A chamber music festival in a quaint village in the middle of France ? This is an old dream of ours about to be realized.

The first edition of « Contrepoints croisés » (literally « Crossed counterpoints ») will unfold on the 29th and 30th of July 2017 . The concerts will take place at the Temple of the Chambon-sur-Lignon.

We have the great pleasure to invite you to our two concerts : a piano recital opening the festival on Saturday 29th, a cello-piano duo concert with talented cellist Beatrice Holzer-Graf on Sunday 30th.

Offer music to a perceptive audience, share our enthousiam and deep love for some of the masterpieces of the classical world ranging from Bach to contemporary music, this is that we are aiming for !

The exceptional acoustic and the very welcoming atmosphere of the Temple, are making it a perfect place to perform and listen to classical music. The Temple is indeed already welcoming various festivals and musical events, among them the renowned festival « Musique en Vivarais Lignon ».

Part of our « de Félice » family established themselves in the « Chambon-sur-Lignon » at the beginning of the 20th century, attracted by the benefic mountain air the warm welcome of its inhabitants. Among them, our great-grandfather, Théodore de Félice called the village home for numerous years. Since then, the « Chambon-sur-Lignon » became for the whole family a peaceful heaven, where each of us usually spend a few days in the summer.

The idea of organizing here a summer festival came naturally to us : an important amount of tourists is coming during the summer to enjoy the assets of the region. This is why the region is home to a great number of various cultural events : « Contrepoints croisés » is proud to be one among them !

« Crossed counterpoints » ?

Isn’t it a name a bit too technical for a summer festival ? What is a Counterpoint ? A relation between several voices, in which each voice is mingling with the others to shape an harmonious whole, without losing its independance. This is the essence and the ground principle of chamber music in which each instrumentist is adding a voice, trying to make it coexist with the others.

Discover your programm :

On the 29th of July at 8:30 pm :

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Preludes and Fugues from the Well-Tempered Clavier, Part II

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Piano sonata opus 101 in A Major

***Intermission***

Robert Schumann (1810-1856)

Kreisleriana opus 16

Nina de Félice, piano

On the 30th of July at 7pm :

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Suite for cello in C Major BWV 1009

***Intermission***

Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998)

Second sonata for cello and piano

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

Sonata for cello and piano in e minor opus 38

Beatrice Holzer-Graf, violoncelle

Nina de Félice, piano

And here is a small description of your programm !

On the 29th of July at 8:30pm :

For this first evening, young pianist Nina de Félice will offer a solo recital composed of works by Bach, Beethoven and Schumann.

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Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Preludes and fugues from the Well-tempered Clavier, part II

Bach is for every musician, notwithstanding of which instrument she or he plays, a central figure around which our musical life revolves. He composed those Twenty-four Preludes and fugues between 1740 and 1742, completing the first part, composed two decades before. The art of counterpoint is here mastered at its climax.

The 500th anniversary of the protestant Reformation this year, marking the day where Martin Luther’s recorded posting of the 95 theses on the door of the Wittenberger church castle, give us if needed a further reason to celebrate Bach, himself a fervent lutherian.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Piano sonata opus 101

This sonata, set right before the famous « Hammerklavier », is one of the finest masterpiece of the composer. Written as Beethoven was already completely deaf, this sonata, as revolutionnary as the next ones, ventures far beyond the traditionnal sheme of the classical sonata.

The slow movement is one most heart-breaking ever written by Beethoven.

Robert Schumann (1810-1856) Kreisleriana opus 16

An noteworthy coincidence is that Schumann passed away on a 29th of July….171 years ago !

Suffering from a mental disorder, trapped in an ayslum where he spent his two final years, his precocious death like many others composers, deprived the classical world of one its leading romantic figure. He nonetheless left behind him a tremendous amount of compositions, especially for piano. Among them the Kreisleriana, a cycle of eight contrasted pieces, dedicated to his friend Frederic Chopin.

On the 30th of July at 7pm :

Works of Bach, Schnittke and Brahms

Alone for the first part, the cellist Beatrice Holzer-Graf will play in duo with Nina de Félice after the intermission.

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Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Suite for cello in C Major BWV 1009

Bach will once more open this Sunday concert with the Suite for cello In C Major BWV 1009. Third among a serie of six, this suite is like its fellows, compound of a string of dances, sometimes vivacious, sometimes slow and pondering.

Those Suites for cello are for each and every cellist a lifelong work and companionship : Bach succeeds in bringing out of the cello, two, three, sometimes four voices.

Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998) Second sonata for cello and piano

A Russian composer of German descent, Alfred Schnittke is successor of the great Russian composers like Chostakovitch, as well as an heir of the German masters like Bach and Beethoven.

An prolific composer, he left behind him an incredibly diverse work, which question the human nature faced with an existential anguish.

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) Sonata for piano and cello in e minor opus 38

Composed between 1862 and 1865, this sonata is a jewel of the whole chamber music repertoire, one of the very masterpieces of Brahms. Cello and piano are carrying out a challenging dialogue, one instrument leading the other in turn. The last movement is characterize by a fugal theme, easily identified, played first by the piano, then by the cello.

We hope this programm will give as much joy to you as to us ! For more informations please consult our website and our Facebook page !

Festival Contrepoints croisés