The Festival de La Roque-d'Anthéron is an international piano festival, founded on 10 August 1981 by Paul Onoratini (1920–2010La Roque-d'Anthéron endeuillée , La Provence, 10 January 2010.)—then mayor of La Roque-d'Anthéron—and , then an intern at the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs.
Held every summer in the open air in the park of the Château de Florans, it is recognised as one of Europe's major musical events. Some newspapers call it the "Mecca of the piano".La Mecque du piano, L'Express, Erikson Franck, 12 August 1999Ils se pressent à La Mecque du piano, Le Parisien, 19 August 2004, 27 July 2001Le piano roi à La Roque-d'Anthéron, Le Figaro, Jean-Louis Validire, 21 July 2008
Interprets The festival is a meeting place for pianists, bringing together emerging talent and musicians with established reputations.
Invited artists include Martha Argerich, Nelson Freire, Boris Berezovsky, Youri Egorov, Evgeny Kissin, Zhu Xiao-Mei, François-Frédéric Guy, Claire Désert, Nikolai Lugansky, Eliso Virsaladze, Valentina Igoshina, Brigitte Engerer,Aurore Busser: "The tribute of Orcpaca and Bender to Brigitte Engerer - having played many times with the , this tribute was paid to her shortly after her death in June 2012, during the festival, on July 31, in a concert given by the Orchestra, conducted by Philippe Bender, and two guest pianists: Anne Queffélec, playing Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1 and Boris Berezovsky performing one of Tchaikovsky's , Nice-Matin, 7 August 2012 Arcadi Volodos, Anne Queffélec, Alexandre Tharaud, Marie-Josèphe Jude, Hélène Grimaud, Mauricio Vallina, who regularly perform at this festival.
Although the festival is centered on the piano, other instrumentalists sometimes join the stage, in orchestra formations such as the Concerto Köln and the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, or in chamber formation (Gautier and Renaud Capuçon, Trio Wanderer...), as well as various baroques ensembles, jazz and electronic music composers...
The piano is sometimes replaced by a harpsichord, an organ, a pianoforte, a clavicord, or a toy piano.
The "ensembles in residence" are small chamber music ensembles made up of young musicians who came to La Roque-d'Anthéron to study during the masterclasses of the great masters of the piano. They also perform in various surrounding villages, La route de la Durance aux Alpilles, during free concerts that showcase up-and-coming talent.
Concerts take place at various locations on the site, not always in the village itself.
Concert locations Parc du Château de Florans: Clairière converted into an outdoor auditorium, it is the key site of the festival. Théâtre Forbin: Another outdoor auditorium, located in parc Florans, is designed for a smaller audience and its concerts, only during the day, give way to the new generation of pianists. Silvacane Abbey: In the cloister of the nave of the abbey, are mainly held concerts of Baroque music.
Église de La Roque-d'Anthéron Étang des Aulnes: This site is located in Saint-Martin-de-Crau, 60 km from La Roque d'Anthéron. This is another open-air auditorium with a remarkable setting and acoustics Carrières (quarries) of Rognes: In this natural stone setting, 9 km from La Roque-d'Anthéron, concerts of jazz, 20th century piano music and electronic music are held. Théâtre des terrasses of Gordes Église Notre-Dame de Beaulieu of Cucuron, especially for the pipe organ of the church.
References
External links
Official website Festival de La Roque-d'Anthénon (France Musique) Festival de La Roque-d'Anthénon (France Culture) Festival de La Roque-d'Anthénon (France Info) Francesco Libetta plays at La Roque d'Anthéron (COMPLETE RECITAL), 26 July 2002 (YouTube)