As always on Saturday HelloMonaco is ready to give you an update on the week’s most interesting Monaco news.
The Year of Picasso: 50th Anniversary of the artist’s Death
Ah, Picasso! To some, he was a genius artist and a captivating celebrity. To others, he was a monstrous womanizer and a conniving father. To most, Pablo Picasso was a creator of both spectacular art and turbulent controversy. He left a permanent mark on the art world by skillfully pushing his creations in bold directions, spawning new artistic movements, including Cubism, and influencing culture the world over. History has yet to produce an artist as influential, prolific and scandalous as Picasso.
Yet More Moving Performances from the Vibrant 2023 Spring Arts Festival
The Spring Arts Festival “springs” on and cultural pursuits take front and centre in Monaco. HelloMonaco took the opportunity provided by the Spring Arts Festival to visit two more classical concerts in the Principality… highlighted also by visits by Princess Caroline to whom we owe the pleasure of always being able to rely on moving performances each year at Printemps des Arts.
At the head of the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, on March 31st at the Rainier III Auditorium Lio Kuokman mirrored two emblematic works in the history of American music: The Unanswered Question by Charles Ives and a fresco that could answer it, Symphony No. 3 by Aaron Copland. Between these monuments, François Meïmoun revisits the myth of Antigone in a creation for narrator and orchestra, to which Laurent Stocker lent his voice.
Ahead of the tourist season Monaco and France have reached an agreement on the circulation of taxis and VTC (Limos etc.) within the Principality and on both sides of the border. This will allow “people-transport professionals” to work in both territories.
For a short period since the beginning of 2023 Monegasque transport professionals were prohibited from loading customers in France, and vice versa for French drivers in Monaco. That system of “only loading at home” is discontinued with immediate effect.
A Three-Time Winner at the Masters Tennis in Monte-Carlo? Anything can still happen!
We are approaching the last 16 in the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters and HelloMonaco is keeping a particularly close eye on Novak Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas, both two time winners of the tournament in the past. The clay court magician and 11 time winner of the tournament Raphael Nadal, being absent due to injury, leaves a greater chance of this exciting possibility that we may have a three-time winner in 2023.
Djoko, of course, is completely unpredictable in the early stages of a tournament. He seems to like to tempt fate which he has just done against big-serving qualifier Gakhov in an exciting first set. Gakhov took Djokovic all the way to a tiebreak but ultimately lost 7-6. That’s a little too close for comfort for the Serbian ace.
I Love Art: Bruno Mantovani, the artistic director of the Printemps des Arts de Monte-Carlo: “A festival is all about a celebration”
The traditional Printemps des Arts de Monte-Carlo (Spring Arts Festival) took place in Monaco from March 8 to April 2, 2023. For almost a whole month, everyone was able to attend truly seductive, exciting and surprising concerts of the festival presided over by the Princess of Hanover.
Hosting the presentation of the Printemps des Arts Festival 2023 in the hushed atmosphere of the Princess Grace Theatre was itself a demonstration of the extent to which Bruno Mantovani wants to take us all, music lovers, neophytes or amateurs, by the hand, along new and exciting paths. To illustrate his words, the artistic director had issued a special invitation to the pianist Denis Pascal to perform some extracts programmed for this year. A real treat indeed.
Friday Morning Market on the Rock: Fresh Fruit and Vegetables for the Week-End
A community comes alive around its market. And the Rock is definitely a community both of its residents and all the workers in the town council, the Palace, the offices of the Minister of State, the Musée Océanographique, within the childcare centre, in the Lycée FANB and in the Conseil National.
That’s a lot of people who would like fresh fruit and vegetables, not forgetting to feast on, cook and celebrate at the week-ends.
The nearest market has meant going to the Condamine, not far away admittedly but hard for those who are not very mobile. And it changes the character of a community, even sucks energy out of it, if it is dominated by solely souvenir shops and restaurants, important though they are.
