Events02 July 2019

Menton, a marvel of festival ! [Video]

Perched above the sea, dominated by the facade and the belfry of a baroque church, protected by the age-old sword of the statue of Saint-Michel and covered by the starry sky, the festival has been welcoming for seventy years the greatest classical artists in the world.

Credit Facebook site

From 25th July to 13th August. 70 years of music !

There is hardly any more beautiful summer festival place than that of Menton.

Created by André Böröcz, directed by Paul-Emmanuel Thomas, the Menton Festival is one of the oldest and most prestigious in Europe.

THE GREAT INTERPRETERS

The best musicians in the world perform in the sublime setting of the forecourt of the Saint Michael Archangel Basilica.

CONCERTS AT THE PALAIS

The virtuosos of tomorrow, but also renowned artists perform at the Palais de l'Europe.

THE OFF / IT'S YOUR TURN

The whole city vibrates with the notes of the Festival through concerts and happenings.

"Last year, the German artist Lars Vogt closed with its exceptional musicality the 69th Menton Music Festival, it was August 11th, 2018. At the time, we still didn't dare to turn to 2019, as the concerts that were just ending had left us drunk of music and the powerful beauty of the St. Michael the Archangel Basilica. Yet, in the shadows, a whole team was already busy and preparing for a seventieth edition that all wished great, worthy of the fame of the festival. A few months later, the challenge is raised!

At the head of the festival, the artistic director Paul-Emmanuel Thomas drew all the lines, big and small, of the program that you hold today in the hands. At his side, men and women, agents of the City of Menton or members of the association of Friends of the festival, have stormed ideas, desires and energy to give the LA to an edition that announces rich in concerts, meetings and emotions. Our festival - I say ours because, over the years, has been woven between it and the Mentonnais an intimate relationship, almost family, a tenderness braided with real pride - is not an event like the others. It is above all a human adventure born of the passion of a man: André Böröcz, its founder.

It's also an appointment. The rendez-vous of classical music. The Menton Music Festival is not for nothing one of the oldest and most prestigious festivals in France and Europe. This place apart, it owes it to the quality of the invited artists, to the authenticity and the warmth of the Mentonnais' welcome, but also to the beauty of this open-air theater which stands around the square of the basilica St. Michael Archangel. Attending a concert here is not only a spectacle, it is a human experience in its own right, everyone lives under the gaze of a majestic starry vault, framed on one side by the old city and on the other by the Mediterranean.

For this 70th edition, I invite you to take full advantage of every concert, every moment spent on the forecourt, each note ... And I confide you a secret: in Menton, time does not run out, it's lived. It is at the same time source of wonder, contemplation and inspiration. Do not hesitate to savor it fully. Good festival to all !"

Jean-Claude Guibal Mayor of Menton President of the French Riviera Community

Program in the file hereby