In Toulouse, the rediscovered form of Piano at the Jacobins
After two editions heckled by the Covid, the festival will regain all its luster from September 9 to 30, bringing together keyboard stars and vibrant discoveries.
Piano aux Jacobins is one of the few French festivals to have been able to stay afloat during the pandemic. Of course, it was necessary to do without foreign artists who could not travel and to accept reduced gauges making the economic equation perilous. But, in 2020 and 2021, the protest has fulfilled its mission valiantly.
For the 43rd edition, its organizers Catherine d’Argoubet and Paul-Arnaud Péjouan intend to reconnect with the brilliance of old festivals… namely to invite very big names (Christian Zacharias, Joaquin Achucarro, Nelson Goerner…) and make us discover young talents for whom this will be the first concert in Toulouse, or even in France. This is the case of Yumeka Nakagawa, a native of Düsseldorf, who will officiate for the opening of Piano at the Jacobins on September 9. Catherine D’Argoubet found her personality “impressively mature at the height of her 20s”. She will perform works by Schubert, Berg and Liszt. Young women are particularly highlighted this year, with also the Georgian Salome Jordania, a skinny brunette whose “jubilation, energy, hunger for music” are a pleasure to see and hear. Liszt will still be on the program with also Rameau, Beethoven, Gounod and Brahms. Coming from a family of Lyonnais musicians, Nathalia Milstein will be one of the other young smiles of the year. It will pass with accuracy and fantasy from Debussy to Schubert, from Franck to Tchaikovsky. Rather presented in the contemporary repertoire, Marie Vermeulin will defend French romantic music in Toulouse with a touch of claiming originality since she has chosen three composers, one already played by the Orchester du Capitole, Bonis, the two others, Morel and Sohy , largely unknown.
As for Anne Piboule, who will not play at the cloister of the Jacobins but at Altigone Saint-Orens, she will once again show her taste for exchange and pedagogical impetus. The opportunity for her to evoke, in particular, in notes and words, “Le tombeau de Couperin”, by Ravel.
Messiaen by Chamayou
Among the most beautiful signatures of the 2022 edition, Christian Zacharias, a great regular at Piano aux Jacobins, plays Schubert, of which he knows all the subtleties well, and penetrated Russian music for the first time, in this case that of Tchaikovsky. . It will perhaps be one of the last solo concerts of the artist who should now focus on conducting. Another legendary piano personality is the Spaniard Joaquin Achucarro. At almost 90 years old, he will chain Mozart, Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninoff and Scriabin. A marathon that has nothing to impress this exceptional competitor who “every day, swims 20 lengths in his pool and covers 20 km by bike”, reveals Paul-Arnaud Péjouan.
Jazz section, Piano aux Jacobins will program Paul Lay, Rémi Panossian and Baptiste Trotignon. As for the Toulousian Bertrand Chamayou, who has just released an album attributed to Messiaen, he will once again treat himself to the Halle aux grains, interpreting two works by the aforementioned, a bit of Wagner and extracts from Liszt’s “Années depilgrimage”… “The iconoclast” Stephen Hough will have played two days earlier. Liszt, common thread of a reinvigorated Piano at the Jacobins.