At the beginning of summer in June, the nights are filled
with music
The Antibes Juan-les-Pins International Festival of Young
Soloists started in 1971, and unites love of music, helping
young talent, promoting friendship between musicians from
different musical backgrounds and a policy of cultural
development by the municipality at one and the same time.
The Festival gives residents of Antibes a symphonic season
where the principal players are young students from the
C.N.S.M. of Paris and international competition prize winners,
highly talented musicians that are as yet unknown.
Rather
than staging a supplementary chamber music festival, this
innovative project gives young people
the opportunity to perform in a concert, accompanied
by orchestras and conductors of world renown.
Music
lovers attending the Antibes Juan-les-Pins International
Festival of Young Soloists see emerging new singers
of the 21st century, and by their very presence are
helping these talented young professionals find their
place in the world.
July
begins with Opera in Music at the Heart ...
This much-loved
festival used to be staged in the heart of old Antibes,
in the Chantier Naval Opera.
But the “Music at the Heart of Antibes” Opera
festival has now been transferred to the heart of Cap
d'Antibes, to the glorious Villa Eilenroc with its
lush, green gardens.
Rare moments under the magic wand
of Eve Ruggieri ...
A perfect setting, exceptional performers, tenors and
sopranos who have triumphed on the world stage of opera.
These are the factors that Eve Ruggieri has once more
brought together this year.
The Festival has earned
its great reputation by bringing the greats of opera
to the town each year. Artistic
director Eve Ruggieri is skilled at selecting those
rising stars that in a short time will have arrived
at the pinnacle of their success, and will then only
be accessible in the great Opera Houses of the world.
“
Music at the Heart” is where music lovers come
each year to share in that wonderful, heart-lifting,
soul-touching experience that is opera at its very
finest.
Information: Office of Tourism and Congress, 11 place
de Gaulle, 06600 Antibes. Tel: 04 92 90 53 00 and Juan-les-Pins,
51 bd Guillaumont. Tel: 04 92 90 53 05
... followed by the
International Jazz Festival in Pinède Gould 44 years of harmony
From the day that Antibes Juan-les-Pins and jazz came together,
they have been inextricably linked. First came Cole Porter
who stayed on the Cap in 1922 and loved having parties
for his friends there. In the newly fashionable Juan-les-Pins,
it was jazz music that was heard at the casino, in the
luxury hotels and in the clubs. Sidney Bechet and his Old
Colombier line-up came to visit, Claude Luter and Maxim
Saury in the lead. Sidney Bechet loved Antibes so much
that he chose to have his wedding party here, and all the
guests paraded through the streets to music he had composed
specially for the day.
1960 was the first Festival in Europe
Two great jazz musicians, Jacques Souplet and Jacques Hébey,
worked with the municipality to create the first Antibes
Juan-les-Pins Jazz Festival in 1960, where they paid homage
to the great man, Sidney. In Europe, this festival was
revolutionary. For the first time, audiences could see
the jazz greats live on stage. On that date, Juan became,
and remains, part of the great story of jazz.
The “Jazz in Juan” story
From the start, the Festival was an innovator, and welcomed
the young Stephane Grapelli and Charlie Mingus to the
stage. It later introduced Ray Charles, Miles Davis,
Ella Fitzgerald, Coltrane, unsyncopated jazz, new wave,
jazz rock, latin-jazz and all the new trends. Each year,
musicians make the sentimental journey to the Pinede
stage, this year, Sonny Rollins and Keith Jarrett were
among them. “Jazz in Juan” is a very special
festival with its large number of talented musicians
and the wide variety of music that it offers.
Blues generation
Ray Charles knew that changes in music were not to everyone's
taste. When “Jazz in Juan ” began in 1960,
the young generation then moved to the music of “Yes
Indeed” and claimed Ray Charles as their very own.
He encapsulated soul music, he was a breath of fresh
air and a welcome change from the all-invading rock and
roll.
The music of Ray Charles was the music of a whole generation,
and during his long career he never lost his special touch,
imbuing all sorts of music with his own special magic.
Ray Charles, who was so much a part of the Festival and
loved it so much, left this world just a little before
the start of the 44th Jazz Festival.
Information: Office of Tourism and Congress, 11 place
de Gaulle, 06600 Antibes. Tel: 04 92 90 53 00 and Juan-les-Pins,
51 bd Guillaumont. Tel: 04 92 90 53 05
Also ...
Sailboats
of Antibes Juan-les-Pins, Battle of the Flowers, the Festival
of Saint John, Nights in Juan-les-Pins,
the Reggae Festival, La Garoupe Nights, the Firework
and Music Festival, the Festival of Notre Dame de Bon
Port, and as always exhibitions, café theatre,
theatre, sport and so on ...
