Festival Program

The 2022 Festival Les Nuits Pianistiques of Aix-en-Provence program

The festival runs from Tuesday 26 July to Saturday 12 August.
Recitals, chamber music concerts and orchestral evenings alternate and cover repertoires ranging from the baroque to contemporary creation.

The 2022 programme, which occupies three weeks of the summer and two magnificent music venues in Aix, the Auditorium Campra and the Church of St John of Malta, is based on two principles: diversity of instrumental combinations, and a link between classicism and modernity.
The piano, as a soloist or chamber musician, is the main instrument of the Festival, but it also makes room for ensembles that are striking in their originality, from Poulenc’s wind sextet to Messiaen’s composite quartet.
Works from the great repertoire, from the classics Mozart and Beethoven, coexist with more rarely heard pieces, while thematic concerts, in particular the one paying tribute to the great Argentinean composer-performer Carlos Roque Alsina, put into perspective essential dimensions of classical music for the audiences of our time.

Les Nuits Pianistiques at Amphithéâtre de la Verrière-La Manufacture

Saturday 9 July : 17 h

Evening with the Sanremo Symphony Orchestra “From Mozart to Rossini

Mozart, Overture to The Marriage of Figaro K. 492
Rossini, Overture to Bruschino or the Son of Chance
Mozart, Overture to Così fan tutte K. 588
Rossini, Overture The change of matrimonial regime,
Rossini, La scala di seta, Overture
Rossini, Overture to The Italian in Algiers
Rossini, Overture to The Barber of Seville

Les Nuits Pianistiques at château Grand Callamand

Wednesday 20 July : 20h

Chamber music
Piazzolla, Michelangelo 70
Furia, Valse Jazz
Piazzolla, Escualo
Balcarce, La bordona
Teruggi, Quentos Graves
Otero, Page de Buenos Aires
Piazzolla, La muerte del Angel, Kicho, Adios Nonino, Tristezas de un doble A

Quator Novafonic
Fabio Furia : bandoneon
Gianmaria Melis : violin
Marco Schirru : piano
Giovanni Chiaramonte : double basse

Les Nuits Pianistiques at lthe Church of Saint Jean de Malte

Thursday 28 July: 17:30

Chamber music
Messiaen, Quartet for the end of time
Patrick Zygmanovski: piano
Frédéric Moreau: violin
Veronique Marin: cello
Dominique Vidal: clarinet

Les Nuits Pianistiques at the Campra Auditorium

1st week of the festival

Tuesday 26 July  20:30 in the Campra auditorium

Symphonic evening with the Ludwigsburg Youth Philharmonic Orchestra
With the support of TransMobilités
Verdi, La Forza del Destino
Smetana, La Moldau
Bizet, L´Arlésienne
Saint-Saens, Allegro appasionato, concerto pour violoncelle
Milhaud, Scaramouche pour saxophone et orchestre
Bruch, Kol Nidrei
Marquez, Danzon n° 2

Zoe Münsberg, Julia Ruan: Violoncelle
Jette Marie Schwarz: Saxophone
Dietrich Schöller-Manno: direction

Wednesday 27 July: 8.30 pm at the Campra Auditorium

Chamber music evening
Mozart, Quintet for piano and winds in E flat major K452
Poulenc, Sextet
Jean Marc Boissière : flute
Valentin Favre: clarinet
Guillaume Deshayes : oboe
Yannick Maillet : horn
Frédéric Baron : bassoon
Christine Généraux : piano
Intermission
Guitar recital, Emmanuel Rossfelder
Tarrega, Introduction, Theme and variations on the carnival of Venice, Caprice Arabe
Barrios Mangoré, Waltz opus 8 n° 4, Un sueño en la floresta
Mertz, Hungarian Fantasy, Elegy
Paganini, La campanella
Emmanuel Rossfelder : guitar

Friday 29 July: 8.30 pm at the Campra Auditorium

Evening with the Kazakhstan Orchestra
Mozart, Concerto for two pianos and orchestra in E flat major
Marco Schiavo and Sergio Marchegiani: piano
Mendelssohn, Concerto for violin and orchestra in E minor
Aiman Mussakhajayeva: violin
Gudni Emilsson: conductor

Saturday 30 July: 8.30 pm at the Campra auditorium

Symphonic evening with the Marseille Philharmonic Orchestra around the pianist and composer Carlos Roque Alsina
Debussy, Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
Chopin, Andante Spianato (orchestration by Alsina) and Grande Polonaise brillante in E flat major opus 22
Roque Alsina, Stücke
Intermission
Alsina, Indirect Suite
Grieg, Concerto in A minor opus 16
Carlos Roque Alsina: Piano
The Marseille Philharmonic Orchestra
Valentin Doni: conductor

2nd week of the festival

Tuesday 2 August: 8.30pm at the Campra auditorium

An evening tribute to Franck
Franck, Sonata for violin and piano in A major
Sandro de Palma: piano
Pierre Stéphane Schmidlet: violin
Franck, Prelude, Fugue and Variations
Intermission
Franck, Quintet for piano and strings in F minor FWV 7
Sandro De Palma: piano
Da-Min Kim: violin
Pierre Stéphane Schmidlet: violin
Brice Duval: viola
Dominique De Williencourt: cello

Wednesday 03 August: 20:30 at the Campra auditorium

Piano recital, Alexandre Lory
Messiaen, Regard n° 15 “Le Baiser de l’Enfant-Jésus
Liszt, Étude d’exécution transcendante n° 9 “Ricordanza
Albéniz, “El Albaicin” from Iberia (3rd book)
Granados, Concert Allegro, opus 46
Tchaikovsky, Nocturne opus 10 n° 1 – August and October (from The Seasons, opus 37a), Meditation opus 72 n° 5
Gounod/Liszt, Faust Waltz
Alexandre Lory: piano

Thursday 04 August: 8.30pm
at the Campra auditorium

Piano recital, Leonel Morales
Mozart, Sonata in D major K311
Beethoven, Sonata n° 23 opus 57 in F minor, called Apassionata
Intermission
Brahms, Sonata n° 3 opus 5 in F minor
Leonel Morales: piano

Friday 05 August : 20h30 at the Campra auditorium

Two piano evening
Beethoven, Symphony n° 9, Liszt transcription for two pianos
Philippe Cassard : piano
Cédric Pescia : piano

3rd week of the festival

Monday 08 August: 20:30 at the Campra auditorium

Piano recital, Frédéric Aguessy
Beethoven, Sonata in E flat major opus 81a, Sonata in F minor opus 57, called Appassionata
Intermission
Chopin, Barcarolle opus 60, Berceuse opus 57
Debussy, Trois Études pour le piano, Jardins sous la pluie (extract from Estampes), L’Isle joyeuse
Frédéric Aguessy: piano

Tuesday 09 August: 20:30 at the Campra auditorium

Piano recital, Samuel Parent
Ravel, Oiseaux tristes
Debussy, Estampes (Pagodes, la Soirée dans Grenade, Jardins sous la pluie)
Debussy, Clair de Lune
Albéniz, El Albaicín
Debussy, L’Isle joyeuse
Intermission
Dukas, Sonata in E flat minor
Samuel Parent: piano

Wednesday 10 August: 8.30 pm at the Campra auditorium

Four hands and two pianos evening
Schubert, Fantasy in F minor
Brahms, Hungarian Dances (Excerpts)
Intermission
Fauré-Messager, Souvenir de Bayreuth
Saint-Saëns, Carnival of the Animals
Kateryna Diadiura: piano
Jacques Rouvier: piano

Thursday 11 August: 8.30 pm at the Campra auditorium

Piano recital, Nicolas Bourdoncle
Schubert, Sonata in A minor, D784
Chopin, Polonaise Fantasy opus 62 in A flat major
Debussy, Toccata
Intermission
Chopin, Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor opus 35
Balakirev, Islamey, oriental fantasy
Nicolas Bourdoncle: piano

Friday 12 August: 8.30 pm at the Campra Auditorium

Piano recital, Konstantin Lifschitz
Couperin, Quatorzième Ordre
Messiaen, La Rousserolle Effarvatte (Catalogue d’oiseaux n° 7)
Seabourne, Toccata 6, Aria con variazioni
Bach, Toccatas in F sharp minor and G major
Konstantin Lifschitz: piano