There is so much to do this weekend, that you probably start wishing there are more than 24 hours in a day. Music, different kinds and styles of it, fill the Principality.
Of cause of the major event this weekend is the Rose Ball held this year on Saturday 24 March traditionally at the Sporting Monte-Carlo – Salle des Etoiles.
This is one of the major charity events in Monaco. Created in 1954, it benefits the Princess Grace Foundation. For 2018, Karl Lagerfeld was again invited to design the Ball, his fifth time to accept the honour. Each year, H.R.H. Princess of Hanover selects a new theme. This year the theme was named “Manhattan” and everything from invitations to table decorations will be done in this style.
There are always ravishing bouquets of thousands of roses decorating the Salle des Etoiles in the Sporting d’Eté complex. Top-name performers delight the audience, who grace the event with their finest attire. This prestigious fund-raising event is open to the public.
Monte-Carlo Spring Arts Festival continue its programme with several events this weekend. American Music — concert by the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Kazuki Yamada is on Saturday 24 March, at 8.30 pm in Auditorium Rainier III.
On the programme: Luciano Berio, Eric Montalbetti and Charles Ives
Before becoming the great composer of American modernism, Charles Ives composed in a romantic style close to Dvorak and Tchaikovsky, as his first symphony shows. The world premiere of Éric Montalbetti will reveal a French composer almost unknown to the public, nonetheless he has been writing music for decades before his talent was revealed…
Prices: 35€ (Category 1) – 26€ (Category 2)
And before it you can also attend a pre-performance Round table on the theme of “Classical Music at the Time of Stardom” (“La musique classique à l’heure du vedettariat”) with Françoise Benhamou, Jean-Claude Yon and Liza Kerob, hosted by David Christoffel, musicologist on Saturday 24 March, at 6.30 pm Auditorium Rainier III.
ADMISSION FREE, limited number of places available.
A bit earlier there is a Composition master class with Yan Maresz on Saturday 24 March, from 2 pm to 5 pm Académie Rainier III.
Some of the artists on show at the festival share their knowledge and passion with students at the Academy of Monaco and the conservatories in the region. These master-classes are open to the public: a unique opportunity to be a key witness in the wings of the stage, and witness the rigorous demands imposed on the artists…
ADMISSION FREE, limited number of places available.
And on Sunday within the Monte-Carlo Spring Arts Festival there is American Music and Mozart — concert by the Zemlinsky Quartet at 6 pm Musée Océanographique de Monaco.
On the programme: Luciano Berio, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Charles Ives
Alternating Mozart and Ives rings like a continuous chiaroscuro. Used to these changes of colour, the Zemlinsky Quartet from Prague knows how to make the sunlight of Mozart ring as well as how to give profundity to the poetic mists of American music.
And a pre-performance talk: American Music and Mozart — meeting on the theme of “Un diptyque Mozart-Ives” (“A Mozart-Ives Diptych”) by Camille Prost, philosopher on Sunday 25 March, at 4.30 pm Musée Océanographique de Monaco.
Monte-Carlo Opera also prepared a treat: “Faust” by Charles Gounod with Joseph Calleja, Marina Rebeka, Paul Gay, Lionel Lhote, Héloïse Mas, Christine Solhosse, the Chorus of the Monte-Carlo Opera and the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Laurent Campellone on Friday 23 March, at 8 pm (gala), Sunday 25 March, at 3 pm, Tuesday 27 and Thursday 29 March, at 8 pm Opéra de Monte-Carlo – Salle Garnier.
Another musical event is the Guitar Days by the pupils of the Rainier III Academy from Friday 23 March to Sunday 25 March, Théâtre des Variétés and Académie Rainier III.
Three concerts will allow the public to discover the many facets of this instrument – from the solo guitar to the ensembles of more than 50 guitarists, through chamber music formations, around a repertoire of the most varied range from Joseph Haydn to Manuel from Falla, from Benjamin Britten to Roland Dyens …
This year, the Journées de la Guitare will pay tribute to this huge guitarist Roland Dyens, who died in October 2016. A genius musician and composer, he was a privileged guest of the event.
Master classes will also be offered to young guitarists over the weekend to share their experience and culture – a collective work that is always inspiring.
A fabulous line-up of artists, comedians and actors is programmed over the four days of the Principality’s 13th comedy festival of Les Sérénissimes de l’Humour. Organised in association with the Rire & Chansons radio station, Sérénissimes de l’Humour has H.S.H. Prince Albert II as patron and supports the Monegasque children’s charity Amade.
Highlights:
Franck Dubosc – 23 March at 8.00pm
Madénian & VDB – 24 March at 8.00pm
Tickets range between 40 and 50 euros.
Every year, the Bosio Pavilion opens its doors to the public. This year the Open Day at Ecole Supérieure d’Arts Plastiques, Pavillon Bosio is on Saturday 24 March.
Drawings, installations, video, volume, collective projects, scenographic projects are thus presented in the form of a hanging.
Teachers and students welcome and inform future candidates.
For theater lovers there is “Enigmatic Variations”, contemporary theatre by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt with Gilles Droulez and François Tantot on Friday 23 March, at 8.30pm, Saturday 24 March, at 9 pm, Sunday 25 March, at 4.30pm in Théâtre des Muses.
Abel Znorko, Nobel Prize for literature, brilliant and corrosive misanthrope, receives on his island, Erik Larsen, obscure journalist whom he nevertheless invited to speak to him about his last novel. This book publishes a correspondence between the writer and a stranger. Is this woman the one to whom the book is dedicated? That seems to interest Larsen a lot.
Little by little, through ambiguous and eventful dialogues between the two men, punctuated by permanent surprises, two antinomic visions of love emerge: short but memorable passion for faithful and continuous love.
Tickets range between 17 and 28 euros.
And those who like to watch sports should go to Monaco Bay to watch the Spring Challenge — Smeralda 888, organised by the Yacht Club of Monaco from Friday 23 March to Sunday 25 March.
And if you want to learn about other events and exhibitions taking place in Monaco visit our Calendar.
So have fun and enjoy your weekend!