Monte-Carlo Inspiration

Music MONTE-CARLO PAYS TRIBUTE TO RAVEL

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music musique

Monte-Carlo rend hommage à Ravel

F or the 150 th anniversary of his birth and the 100 th anniversary of the creation of L’Enfant et les sortilèges, Monte-Carlo is celebrating the modern composer through his operas and instrumental works. “Ravel is part of the core repertoire of the Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, which is renowned for its excellence in French music from the late 19 th to the early 20 th century, ” enthuses Didier de Cottignies, Artistic Delegate of the Philharmonic Orchestra. To understand the links between Monte-Carlo and the orchestrator, we need to go back over a century: “Prince Albert I had forged strong friendships with Massenet, Saint-Saëns and Gabriel Fauré, and as a great music lover, he brought many great composers to Monaco, including Ravel,” explains Jean-Louis Grinda, former director of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo and stage director. This concert, conducted by Kazuki Yamada and featuring pianist Nelson Goerner, is presented in collaboration with the Printemps des Arts de Monte-Carlo Festival. Additionally, on April 6, this festival will present a concert’s first part at the Opéra Garnier, featuring the Trio in A minor. It was against this backdrop that the first performance of L’Enfant et les sortilèges was given in 1925, commissioned by Raoul Gunsbourg, director of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo at the time. The original manuscript of this opera is in the Archives of the Prince’s Palace of Monaco, which holds a spectacular collection of autograph documents from Maurice Ravel’s personal collection. ■

© Reproduction Monte-Carlo SBM

Maurice Ravel, composer of the world’s best-known 16 minutes of “classical” music: Le Boléro. Maurice Ravel, compositeur des 16 minutes de musique « classique » les plus connues de la planète : Le Boléro.

© Maurice Ravel,

Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons