Cannes, city of culture

Going out in Cannes groups together the cultural programmes of Cannes City Hall, the Orchestre de Cannes and the Palais des Festivals & des Congrès, and offers a wide artistic choice with 88 events between October 2017 and June 2018.
This new season is an invitation to discover, to be amazed, to be moved, and to forget in the vast landscape of culture. This edition is announcing itself as a patchwork of events flying the flag of diversity, sharing and dialogue.

The Palais des Festivals & des Congrès: an eclectic mix of genres and diverse styles
Once again this year, the Palais des Festivals has taken particular care in creating a programme that is original, sometimes poetic, often funny and always delightful. And with the same requirement for quality and discovery, for an event that is ever more alive and provides satisfaction for everyone, according to their tastes and desires.

A talented ballet
Dance will take pride of place this winter! In addition to the Dance Festival, under the direction of Brigitte Lefèvre, taking place from 8 to 17 December 2017, and staging 14 shows with the most diverse of designs, the season is also unveiling the vitality of choreography. While Gatsby will be interpreted by a principle dancer from Mariinsky - Saint-Petersburg, in a spectacular show for the end of year celebrations, the great Blanca Li will regale the public with her latest creation in January.
Stars will continue to shine in February with a grand Gala of dancers from the Opéra National de Paris and other prestigious international ballets, all orchestrated by Alexandra Cardinale. As for the Ballet National de Marseille, it will stun the audience, in the style of the choreographer Erik Kaiel. Breakdance will be ever present with the famous Break the Floor battle, but also with the historic Accrorap company and its founder Kader Attou, installed since 2008 at the La Rochelle national dance company.

Things are shaking up on the boards !
Theatre retains a predominant place with 10 shows, comical, classical and contemporary. The scheduling of “Edmond” should be noted,  revealed to the press and public last season in Paris, with 7 nominations at the Molières. Whether during these earthy comedies or these classics, the boards of the Debussy or Croisette theatres will be trodden by a plethora of famous actors: Bruno Solo, Yvan le Bolloc’h, Pierre Santini, Martin Lamotte, Georges Beller, Steevy Boulay … and the extraordinary Chantal Ladsou.  

When voices are raised !
The orchestration of musical spectacles plays on complete diversity, between the Barber of Seville opera and those of the frightening D.I.V.A, the register is the same, but the style differs somewhat. Just like soprano Arièle Dombasle who joins forces with rock musician Nicolas Ker. The melodious songs of Vincent Niclo one evening will combat the extreme heat of the Flamenco by Juan Carmona on another evening. Not forgetting the beautiful on-stage reunions of Axel Bauer and the acoustics of the gentle Noa.

What a circus…
This diversity of styles will continue throughout the season, with the humour of Jamel Comedy Club, the dynamic troop from the Cirque Phénix, the unique Arturo Brachetti, namely a string of artistes, creators, poets, bringers of happiness, etc.  Young and old will find something to marvel amongst this alchemy created for the audience.


Cannes City Hall : discoveries, light entertainment and great pleasure

Cannes City Hall is defending an audacious season intended for all. Artistic excellence is the watchword for this 2017-2018 season. Under the impetus of David Lisnard, Mayor of Cannes, the programme has been designed thanks to privileged relations with famous companies.

The theatres of Cannes: the live show in all its forms!
In the first instance, a central spot is given to children and teenagers. The Licorne Theatre hosts shows intended for a young public and also family performances on Wednesdays, all year round.
From stories, with the unmissable trilogy from the Compagnie Loba to music, with a family rock concert from François Hadji Lazaro, to theatre and dance with Adrien M and Claire B, the Licorne Theatre invites families to venture out.

The festival programme, P’tits Cannes à You dedicated to a young public and in great demand every year, on the one hand, and the intergenerational direction of the municipal programme of 14 shows on the other, the Licorne Theatre appears to be an essential spot on the scene for young audiences.

For its part, the intimate Alexandre III theatre, the quarter’s former cinema, has become an inevitable cultural point for Cannes that puts the emphasis on jazz and French music this year. For an evening, it takes on the appearance of an olden-day café-theatre where good form dictates enjoying a drink while listening to concerts by: Eve Beuvens, Jowee Omicil, Musica Nuda, the Thierry Maillard trio, the group Evasion, Antiloops and EYM Trio.

“Outside the walls”: creativity at the heart of public areas
The public, involved, curious and eager for unusual artistic experiences, can also discover the Cannes shows in the city.

The squares will host dance, with the D-Construction shows and the hum of the diggers and the intimate theatrical forms of the Tandem company, a hotel will transform into a poetic brothel with the unity theatre and the Saint-Honorat monastery will offer the chance to discover a story written on the îles de Lérins, read by Frédéric Fisbach .

The talented composer Macha Gharibian will also be invited to the Espace Miramar to give a concert with an Armenian touch.

This 2017-2018 cultural season promises wonderful moments for sharing, discovery, amazement, laughter, reflection, and above all surprises!


For his first season at the head of the Orchestra, Benjamin Levy wanted to present famous artistes and young talents to the public through new and ambitious artistic projects.

The season’s high points
Co-produced with the Cannes Dance Festival, the Orchestra will present Carmina Burana with choreography by Claude Brumachon featuring the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève on 16 December. It will then be the turn of Andreas Schaerer and his sextet Hildegard lernt Fliegen, in conjunction with musicians from the Orchestra, who will deliver a powerful evening on 2 February. The audience will also have the privilege of attending the world-wide creation of the Concerto for cello by our contemporary Olivier Penard from the cellist Sonia Wieder-Atherton on 5 April.

Original artistic collaborations
Violinist Alexandra Soumm and cellist Victor Julien-Laferrière will share the stage beside Benjamin Levy, and also the Orchestra soloists on 3 December. On 11 February, producer Juliette Deschamps will offer her version of Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Conducting an orchestra while playing one’s own instrument is a difficult exercise which will be performed by clarinettist Paul Meyer on 11 March in Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto, a contemplative and solar work par excellence.

Voice
Accustomed to Metropolitan Opera, from La Scala in Milan, to the Opéra de Paris or even the Royal Opera House, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Larmore will be in Cannes on 20 October for an evening based on the “musicals” of Bernstein, Victor Herbert and Irving Berlin, the Parisian operettas of Henri Christiné and Maurice Yvain and the tunes of Albert Roussel, Kurt Weill and even Jacques Ibert. A programme with a transatlantic feel! The Christmas Concert given on 21 December will be the chance to hear the Choir from the Conservatoire de Cannes sing extracts from the Christmas Oratorio by J.S. Bach, the famous “Hallelujah” from Handel’s Messiah and works by Brahms, Mozart and Bizet. On 16 March, Benjamin Levy will pass his spot on the podium to Jean-Claude Malgoire. The pioneer of period instrument interpretations will direct soprano Pauline Courtin and mezzo Pauline Sabatier in Pergolesi’s magnificent Stabat Mater.

Landmarks from the repertoire
For its closing concert, the Orchestra will host violinist Sarah Nemtanu. Together, and under the direction of the conductor Charles Olivieri-Munroe, they will perform Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto, which was widely popularized with the success of the film “Le Concert de Radu Mihaileanu (2009)” with Mélanie Laurent. Ravel’s Bolero and La Valse will both be on the programme for a concert in Cannes on 28 January. In this series, the Orchestra’s musicians will welcome student-musicians from the Sympho New orchestral academy to the stage. Lastly, on 5 April, under the direction of Samuel Jean, the Orchestra will perform Dvořák’s fantastic New World Symphony.

Piano
The Orchestra’s patron, Khatia Buniatishvili, will naturally open the season beside Benjamin Levy. After Rameau’s Les Indes Galantes, the piano pop-star will return to the stage for the Mozart’s Concerto No. 23 for piano and orchestra. Pianists Sanja and Lidija Bizjak, famed for their duo with an instant bond, will perform Paulenc’s Concerto for two pianos on 28 January, accompanied by the Orchestra’s musicians and student-musicians from the Sympho New Academy. Lastly, the Orchestra will have the pleasure of welcoming Thomas Enhco, a young piano prodigy in both classical and jazz.

The Orchestra for all, the Orchestra of all
For the 13th year running, the Orchestra is giving a Concert to benefit the Restos du Cœur. A citizen’s approach that the Orchestra wants to renew year after year. This season, children from the age of 3 and their parents are invited to a family concert, The Zoological Garden, to discover the sounds and colours of the orchestra’s instruments, based on the poems of Robert Desnos. For the New Year’s Concert, Benjamin Levy is preparing a surprise for us: the beautiful Danube is changing colour...

Chamber music
The Orchestra’s musicians are inviting the audience to the intimate setting of the Alexandre III Theatre for Orchestral Tuesdays. On the programme, a quintet that will perform, in particular, the famous Trout by Schubert, a duo for violin and guitar, an evening that will explore the flutes and their repertoires, and lastly a final date based on the oboe and the cor anglais.