she is part of the organization of Music biennale Zagreb. From de Vista. She has also worked with the mime Carlos Martinez creating the music for one autumn 2019, she lives and studies in Lyon as an ERASMUS student in class of of his works. Finally, she has improvised over silent films and video-art and created the professor Martin Matalon. soundtrack for several promotional videos. www.claudiabaulies.com

14 15 CRÉDITS PHOTOS PARTICIPANT Jonathan Brown © Igor Cat Arnau Tomàs © Igor Cat MATIAS VESTERGÅRD Garth Knox © Fang studio COMPOSER Mona Quartet © Verena Chen

DENMARK Création graphique – Irma Boom Exécution graphique – Laurie Wagner

Matias Vestergård is a Danish composer and pianist based in Copenhagen, where he currently studies composition in the Master program at the Royal Danish Academy of Music under the guidance of Niels Rosing-Schow, and Simon Loeffler. Before studying composition, he studied piano at the same institution with Amalie Malling. His music has been performed by ensembles like the Danish National Vocal Ensemble, AVANTI chamber orchestra, Det Unge VokalEnsemble, KOKORO, the Danish National Vocal Ensemble, Ensemble Recherche and Esbjerg Ensemble, and his music has been heard at the KLANG and PULSAR festivals, the NJORD Biennale, FIGURA Festspiele, and at the Royal Danish Theatre. He has twice been selected to represent Denmark at the annual Young Nordic Music Festival. In October 2017, he created the children’s ballet De glemte børn at the Royal Danish Theatre, in collaboration with choreographer Gregory Dean and author Kim Fupz Aakeson. In December 2017, he was the recipient of a special grant from the Augustinus foundation. In January 2019, his first opera Titanic premiered at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, directed by Natascha Metherell. He is represented by publisher Edition S. www.matiasvestergard.com

16 17 THE ACADÉMIE DU FESTIVAL IS SUPPORTED BY: SINCE ITS CREATION IN 1998, THE ACADÉMIE HAS ESTABLISHED ITSELF AS A CENTRE FOR VOCAL AND INSTRUMENTAL EXCELLENCE, A PLACE TO REFLECT ON OPERA CREATION TODAY AND TO EXPERIMENT WITH NEW INNOVATIVE FORMATS, WHILE ALSO SERVING AS A SPACE THAT PROMOTES AND AIDS THE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF YOUNG ARTISTS.

AMMODO

Ammodo initiates, develops and supports projects in the visual arts, performing arts and sciences. Artists and scientists often see things before other people do. They identify social trends, extend boundaries and make revolutionary discoveries. By providing artists and scientists with the space and time to really immerse themselves in their work, and by helping to showcase that work, Ammodo seeks to stimulate the development of the arts and sciences. Ammodo supports the realisation of the new opera Innocence and the Opera de-ci de-là residency.

TOTAL FOUNDATION

Total Foundation actively leads and participates in actions of solidarity throughout the world on a daily basis through its sites, its subsidiaries and its corporate foundation which stems from Total Group. With its solidarity program, Total is committed to contributing to the development of the zones where it is present. While focusing on youth, Total’s actions can be seen in four different areas including road safety, forest and climate action, education and the professional integration of young people, and dialogue around the subject of culture and heritage. Within the context of this fourth objective, Total Foundation supports artistic projects that promote social inclusion, empower youth, and bring vitality to the regions where Total Group is present. The Opéra de-ci de-là residency proposed by the Académie du Festival d’Aix is a project that brings together all these objectives. Total Foundation provided support and accompanied the Académie during this first session whose aim was to help young artists create participatory forms of opera. Sharing these newly elaborated and condensed forms of opera which were created during the residency with audiences in Aix-en-Provence free of charge adds a dynamic element to the daily life of the city. The operas were performed in public spaces and showcase heritaged that can sometimes be overlooked, the everyday life of the residents of Aix.

THE ACADEMIE IS A FOUNDING MEMBER OF THE NETWORK SUPPORTED BY