About | Festival d’Aix—en—Provence

IN SEARCH OF HUMANITY

Children leap joyfully out of a field of ruins, the promise of a dawn of fragile beauty: The Magic Flute. A woman of supernatural origin searches for her shadow and finds her soul among humans who are all too human: The Woman without a Shadow. On an island steeped in ancestral rituals, a “last mother” forces the entry of the terminally ill to the realm of the dead under the eyes of her adopted daughter: Accabadora, a world premiere. Meanwhile, another woman embarks on her final journey into the night as a round of fraternal and festive dancers oppose their vital force to the inexorable disappearance of all things: Requiem. Finally, a runaway slave hears the voices of a liberating revolution in the forest: El Cimarrón.

What path in life leads us to the essence of our humanity? For those who grow up in worlds of uncertainty, in which civilizations discover that they are mortal, in which dazzling utopias sometimes turn into dangerous ideologies, and in which light and shadow seem to switch places, the question could hardly be more acute.

Showcasing Mozart and his heirs as well as contemporary works, this year’s program is geared towards providing a basic initiation into life’s great mysteries: love, death, and above all, the fragile miracle of what makes us human. The protagonists emerge from the darkness of selfishness and cruelty to conquer their share of humanity’s light, aware of their fragility, moved to compassion, and committed to passing on what they have learned; and in doing so, they open up the possibility of lucid optimism, prudent appeasement, and carrying on despite everything – to which the magic of art and storytelling contributes so uniquely.

The implementation of this clear-sighted humanistic venture has brought together loyal collaborators and prestigious newcomers. Thus, for the first time at the Festival, Leonardo García-Alarcón and Cappella Mediterranea will be taking on its flagship composer, reuniting with Clément Cogitore for a second and highly promising opera production. Inspired by Barrie Kosky’s visionary ingenuity, Klaus Mäkelä, for his part, decided to make his debut in the pit with the Orchestre de Paris in a work from the great repertoire. Romeo Castellucci, Raphaël Pichon, and Pygmalion will rekindle the flame of one of Pierre Audi’s iconic successes, born of a desire to extend the scope of lyricism beyond opera. The most brilliant composer of his generation, Francesco Filidei, has teamed up with the highly talented Valentina Carrasco to offer a discreet but intense chamber opera conducted by Lucie Leguay at the head of the Orchestre de l’Opéra de Lyon. Finally, Elayce Ismail will make her debut in Aix with an expressive and socially engaged musical theatre masterpiece that revolutionized the genre in the second half of the 20th century.

From directors to performers, the Festival’s principle is to support the development of talent at every stage of a musician’s career, starting with artists from the Académie taking their first steps on the big stage, right up to those who have reached full maturity, performing in memorable roles. Thus, not only can we look forward to seeing Michael Spyres (role debut and recital), Nina Stemme, Sabine Devieilhe, Brindley Sherratt, Edwin Crossley-Mercer, Alex Rosen, Hugo Brady, and Emma Fekete, but we will also be able to witness the eagerly awaited debuts at the Festival of Vida Miknevičiūtė, Tamara Wilson (role debuts) and Brian Mulligan in The Woman without a Shadow, not to mention some of the most brilliant representatives of the new generation, Ying Fang, Mauro Peter, and Sean Michael Plumb in The Magic Flute, and Mélissa Petit, Beth Taylor, and Duke Kim in Requiem. Noa Frenkel, Rachel Masclet, Lodovico Filippo Ravizza, and Victoire Bunel will perform the leading roles in the premiere of Accabadora.

This same philosophy also permeates the concert versions of operas, with the grand return of Gerald Finley and the debut of Irene Roberts (role debut) in Bluebeard’s Castle, and the return of Karine Deshayes (role debut) and John Osborn as well as the debuts of Nicola Alaimo and Christian Van Horn (role debuts) in The Sicilian Vespers; not to mention a series of high-calibre vocal recitals – with Benjamin Bernheim returning and Ailyn Pérez making her debut and appearing for the first time in this format in France, and Sonya Yoncheva, a former Académie artist.

True to its vocation, the Académie will showcase the talents of tomorrow through the final concerts of its residencies, supervised by some of the world’s leading artists: for the Voice Residency, Dorothea Röschmann and Leonardo García-Alarcón, in programmes devoted to lieder and Handel; and for the Instrument Residency, Pierre-Laurent Aimard – who will also be giving two recitals, combining great classical and romantic composers with contemporary music. Indeed, this year – which marks the centenary of the births of Hans Werner Henze and György Kurtág – contemporary music will feature prominently in the form of several world or French premieres, including a concert by the Klangforum Wien dedicated to present-day composers from a troubled post-Soviet world. Meanwhile, Pygmalion will give a full display of its talent in a grand symphonic concert dedicated to German Romanticism, in the company of Stéphane Degout.

Finally, the Jazz and Mediterranean programme promises to be especially brilliant, with the star Samara Joy appearing at the Théâtre de l’Archevêché, Karim Sulayman accompanied by Sean Shibe, the Aga Khan Master Musicians, and Layale Chaker & Sarafand at the Conservatoire, not to mention, of course, the grand concert by the Orchestre des Jeunes de la Méditérranée at the Grand Théâtre de Provence, conducted by its new conductor Sora Elisabeth Lee. Several of these events are part of the Mediterranean Season 2026 of the French Institute celebrating plural identities and diasporas.

“Praise be to him who enabled me to meet this man among men, for he has shown me what it means to be human, and it is in his name that I wish to remain among humans, to breathe their breath and to bear their sorrows!” It is in these terms that the Empress without a shadow praises Barak, that paragon of humanity. May opera continue to bring out the best in us.