Abstracts LM400

Our 400th
Every one hundred issues, and sometimes for La Lettre du Musicien's anniversaries, we feature a small retrospective of recent years.

A retrospective of our first 400 issues
This, our 400th issue of La Lettre du Musicien (The Musician's Newsletter), provides us with an opportunity to revisit the major events that marked musical life in recent years. We are taking this opportunity to briefly go back to the beginning of La Lettre in 1984. A return in time: sometimes mouth-watering, sometimes saddening.

Grand Prix Lycéen des Compositeurs
The Grand Prix Lycéen des Compositeurs, founded in 2000 by La Lettre du Musicien, consists of organising the discovery and analysis of works by contemporary composers by high school students.

Follow-up on the Orchestra of Avignon
A survey ordered by Marie-Josee Roig, mayor of Avignon, questioning the necessity of publicly subsidizing the regional Orchestra and Opera continues to make waves. Her action has provoked many expressions of protest above and beyond those of Jacques Crespy, President of the Regional Lyric Orchestra Avignon.

The “to each his music” debate
A recent memo circulating in the Ministry of Culture using this expression "La culture pour chacun » (to each his culture) has raised concerns among professionals that this is the sign of yet another attempt to pit so called elite culture against popular culture. On March 4th the group Futurs Composés organised a debate with artists, philosophers, journalists and a representative of the Ministry of Culture.

Crossover
Roberto Alagna singing Luis Mariano tunes, the quartet Ebène arranging jazz standards, Renee Fleming starts singing rock ... quick and easy success or genuine aesthetic approach? Investigation...

French musicians in Swiss orchestras
Located in the heart of the European Union of which it is not a member, Switzerland has always been regarded as a unique country. The operation of symphony orchestras is no exception and has many peculiarities, as remarked by the French musicians who live and work there.

Nathalie Stutzmann, conductor

The Paris Opera: a well-balanced season for 2011-2012
What characterizes the next season, the third in the mandate of the Nicolas Joel as head of the Paris Opera, is its balance.

Bruno Mantovani’s new opera at the Opera Bastille
A year after the creation of his ballet Siddhartha, Bruno Mantovani
will once again occupy the stage of the Paris Opera.

Jean-Francois Heisser’s Beethoven marathon
Pianist Jean-François Heisser will present a full cycle of the Beethoven concertos.

Duet to play Henri Dutilleux in the Ile Saint-Louis

Obituary : Josette Samson-Francois, dies in Paris on Feb. 28 at the age of 81.

“Cinderella”, Salle Favart
Jerome Deschamps, who is successfully fulfilling his mission of restoring its repertoire to the Opera Comique, has revived Massenet's Cinderella (premiered in 1899, and not performed since 1909).

Billaudot “Building bridges between pedagogy and contemporary music.”
In our continuing series on the major publishing houses, after Durand Salabert-Eschig : Gérard Billaudot Publications: Florence Derveaux, great-granddaughter of the founder, recieved in 2007 the torch of this century-old company that has remained in the family fold. She looks back on the evolution company, on its editorial line and its prospects.

Music in the birthplace of Gabriel Fauré
A festival paired with a competition.