Looking ahead: Festival Printemps des Arts Montecarlo

Panorama of Monaco from the top of the  Hôtel de Paris (Photo Marc Monnet)

The 34th Festival Printemps des Arts Montecarlo runs from 16 March to 29 April 2018, when over 30 concerts and events will be presented in venues in and around Monaco. One of the focuses this year is on the music of Charles Ives, when his music will be featured in nine concerts, ranging from the Symphony No. 2 performed by the Orchestre National de France, conductor Yutaka Sado, at the opening concert on 16 March to The Unanswered Question, Central Park in the Dark, Three Places in New England and Symphony No. 3 'The Camp Meeting' from the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo conductor Christian Arming on 8 April, with the chance to hear Ives' chamber music and song along the way. One of the most intriguing Ives works to be performed is The Celestial Country for tenor, baritone, two vocal quartets, choir and instrumental ensemble which will be performed by the Lativan Radio Choir, conductor Sigvards Klava and the Klava String Quartet.

But it isn't all Ives, Edison Denisov's 1986 opera Four Girls, after Pablo Picasso's Les quatre petite filles, receives a concert performance from Studio de l'Opéra de Lyon and Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain conducted by Daniel Kawaka. And the festival ends with a special ballet weekend when Les Ballest de Monte-Carlo present a programme combining Balanchine's choreography for Stravinsky's Violin Concerto with Jean-Christophe Maillot's new ballet to a new work commissioned by the festival from Bruno Mantovani.

All fourteen of Luciano Berio's Sequenzas will be presented, in performances spread across the festival, and a series of Young Talents concerts will feature students from conservatoires of the region who have been working with the composer in residence, Yan Maresz, to present programmes including music by Maresz, Edison Denisov, Messiaen, George Crumb, Shostakovich, Berio and more.

Full details from the Festival website.