It’s Friday night, the weekend has begun and as usually the diversity of events in the Principality won’t let you sit at home feeling bored.
Monte-Carlo Spring Arts Festival 2017 still reigns the cultural life of Monaco. The scope of events is huge. To begin with there will be a dance performance byKiesse Na Kiesse Ballet from Kinshasa, Congo on Saturday 1 April, at 4 pm on Place du Casino.
Not one, but two orchestras in one evening will perform in the next event of the Monte-Carlo Spring Arts Festival, featuring, for the first part: The Kimbanguist Symphony Orchestra and the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Armand Diangienda Wabasolele on Saturday 1 April, at 8.30 pm Auditorium Rainier III – Salle Yakov Kreizberg. On the programme: Armand Diangienda Wabasolele and Héritier Mayimbi Mbuangi and for the second part conducted by Julien Leroy: Ludwig Van Beethoven
On the same day there will be to events for professionals and amateur musicians, the first one is a Round Table on the subject of “The Orchestra” with Emmanuel Hondré, Director of the concerts and shows department of the Philharmonia of Paris, Christian Merlin, journalist, author of the book “Au coeur de l’orchestre” (“At the Heart of the Orchestra”) (Fayard, 2012) and Jean-Charles Curau, Director of Cultural Affairs of the Principality of Monaco, led by David Christoffel, musicologist at 7 pm in Auditorium Rainier III. The second event is a Flute Master Class with Mario Caroli on Saturday 1 April, from 10 am to 1 pm Académie Rainier III.
And on Sunday the program of the Spring Arts Festival will continue with “Monaco Music Forum”: music, dance and performances, bodies and sounds in movement, circulating around the various rooms of the Auditorium on 2 April, at 2.30 pm Auditorium Rainier III.
There are two matches this weekend, unfortunately none of them is played in Monaco: a football match between AS Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain in French League Cup, Final on Saturday 1 April at 21.00 at Park OL, Lyon.
And the other one is Gravelines against AS Monaco in PRO A Basketball Championship on Saturday 1 April at 6.30 p.m.
There is another event for music lovers this weekend: a concert of Faada Freddy on Saturday April 1 at 8.30 pm in Espace Léo Ferré. Wherever he goes, Faada Freddy enchants everyone with his generous personality and especially his exceptional voice. His music made with no other instrument than body voice and percussion is a subtle blend of vocal harmonies of Bobby McFerrin and pop melodies with a Soul voice like Otis Redding. Coming from one of Africa’s best-known rap groups (Daara J), this unconventional vocalist surprised many observers with his first solo project “Untitled”, released on April 28 last year , which for several weeks the stayed in the top iTunes. Tickets are available at €20-€24.
If you want to spend time and money doing something good for the others, visit the Charity Sale in aid of the Work of Sister Mary on Friday 31 March, from 10 am and Saturday 1 April, from 10 am to 5 pm Espace Fontvieille.
Also on April 1 the Monaco charitable association The Animal Fund (TAF) is holding a Plastic Pollution Campaign in collaboration with Centre de Sauvetage Aquatique de Monaco (CSAM) and the École Bleue from 10 am to noon.
This event at Larvotto Beach will be fun for young and old, the organisers say, with games and puzzles to raise awareness about plastic pollution and how to help save our oceans.
On Friday 31 March in Boutique Narmino Sorasio starts the Exhibition of artworks by Bernard Conforti that will last till Saturday 29 April. Passionate and active in the world of Art for more than ten years, Bernard Conforti has become famous for his carved and colored animal creations that can be discovered from here and there along the coast. His pet fetish? The penguin… a calm and clumsy animal that does not resemble the fire character of its creator. It is perhaps in the use of colors, always lively, and the joyful staging of his bestiary, that his elephants, chameleons and other babes of all kinds, that the artist invests his overflowing energy has shifted from his first job as a jeweler to the art of sculptur. The works will be exhibited at 33 bd Princesse Charlotte.
And don’t forget that there are some other interesting exhibitions and exhibition sections currently open: Exhibition on the subject of “Hercule Florence. The New Robinson” in Nouveau Musée National – Villa Paloma; Intimate Folon – on the Quai Antoine-1er, where the Belgian artist worked until his death in 2005; Exhibition of stringed instruments; Exhibition of photos of the Royal Ballet of Cambodia by Alain Hanel at Carrefour Monaco; and the Night Dive in Search of Fluorescent Corals in the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco, to name a few.
Have a great weekend!
