La Folle Journee, Nantes
07/05/08 07:05 Filed in: Classical Music
La Folle Journee (The foolish or crazy day) is the “Woodstock” of classical music - A long weekend with over 240 concerts in 15 venues. Attended by well over 150,000 people, it’s an amazing production.
It’s a brilliant idea, one designed to demystify the classical concert, to strip away the aura and pretensions that put off the more timid or dissuades the less well-off from splashing out. Each concert is short (around forty-five minutes of music with no interval); there is a reduced admission price, a wide variety of different performances and, finally, a truly enthusiastic audience.
There is no class distinction, no discrimination between professional and amateur musicians (with wind orchestras and steel bands giving performances in the central hall of the conference centre). One can see why the City of Nantes supports this unifying project that boosts social harmony and brings great music to everyone.
Over two days at this year’s festival at the end of January and beginning of February, I managed to fit in five concerts that included the Russian virtuoso pianist, Boris Berezovsky performing Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto and a stunning performance of Schubert lieder.
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