ANNUAL REPORT 2019 PIERRE AUDI In 2019, the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence wrote a Great concerts, today an inextricable part of the new page of its already rich history, and the impact complete festival experience, also played a major of this new edition is still resonating. I am happy role in the success of this edition. for and proud of this promising success, which has galvanized our enthusiasm and reinforced our Aix en juin, which aims at opening up the Festival to commitment to the daring path we have chosen. the city, featured new events, like Opéra de-ci de-là – mini-operas performed in unusual venues – and The six operas produced for this edition – through PARADE(S), a large free concert that closed the Aix their excellence, inventiveness, timely relevance, en juin prelude, with a crowd of 5,000 gathered to and willingness to take risks – ensured that we enjoy Puccini’s greatest tunes. could create a true festival, in every sense of the word, based on visionary artistic proposals. This Despite its international nature, the Festival edition, which garnered record attendance rates for d’Aix-en-Provence also draws strength from Requiem and Tosca, was a success with both the its integration in the region. Through year-long media and the audiences, and will continue well awareness-raising events led by Passerelles, beyond Aix-en-Provence thanks to the revival of regional concerts by the Académie, and free Mozart’s Requiem on some of the world’s greatest projections of Requiem and Tosca, the Festival’s stages, in New York, Brussels, Vienna, Moscow, and close relationship with local audiences has been all the way to Adelaide, Australia. further reinforced. Through its entire program, the Festival helped The Festival is proud of its great wealth of audiences discover different artistic universes, activities, made possible by the many enthusiastic by combining proposals from experienced artists organizations and individuals who understand and those of emerging young talents. It also our action and wish to ensure that our mission presented a rich variety of repertoires, thanks continues. I am extremely grateful for their especially to INCISES, a new series of events generosity and their confidence. that highlights contemporary music and living composers, dedicated this year to Wolfgang Rihm Lastly, without our audience, our action would be and Michel van der Aa. Festival-goers were thus meaningless. I thank all those who have contributed able to discover relatively unknown works, such as to this powerful emotional dialogue and have given Wolfgang Rihm’s Jakob Lenz and Kurt Weill’s Rise such a unique identity to this edition of the Festival and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, which were both d’Aix-en-Provence. big hits with the audience. 2 3 REQUIEM TOSCA RISE AND FALL OF THE CITY OPERA OF MAHAGONNY JAKOB LENZ OPER THE SLEEPING THOUSAND BLANK OUT OPE OP 4 O 5 — WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART FINANCIAL TIMES Mozart’s Requiem becomes a revelation at Aix-en-Provence. A ritual celebration of lives and deaths – of this ordinary woman, of Mozart, REQUIEM of the Earth – it is beautiful and cryptic. — FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG A work of art was presented at the Théâtre de l’Archevêché. — LE MONDE Conducted by Raphaël Pichon Mozart’s masterpiece made for a perfect Conductor Soprano A coproduction with WITH THE SUPPORT OF opening night at the Festival d’Aix. Raphaël Pichon Siobhan Stagg Adelaide Festival and GROUPE SNEF — Stage Director, Set, Alto Theater Basel THROUGH ITS LIBÉRATION Costume and Lighting Sara Mingardo SUBSIDIARY PREDICT Aided, or perhaps even brought into the world, by the conductor Raphaël Designer Tenor Pichon, who is fascinated by the director’s vision and has audaciously Romeo Castellucci Martin Mitterrutzner constructed a musical [...] Castellucci attempted to recreate, at the Théâtre Associate Director and Bass de l’Archevêché […] a personal moment of realization from childhood. It is the Costume Designer Luca Tittoto realization that nothing survives forever, that time is just a vertiginous rift, Silvia Costa an eternal aspiration for the end of our lives, of the earth, of the sun, Dramaturge Chorus and orchestra of the universe.… — Piersandra di Matteo Pygmalion LE FIGARO Singing child AT AIX, MOZART’S REQUIEM RESONATES FOR ALL THE PLANET Chadi Lazreq / Elias Opening the Festival, Romeo Castellucci and Raphaël Pichon offered Pariente a splendid meditation on the beauty of the world and its disintegration. After some performances, you just feel happy. So it was with the opening night of the 2019 Festival d’Aix. […] What the conductor Raphaël Pichon and the theatrical director Romeo Castellucci proposed in their production of Mozart’s Requiem is, simply, a great moment of poetry. — L’HUMANITÉ Mozart’s Requiem was not intended for the stage, but Romeo Castellucci offers a powerful and visionary production. — LES INROCKUPTIBLES In harmony with the conductor Raphaël Pichon, Romeo Castellucci reinvents Mozart’s Requiem as an astounding ode to life. 6 7 — GIACOMO PUCCINI DIE RHEINPFALZ A daring gamble, but one that enthused even true connoisseurs. — TOSCA LIBÉRATION In what is magical for some and heretical for others, Christophe Honoré has taken Puccini’s opera and transformed it into an ode to all divas and into a bitter-sweet Hollywood comedy. This evening, we did not see Tosca, but rather a much more interesting production: a director’s loving gesture to all divas [...]. — Conductor Floria Tosca A coproduction with LES ÉCHOS Daniele Rustioni Angel Blue Opéra national de Lyon Painstakingly thought-out, adjusted, implemented, and controlled, this Stage Director La Prima Donna production sweeps away reluctance so you can be carried away by emotion. Christophe Honoré Catherine Malfitano More mise en abyme than representation, Christophe Honoré’s staging Stage Designer Mario Cavaradossi explores the myth of the diva based on Puccini’s opera. The elaborate Alban Ho Van Joseph Calleja scenic design and the meticulously regulated stage guarantee Costume Designer Il barone Scarpia a memorable production. Olivier Bériot Alexey Markov — Lighting Designer Cesare Angelotti LE MONDE Dominique Bruguière Simon Shibambu Puccini’s opera was a triumph in Aix-en-Provence under the baton of Daniele Video Il sagrestano Rustioni, principal conductor of the Opéra national de Lyon. Baptiste Klein, Leonardo Galeazzi — Christophe Honoré Sciarrone Jean-Gabriel Saint LE FIGARO Martin The filmmaker Christophe Honoré takes a new look – with mastery and Spoletta intelligence – at Puccini’s work. Michael Smallwood — Un carceriere TÉLÉRAMA Virgile Ancely At the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, two great Toscas for the price of one. In an astonishing mise en abyme, supported by an excellent musical The Butler performance, the filmmaker Christophe Honoré plays with the myths Jean-Frédéric that nourish Giacomo Puccini’s famously popular Tosca. Lemoues Chorus, Children Chorus and Orchestra of Opéra de Lyon 14 15 — KURT WEILL NEW YORK TIMES Ivo van Hove’s new staging of Mahagonny is, quite simply, enjoyable. [...] Much of the joy comes from witnessing two masters at work: Mr. van Hove, whose RISE AND FALL OF THE CITY OF concept is both true to his style and in tune with Brecht’s intentions, and Esa- Pekka Salonen, whose conducting of Weill’s score may be the finest I’ve heard, MAHAGONNY especially as played by the reliably impressive Philharmonia Orchestra. — OPERA TODAY A scenic magnitude to equal the gigantic musical efforts emanating from the pit. There was smoke and fire, there was thunder and lightning, more smoke Conductor Leokadja Begbick Chorus Pygmalion WITH THE SUPPORT OF and fire raged from the pit. It was the destruction of Valhalla you have always Esa-Pekka Salonen Karita Mattila Philharmonia FONDATION MEYER wanted to see but never got. Stage Director Fatty, der "Prokurist" Orchestra POUR LE — Ivo van Hove Alan Oke DÉVELOPPEMENT TOUTELACULTURE.COM Stage and Lighting Dreieinigkeitmoses A coproduction with CULTUREL ET A timeless and compelling version. Designer Sir Willard White Dutch National Opera, ARTISTIQUE — Jan Versweyveld Jim Mahoney Amsterdam ; The EL PAÍS Costume Designer Nikolai Schukoff Metropolitan Opera ; With the support of A great production. [...] From the very first scene, the Belgian director proves An d'Huys Jenny Hill Opera Ballet The Kurt Weill that he understands this work. [...] With very few elements, Ivo van Hove Video Annette Dasch Vlaanderen, Anvers / Foundation for Music shapes a storyline that is continuously transforming, and places each of the Tal Yarden Jack O’Brien / Tobby Gand ; Les Théâtres de independent scenes in its own context. Dramaturge Higgins la Ville de Luxembourg — Koen Tachelet Sean Panikkar Bill, genannt OPERA MAGAZINE (France) Sparbüchsenbill Accompanied by the flamboyant performance of the Philharmonia Orchestra, Thomas Oliemans the entire production garnered the audience’s enthusiastic acclaim, and Joe, genannt deservedly so. Alaskawoljoe — Peixin Chen LIBÉRATION MAHAGONNY: OPERA ON A GREEN SCREEN Six girls of Mahagonny Bearing the mark of cinema, Van Hove’s production at Aix is dazzling, thanks Kristina Bitenc, to its technical staging. Cathy Di Zhang, We welcome this transposition, into our techno-liberal world, of the famous Thembinkosi “Haunted Screen” – a concept (and collection of essays) by film critic Lotte Magagula, Eisner on German expressionist cinema, in which Mahagonny was awash Maria Novella Malfatti, at the moment it was created in 1930 [...]. Leonie Van Rheden, Veerle Sanders 22 23