12 culture For its 10th edition, the New Year’s Gala Concert will celebrate the New Year with a musical fireworks display in the atmosphere of the legendary Vienna New Year’s Concert, thanks to the support of the Francis and MarieFrance Minkoff Foundation. The Cameristi symphony orchestra of La Scala in Milan will be conducted by Mikhail Pletnev. The soloist will be Alexandre Kantorow, who at 25 years of age is the new hope of the French piano. The newspaper Le Temps wrote of him: “Slender figure, dreamy green eyes, long, slender hands, striking power worthy of a vintage Federer - without ever hitting: the French pianist is distinguished by a bewitching temperament. He will make his mark in 2019 at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, where he is the first Frenchman to win the first prize and the gold medal. The next day, CMClassics will be presenting a completely different kind of show for young people aged 5 to 95: a musical tale orchestrated by the great flutist Maurice Steger, accompanied by the baroque ensemble La Cetra. Extremely charismatic, spontaneous, captivating and energetic, this “recorder wizard” will take us through the exciting adventures of “Tino Flautino and the cat Leo”, a story that will be told by Anne Claire Martin and illustrated by sand artists. For the February festival, Michaël Guttman, Musical Director of CMClassics, has been able to bring together a whole range of artists in CransMontana, combining the experience of established musicians with the freshness of talented future stars. To open the concert, the soloists of the Menuhin Academy will accompany the winner of the 2021 Paganini Competition, Giuseppe Gibboni. They will be followed by the great clarinettist Pierre Génisson, surrounded by the Hermes Quartet. An evening on Brahms will be given by the trio Francesco de Angelis, violin, Roberto Paruzzo, piano, and Jing Zhao, cello. It is often said that ‘the cello is the closest instrument to the voice’ - Henri Demarquette will explore the possibilities with the Sequenza 9.3 Choir. But the highlight of this festival will undoubtedly be the return to Crans-Montana of the prestigious Martha Argerich, a pianist whose career and fame span the centuries. She will be surrounded by longtime musical friends. This will be a rare opportunity to attend a concert with two pianos. Finally, the season will end on Easter Day with a concert given in the church of Montana Village by the Camerata Valais, the mixed choir La Léonardine and soloists from La Scala in Milan. As you can see, music lovers will not be left Quatuor hermes ©Lyodoh Kaneko
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