From July 30 to August 14, Menton welcomes back scales and arpeggios with the 67th edition of its music festival. This festival, as highlighted by deputy mayor Jean Claude Guibal, sets the rhythm of life in Menton.
Alongside the festival in Aix-en-Provence, it is one of the oldest French festivals. The programming is done with an effort to harmonize classicism and timelessness, maintaining tradition while also accommodating contemporary trends.
It is clear that this festival does not remain fixed in its past, roots, and history, and at the same time, while giving modernity its due place, it is enduring and renews itself each year for the delight of music lovers.
Eclecticism is its guiding principle. The Menton Music Festival, while allowing great freedom in the choice of artists and composers, adheres to three fundamental rules: emotion, excellence, and authenticity.
This year, a special tribute is paid to Sviatoslav Richter, the virtuoso pianist who came to Menton fifty years ago. One can imagine the feat for a citizen of the Soviet empire to cross the Iron Curtain and move the festival-goers with his piano.
The festival aims to promote and discover young talents. The program, as every year, is rich and varied.
First-time performances, at least for the audience, will be part of the event in Menton, as emerging artists break the silence of the night on the forecourt of St. Michael’s Basilica. We listen with emotion to the poetic phrase from the festival director Paul Emanuel Thomas: “Concerts under the starry vault with the sound of waves lapping the shore.”
It is not our intention to detail the concerts and musicians.
We prefer to present one aspect of this festival: music mesmerizing souls, in various locations around Menton where, on these summer evenings, one can appreciate music, performers, and composers for fifteen days. The Jean Cocteau Museum will host the concert performers, with its forecourt occupied by a whale.
Not everything is purely classical; there is that moment of madness appreciated by true music lovers, where classical and modern music intertwine to charm the hearts.
We conclude with an anecdote: On the last day of the 2015 edition, a couple of festival-goers came to see the festival director and expressed their regret. They would have to wait a year to reclaim their spot on the St. Michael forecourt; a year is too long.
Surely, there are many who think the same way, music lovers who have discovered Menton and return each year to fulfill their passion.
Thierry Jan
Learn more: [https://festival-musique-menton.fr](https://festival-musique-menton.fr)
