BERNARD FOCCROULLE AND VINCENT HUGUET, GUESTS ON FRANCE MUSIQUE’S MORNING PROGRAMME
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On Tuesday 6th February, Bernard Foccroulle and the artist Vincent Huguet, who will be stage director of Dido and Æneas by Henry Purcell this summer at Festival d’Aix, were guests on France Musique’s morning programme, in a passionate interview which covers the 2018 programme of Festival d’Aix and emphasises this particular edition, singled out with a triple anniversary: the 70th anniversary of Festival d’Aix, the 20th anniversary of its Académie and the 10th anniversary of the Passerelles service.
Listen to the podcast of the programme
Punctuated with musical extracts in relation with some of the pieces presented this summer (Ariadne auf Naxos, The Magic Flute, Dido and Æneas), the programme is also illustrated with unpublished audio archives from the INA to conjure up the emotions of the first edition of the Festival in 1948, when it all began.
What does the future hold for this year’s initiative in Aix? […] It had been said that Aix-en-Provence was a little sleepy, but it has well and truly woken up. The leaders of this arousal, buoyed by a particularly successful season, were able to take their initiative to the heights of success from the outset. This success has earned them very valuable encouragement.
INA Archives – A critic reacting to the first edition of Festival d'Aix in 1948
This year, a host of feminine characters will feature in the 2018 edition of Festival d'Aix: from the archetype of the abandoned woman (Dido) or the lost woman (Eurydice, Layla) to the incarnation of loyalty (Ariadne) or free love (Zerbinetta).
These feminine characters [who feature in the 2018 programme of Festival d’Aix] are testament to History. [Their presence in the programme] is also the opportunity to feed current debate on the position of women in today’s world.
Bernard Foccroulle
