French Spring in Manila: A feat of diversity

Despite the economic crisis and the perilous times, the French Embassy headed by Ambassador Renée Veyret will present the sixth French Spring in Manila.

Counselor Franck Hebert appropriately describes it as a "feat of diversity" for its marvelously varied program.

The Festival opens on June 1 at the RCBC auditorium with two world-class musicians unleashing their "insanity" onstage. In Duel, pianist Paul Staica and cellist Laurent Cirade will show off their skills through comic, rib-tickling antics.

The two virtuosos will confront each other with equal weaponry, the bow and the keyboard. The burlesque performance tells, without text, stories of power, absurdity, friendship, complicity, cynicism and innocence through impersonations of two universal characters, the big and the small, David and Goliath, Laurel and Hardy – the piano and the cello. Music transcends cultures, making the show hilarious to all.

The ninth French Film Festival opens June 3 for private viewing and June 3 to 14 for public screening. Although the French classics remain a source of inspiration for local film-makers, the current releases give the audience a wider view of French contemporary life, one not necessarily unfamiliar, as common situations of the human condition are artistically portrayed by today’s talented French directors.

On June 4 in the Fort’s NBC Tent, there will be a launching of a coffee-table book paying tribute to the Filipino woman in photos capturing different facets of her womanhood – caring mother, hobby enthusiast, spiritual person, determined athlete, professional or simple citizen. This book is a journey into the heart and soul of the Filipino woman, both famous and unknown.

To foster deeper appreciation of jazz, the second Manila Jazz Festival will be held on June 5 and 10 at Greenbelt 3, Ayala Center, with the country’s upandcoming Jewelmer Jazz Band and the Subconcept Band, the former with its classic offerings, the latter with its funky, upbeat rendition of popular jazz tunes.

On June 7, the Alliance Francaise gallery will hold a visual arts exhibit Diwa ng Paris…Sprit de Manille. Curator Wilfred Marbella has chosen for viewing the works of Pandy Aviado, Allan Rivera, Alma Quinto, Plet Bolipata, Norman Crisologo, Christian Espiritu and Poch Naval who will convey the multiplicity of Philippine art, the presence of a Filipino psyche or even an Asian one, and a rootedness in their own individuality.

Also to be shown is "Kinematics: Now Languages" an art digital video. The traveling exhibition brings together in a double DVD a selection of 32 digital kinematics sequences demonstrating how artists have pushed the limits of the new tools with entirely new contents. Several realities confront one another and merge together – narrative figures in the form of interactive games or fiction that progressively depart from traditional videos.

Classic music lovers will be enthralled by former violin prodigy Nemanja Radulovic, Paris Conservatory of Music graduate who also took master classes under Yehudi Menuhin and Joshua Epstein.

Radulovic, who plays at the Philam Life Theater on June 8 with the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra under Rodel Colmenar, has been a consistent Grand Prize winner in international competitions: 1995 in Italy, 1996 in the Czech Republic, 1997 in Poland and Lithuania, the Menuhin Special Jury Prize in France in 1998, the Stradivarius in 2001 in Italy, the Grand Prize in Hanover in 2003, etc. His rendition of Beethoven’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in the 2002 Chaise Dieu Festival paved the way for his joining several international festivals.

On June 9 at the RCBC Theater, the 1XBE Jerome Thomas Company will present Circasia, a genre that revolves around theater, dance, music, and inherently, the virtuosity of circus action such as juggling and acrobatics.

A growing trend made popular by the prestigious festival in Avignon, it is fast becoming a new tradition in France, and will certainly be something new here.

The spectacular balletic dance with objects and light beams takes the viewer to a beautiful universe of innocence, peaceful yet full of mischief, virtuoso juggler Simon Anxolabehere will perform.

The UN General Assembly having declared 2004 the International Year of Rice, the French Foreign Ministry and the CIRAD Agency created the exhibit "Rice Feeds the World" which will be displayed all of June by the Agricultural Department and the French Embassy jointly with the Philippine Rice Institute and the IRRI.

Duo Astor consisting of classical guitarists Gaelle Chiche and Francisco Bernier will interpret Bach, Débussy, Albeniz and Piazzola on June 16 at the RCBC auditorium and on June 17 in Cebu. Chiche and Bernier graduated with special honors at the Ecole Normale of Paris, earned their doctorate at the University of Quebec then attended the Paris Conservatory, advanced division, graduating in 2003. They have won in international contests in France, Italy, Portugal and Spain. Duo Astor will appeal to Filipinos whose predilection for Romantic guitar music is expressed in kundiman.

Since 1994, Fete de la Musique has taken place in Manila and on June 10 it will be celebrated at Eastwood, Quezon City with 50 bands expected to play simultaneously on eight outdoor stages.