La Folle Journee means 'The Crazy Day' in French. Really, it should have been 'The Crazy Days!' Throughout this entire past week, Nantes had one of the largest classical concert conventions (<-- try saying that 3 times fast!) in the world. During this week, there are hundreds of concerts throughout this and surrounding cities. Thousands of people flock from cities all over Europe. Some of the concerts are small with only locally known artists, while others are in huge concert halls, seating thousands.
Every year there is a different theme, with this years being Chopin, since it is the 200th anniversary of his birth. Chopin happens to be my favorite classical composer so I was in luck. Other romance pieces from Liszt, Schumann, Schubert etc. were also featured.
The tickets are very reasonably priced (between $8-$30 per person) so Marco and I decided to go to see 'Le Trio Wanderer' this past Thursday night. I was still having stomach pain from the food poisoning I discussed in the previous entry, but I was still able to enjoy it. The trio was wonderful and supposedly is one of the most famous in France. We also majorly lucked out....one of Pascale's friends found 2 tickets on the ground that someone unfortunately dropped. There is no way of tracking them in order to give them back to their owners and her friend was unable to attend. That meant a free concert (and one of the expensive ones!) for me and Marco!
On Saturday afternoon, we saw the Aquitaine Orchestra along with a famous French pianist. The orchestra and the pianist were exceptional. I think the audience clapped for a full 10 minutes. Other cities have now taken Nantes' idea and have started their own 'Folle Journee.' I believe there is now one in Japan, Canada, and Brazil. Here is a website if you want to read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Folle_Journ%C3%A9e
Hope you guys have a great week! I leave you with a video of 'Trio Wanderer.'
Disclaimer: Just so everyone is aware, I do not mean for this blog to be a literary masterpiece. I type as if I were speaking. Please excuse any 'errors' that are not common in scholarly writing.
You should have added a few pictures for illustration (not to mention a little music player). As you said, classical music is not only for the ears but also for the eyes!
ReplyDeleteI actually tried! I downloaded a video of Trio Wanderer and tried to attach it but it didn't work! I'll try again.
ReplyDelete