Connections

Once a year Cluny hosts a series of concerts as part of the "Festival Musical des Grandes Heures de Cluny".

Our seats

Since we are not exactly inundated here with concerts by top musicians we always keep an eye out for the programming of the series. One of the concerts would take place in the cloister of the abbey, featuring the Camerata of the Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouworkest conducted by Lucas Macías Navarro. They would play the Ouverture classique avec quelques bagatelles of Dvořák (for accordion, 2 violins and cello) and a special arrangement by Erwin Stein of Mahler's 4th Symphony. Even though I do not exactly jump with joy when I hear the name of Gustav Mahler, it is also not very often one gets a chance to hear a Chamber orchestra of the Royal Concertgebouworkest performing in Cluny.

Dvořák

Tickets were arranged very quickly through the internet, and because the seating used to be free within the chosen price range, we were there quite early in order not to sit at the back.
The President of this festival is the trumpet player Guy Touvron, who also happens to organise "our" Festival Guitares en Cormatinois. When we entered the cloister, we saw Guy and his wife Isabel seated at the table meant for selling tickets. Both of them waived at us. Isabel, who coordinates the internet tickets, had stumbled upon my name, and had made sure there were two places for us available on the first row.

Mahler

The chairs should have a piece of paper attached to it with my name on it.
Everything worked out as planned, and we never had had such good seats for a concert. The concert itself was excellent as well. Stein's arrangement of Mahler's symphony sounded every so often quite modern, maybe due to the fact that Stein knew both Maher and Schönberg personally.
And now we are waiting for the next concert!

Mahler

Click here for the website of La Tuilerie de Chazelle.