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Itinéraire Baroque 2025
A Journey Through Time and Place
The enchanting Itinéraire Baroque festival, held across picturesque venues in the Dordogne region, presents a vibrant celebration of Baroque music and arts. It showcases a diverse array of performances ranging from chamber music and cantatas to theatrical comédie-ballets. The 2025
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Echoes of Eternity
Ton Koopman’s Itinéraire Baroque
Every summer, the tranquil villages of France’s Périgord Vert awaken to the vibrant strains of Baroque music, transforming the serene countryside into a hub of cultural and musical activities. Decades ago, the world-renowned musician Ton Koopman and his wife, harpsichordist
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One night only: I due Foscari in Aix-en-Provence
For one night only, the Festival in Aix-en-Provence put on Verdi’s early opera, I Due Foscari. Staging this lesser known work with its unlikely story devoid of much dramatic development, the choice of a concert version was a good one.
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Metro to Nowhere for Music From the Heavens
Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
Aix-en-Provence’s longstanding summer music festival commands a somewhat inconspicuous position in the European landscape of music festivals. While the Festspiele dominate Salzburg during the summer months, the performances in the arena define Verona during their season, and Bayreuth pulsates during
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Les Huguenots at Bastille Opera
Paris does glamour better than anyone. But clearly not at the opera. The Opéra National de Paris at the Bastille still looks like a second-tier suburban cinemaplex and the audience looks accordingly. Opening night has no dress code, no glamour,
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The Festival of the Noise that Thinks
An Interview with Ingmar Lazar
Starting in 2016, the ‘Festival du Bruit qui Pense’, founded by pianist Ingmar Lazar, started on its unique journey. Mr. Lazar’s vision rested on the communication between the arts. Over the three days of his upcoming festival (March 23-24-25), there
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Feather light and forgettable
Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Aix-en-Provence Festival 2017
There was little to commend the new production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Aix-en-Provence Festival 2017. The stage set lacked any recognizable theme, and the intermittently raised and dropped metallic curtains offered no discernible purpose. Ditto on the costumes
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Storming the Bastille
Cilèa’s Adriana Lecouvreur in Paris
Since August 2014 the Opéra National de Paris has a new impresario, Stéphane Lissner. The Parisian returned to his hometown after a successful stint as the first non-Italian to run La Scala, Italy’s premier opera house.
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