Printemps des Arts de Monte-Carlo 2025 Festival pays tribute to composer Pierre Boulez

The well-established and now traditional Monte-Carlo Spring Arts Festival will take place from 2 March to 27 April 2025, celebrating classical music under the presidency of Princess Caroline.

On Friday 13 December, the Princess Grace Theatre hosted the official presentation of the 2025 programme by Bruno Mantovani, the festival’s artistic director for the last three years. Princess Caroline attended the conference, which unveiled a rich and original programme, built around the centenary of French composer Pierre Boulez.

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The conference opened on a poetic note, with actor Alain Carré giving a moving performance of L’Azur, a poem by Stéphane Mallarmé. A subtle way of introducing the theme of this year’s edition: exploring the bridges between music, literature and the visual arts. This year’s poster features Francis Bacon’s iconic painting Study for Portrait (1971).

An exceptional tribute to Pierre Boulez

“This edition is both an anniversary and a portrait of one of the major figures in the music of the 20th and 21st centuries,”, said Bruno Mantovani. Composer, conductor, teacher and musical thinker, Pierre Boulez revolutionised the musical landscape of the 20th century. Bruno Mantovani wanted to go further than a simple retrospective: “I was lucky enough to get to know this monument of musical history, to share the stage with him but also to discuss the most superficial and the most personal subjects, over a table or in the lobby of an airport, in Milan or Chicago. He became a loyal friend,” he said.

The programme runs from 2 March to 27 April, with a symphonic prelude on 2 March and a choreographic postlude from 23 to 27 April. One of the highlights will be on 26 March, Pierre Boulez’ birthday, when the European Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Bruno Mantovani, will perform several of his emblematic works.

However, the festival also explores works by composers that Pierre Boulez admired or conducted: Wagner, Bruckner, Bartók, Stravinsky, Ravel and Debussy, as well as the music of his mentors (Schönberg, Berg, Webern) and his contemporaries (Berio, Stockhausen, Messiaen).

There headliners this year are many, and prestigious. Audiences will be able to see the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra play on home soil on 13 March and 5 April, while the BBC Symphony Orchestra, of which Pierre Boulez was principal conductor from 1971 to 1975, will perform on 22 March. The Court-Circuit ensemble will be playing on 3 April. On 15 and 16 March, the Akilone Quartet will play a diptych exploring the First and Second Viennese Schools, with works by Beethoven and emblematic pieces by Schönberg and Webern.

Pianist François-Frédéric Guy, a Festival regular, will be in the spotlight on the weekend of 22 March, performing Béla Bartók’s Concerto No. 2 under the baton of Pascal Rophé.

Composer and pianist Hervé Sellin will provide a jazz take on works by Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel on Friday 28 March, and the following day he will return with his tentet, Marciac New York Express, an entirely original repertoire, part of which is about the history of Marciac.

3 film screenings at the Cinéma des Beaux-Arts

True to its philosophy, the Printemps des Arts is not just about concerts. The festival includes three film screenings at the Cinéma des Beaux-Arts, including Boulez, XXe siècle (16 March at 11am), Une leçon de Pierre Boulez (30 March at 11am), and Leoš Janáček’s opera From the house of the dead, conducted by Boulez in 2007 (6 April at 11am).

In the spirit of discussion and debate, the public will also be able to take part in round tables, as well as ‘before’ and ‘after’ gatherings to find out more about the composer’s character and his contribution to contemporary music: “The befores and afters will help us to better understand the powerful and endearing personality of a man who has profoundly marked the history of his art, the history of all the arts,” says Bruno Mantovani.

“In addition to the visual arts, Pierre Boulez showed an immense appreciation of the great poetic works,” Bruno Mantovani adds. To conclude the conference on the 2025 Festival, Alain Carré performed Un monde écartelé by Henri Michaux, a poem full with intensity that provided a perfect foretaste of the festival. In all, 25 concerts, by over 400 artists and featuring more than 80 works will be performed in the Principality in the spring.

Practical info:

All the details on the Monte-Carlo Spring Arts Festival: https://www.printempsdesarts.mc/programmation

When: 12 March to 6 April 2025
Where: Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Hôtel Hermitage Monte-Carlo, One Monte-Carlo
Prices: from €20 to €40 per concert, packs and subscriptions available
Ticket office in the Monte-Carlo Casino Atrium, Tuesday to Saturday from 10 am to 5.30 pm
Tel: +377 98 06 28 28