10 days of classical and baroque music in the bay of Mont-Saint-Michel

10 days of classical and baroque music in the bay of Mont-Saint-Michel

The “la” of the 2024 vintage will be given in Avranches (Manche) with the performance, on October 3, of the Janoska Ensemble, which performs The four seasons . What more beautiful tribute from music to nature than the masterpiece of Antonio Vivaldi, whose 300 years of creation are celebrated? The final note, for its part, will be performed by the Japanese of the Tokyo Philharmonic Choir in the abbey church of Mont-Saint-Michel, on Sunday October 13, with works by Clément Janequin, Felix Mendelssohn, Edward Elgar, Samuel Barber , Maurice Ravel, Toru Takemitsu…

Between the two, aficionados of beautiful music and good sounds will experience nine days of high-quality concerts in churches, sacred places, gardens, stud farms and other remarkable buildings in ten towns in the bay of Mont-Saint-Michel. But also masses and hiking, in accordance with the spirit of the Via Aeterna Festival, which intends to link spirituality, music and heritage. A strong intuition shared since its creation, in 2017, by the Bayard group (publisher of Pilgrim ), the Center for National Monuments, the Manche department, as well as the Nantes Center for Artistic Achievements and Studies (Crea).

“For the programming of the 2024 edition, we have given a large place to chamber music and sacred music from the Middle Ages to the 20th century,” reveals René Martin, artistic director of the festival since its beginnings. The claimed eclecticism is expressed through a choice of works by Bach by pianist Claire-Marie Le Guay on October 4, in Cancale, to compositions by Heitor Villa-Lobos by the experienced Gaëlle Solal, who will also perform on the guitar those of Ernesto Nazareth, Antônio Jobim and Roland Dyens, on October 12 at the priory of Ardevon. Without forgetting the duo Hanna Salzenstein (cello) and Gabrielle Rubio (theorbo), who will perform on October 11 at the Christian-Dior museum in Granville with works by Vivaldi, Giulio Taglietti, Jean Barrière, Joseph Bodin de Boismortier. These last two virtuosos bear witness to the nod addressed to the new generation of baroque musicians.

A concentrate of emotions

One of the representatives of this new wave, the gambist Salomé Gasselin, 30 years old, Revelation instrumental soloist at the Victoires de la Musique Classique 2024, will be among the most talented guests and the largest ensembles coming to provide intense musical emotions to music lovers from Mons, from Manche and from all over the world. She will discuss pieces by composers Marin Marais, Antoine Forqueray, Heinrich Biber and Jean-Sébastien Bach on October 11 in the Notre-Dame de Genêts church.

Salomé Gasselin does not shy away from her pleasure at being at Via Aeterna: “I thank René Martin for thinking of me for this festival, which takes place in wonderful places inhabited for centuries by interiority,” explained the young woman who fell in love with the viola da gamba at the age of 10. She also knows a lot about long-term issues. The instrument she plays today is one of the oldest in France: her bass viol was made by the master Parisian luthier Simon Bongars in… 1653. A journey through the centuries which proves that, sometimes, music and heritage agree for the best. Like the Via Aeterna festival, this time again.

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