TASTE THE difference

Left Violinist Lisa Batiashvili, pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet and cellist Gautier Capugon perform at Musique & Vin’s 2019 edition Above Jean-Baptiste Sautereau plays a viola by Claude Macabrey, commissioned through the festival’s loan scheme for young musicians

C. FOUQUIN

Perhaps you’re familiar with the scenario in which a photo you’ve taken with maximum haste and minimum thought – a rapid ‘just in case’ shot before swiftly re-pocketing your phone – ends up becoming the one image that truly gets to the heart of the experience, as opposed to the many photos you’ve taken that were carefully composed. This is what happened to me this year after attending Burgundy’s music and wine-tasting festival, Musique & Vin au Clos Vougeot. Although I returned home with any number of beautiful images from the eight concerts on offer over the nine-day period in June (major musicians such as cellist Gautier Capuçon and violinist Lisa Batiashvili on stage in characterful wine cellars; vineyards at sunset; exquisite medieval architecture), the photo I keep returning to instead is one hastily snapped in an office two months before the festival even began, during a dinner for festival sponsors at Beaune’s private wine-tasting club, 1243 Bourgogne Society, when on the spur of the moment a handful of us sneaked out between courses.

Closest to the camera is violinist David Chan, concertmaster of the New York Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and the festival’s artistic director, and under his chin is the focus of our mid-dinner exodus: a beautiful copy of a ‘del Gesu’ violin made for the festival by Stefan-Peter Greiner and newly returned after some restoration work. Smiling close by as Chan draws an exploring bow over its strings is the violin’s commissioner, Daniel Weissmann, festival general secretary and director of the Liege Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. As for the state of the room itself – it’s organised chaos, floor and furniture alike scattered with a combination of wine-glass boxes and serious-looking instrument cases. This is because the following morning 25 young string players of assorted nationalities would be arriving to audition for the loan of either this Greiner or of one of the festival’s other fine modern copies of old Italian instruments. This isn’t all the festival is doing for young artists, because if you turned up in June you’d also have heard performances from the festival’s two annual recipients of its ‘Young Talents’ career bursaries of €10,000 each, which can be spent in whichever way the recipient (again, of any nationality) chooses.

In other words, while Musique & Vin could certainly be admired purely as a festival presenting high-level programming in atmospheric locations, what actually makes its heart beat is what that impromptu behind-the-scenes photo captured: namely, a mission to promote the next generation of musicians. Furthermore, all this is both funded and philosophically informed by wine.

The festival is to a large extent my fault, laughs Chan, as he explains how the seeds were first sown twelve years ago. ‘I started getting into wine in the early 2000s, then very quickly into Burgundy specifically, where, unlike a lot of other regions, knowledge is significantly advanced by an actual visit, because you get a visual of the geography: how vineyards might be separated from one another just by a little dirt road, yet when you stand in them you see the difference in their respective soils, or feel it in their microclimates. So I visited a couple of times. Then one year, as I prepared to travel to the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, I suggested to my wife, [violinist Catherine Ro who also plays for the Met], that we go via Burgundy. Her response was, “Fine, but if this is to be a regular thing, maybe look into a way of making it happen on someone else’s dime!” As I’d had amazing top-level wine makers welcome me into their cellars, volunteering hours of their time to do so, I thought it would be wonderful to give them something in return; and when they have the very best wines in the world, why not try to make the very best music, too?’

A newly commissioned violin by Günter Siefert

PHOTOS C. FOUQUIN

’WITH BOTH MUSIC AND WINE YOU CAN SHARE A STRONG EMOTION WITHOUT HAVING TO SPEAK THE SAME LANGUAGE’ - BERNARD HERVET

Clément Verschave examines a violin by Patrick Robin

Asking around for who in the region might want to help, Chan was directed towards Bernard Hervet, general manager of the Domaine Faiveley vineyard, founder of the 1243 Bourgogne Society, and now the festival’s director. The initial plan in 2007 was low-key: a forty-minute recital from Chan and Ro for twenty or thirty people in a small rent-free space. However, the appetite among the wine makers and their buyers was so great that they ended up playing to over a hundred people at the Château du Clos Vougeot vineyard, which offered itself for free; and they knew this pairing of music and wine felt instantly right on every level. ‘With wine, as with a musical score, there are many different ways to interpret the soil and the climate so that you’re respecting them, but with your own sensibility’, explains Hervet. ‘This is the reason why musicians are so good at tasting wine, and using extremely precise and poetic vocabulary to describe it. Furthermore, with both music and wine you can share a strong emotion without having to speak the same language, and that’s very rare.’

The following year, therefore, saw three chamber music concerts at Clos Vougeot, of which Chan and fellow Met musicians formed the backbone, accompanied by wine tastings and dinners. As for the festival team, this grew to include Domaine de la Romanée-Conti co-director Aubert de Villaine, as president, and general secretary Weissmann, who at the time was artistic and general director of the Dijon Bourgogne Orchestra.

As things developed, a free opening-night concert in Beaune’s Grande Halle was introduced, which these days features the Dijon Bourgogne Orchestra conducted by Chan himself. Then came those aforementioned young artist bursaries, as an opportunity to support young musicians and do something different from the usual music festival model.

These are funded by a charity auction on the festival’s final night, for which the local wine makers donate rare bottles, and music-loving collectors gladly pay over the odds for them in the knowledge that they’re paying for more than wine. One recipient is always a singer, in recognition of the Met link; the other an instrumentalist. Beyond the money, these Young Talents are also given valuable performance experiences at the festival itself, most notably at the opening-night concert, which is specifically a showcase for them. This year’s concert saw American soprano Leah Hawkins sing opera arias and French cellist Caroline Sypniewski perform the Schumann Cello Concerto (last year it was Australian–Chinese tenor Kang Wang and Austrian trumpeter Florian Pitschler). The Young Talents might also perform midweek in chamber formations alongside established artists.

French cellist and Musique & Vin bursary recipient Caroline Sypniewski performs at the 2019 festival’s opening concert

J.L. BERNUY

VISITING ARTIST YO-YO MA ALLOWED FRENCH LUTHIER FRANK RAVATIN TO MAKE A COPY OF HIS 1712 ‘DAVIDOV’ STRADIVARI CELLO FOR THE INSTRUMENT FUND

Soon the charity auction was raising more money than they needed. So, conscious of the increasing financial impossibility of acquiring a fine old stringed instrument if you’re a young player, the organisers decided to commission gradually 33 new ones, each with a label carrying the name of the maker and also the name of one of the 33 grands crus of Burgundy. The collection is currently 18 strong, with some notable new additions coming soon, and the enthusiasm from all concerned has been tremendous. For instance, Greiner fast-tracked the festival on a waiting list that’s many years long, producing that aforementioned ‘del Gesu’ copy in just eight months. Meanwhile, festival visiting artist Yo-Yo Ma allowed French luthier Frank Ravatin to make a copy of his 1712 ‘Davidov’ Stradivari cello. Some other well-known makers involved in the scheme are Günter Siefert, Patrick Robin and Charles Coquet.

Young musicians can apply to audition for loan of these instruments. Loans are usually for around three years, but things aren’t set in stone; instead, it’s all based on what the festival team feel is appropriate, and then on how things develop. Equally fluid is the age of the loanees: most of those auditioning this year were in their late teens, while others were in their twenties, and past beneficiaries include a twelveyear- old. Weissmann keeps in touch personally with each successful candidate, monitoring their progress, offering career advice or perhaps helping them with contacts. ‘Sometimes they need to keep the instrument for a little longer, perhaps because of a competition or an audition’, he says. ‘The only condition is that they come back to us to re-audition each year, so that we can hear them.’ Indeed, the reason why applicants are expected to write a cover letter beyond simply sending a CV is to help gauge their commitment and sincerity. ‘We all know that when you audition for something you have to present a minimum level to be considered’, adds Chan, ‘but I think one thing we can rightfully claim at this festival is that we really care about people and relationships.’ When the instrument does have to be returned, the young musician has the option of having its luthier make them an identical one, which they can buy at the price of the original.

The relationships element also extends to inviting the sponsors themselves to watch the auditions, and they come from all over the world to do so. Take Bruce Allen, who will happily travel from America for this single day and the two wine-tasting meals on either side of it (one of which was the aforementioned dinner at the 1243 Bourgogne Society, where the auditions take place). ‘I love the wines of Burgundy, and I love the concerts of the festival’, he told me as we sat under the club’s blossom trees during the April 2019 auditions lunch break, ‘but for me the heart of what the festival does is to support young artists. I’m from a very meagre background in upstate New York, so to be able to help somebody pursue their dreams and ambitions with an instrument they otherwise couldn’t afford really spoke to me. In fact, today was emotionally overwhelming because I heard the young man who is playing the violin I sponsored last year. It was an amazing experience to see how he’s evolved and grown.’

The day was also clearly emotionally overwhelming for the young artists who ended up departing with new instruments slung on their shoulders. Take 18-year-old French cellist Pauline Boudon, who won the three-year loan of a 2018 Yair Hod Fainas (personal model). ‘I’m very happy!’ she told me, laughing quietly with amazed excitement. ‘I’m currently preparing for the entrance competitions to the écoles supérieures, most notably the Paris Conservatoire, and although you can achieve certain things with a normal instrument, to have an instrument of this calibre will be revolutionary.’ Then there was 27-year-old Venezuelan violinist Emmanuel Maestre Noriega, who won the one-year loan of a 2013 Siefert modelled on a Bergonzi: ‘I do have a violin of my own, but it’s not that good’, he explained, in similar tones to those of Boudon. ‘So I’ve been playing violins belonging to my teacher and others, and it’s hard because I’ve had about eight different violins over the past three years, each time having to adapt anew, and sometimes having to give them back at short notice. So although I guess I’ve gained something out of that experience, the main reason for auditioning was to have a violin I could grow with, so that I’m not always feeling stressed as I wonder when I’ll have to give it back.’

Thomas Briant (left) and Adèle Théveneau (right) each received instrument loans -the former a violin by Nicolas Caussin and the latter a cello by Günter Siefert

C. FOUQUIN

THEY’RE DOING INCREDIBLE WORK FOR YOUNG MUSICIANS - I TRIED ONE OF TIIEIR CELLOS AND IT WAS BEAUTIFUL -AND THEY DO IT WITH TIIEIR HEARTS’ - GAUTIER CAPUQON

One further beaming face leaving the club that day was young luthier Laure Clément, who had come to show Weissmann and Chan a violin she’d built on a Stradivari model, and who impressed enough to walk out with a commission – because far from the instrumental fund being just about big-name makers, it’s also about giving talented younger luthiers valuable early-career work. The festival also currently has a cello on order from young Burgundian luthier Roland Rouelle, and it’s partly with young luthiers in mind that Weissmann is particularly committed to commissioning copies of grand instruments. ‘When you make a copy of a known instrument you take more time over getting the wood and the varnish absolutely right, so it pushes people’, he explains. ‘It links well to the wine too, though, because each of the grands crus is also a big name. So it’s a bon mariage!’

More good marriages happen at the festival itself, not least in terms of enduring relationships with artists. For instance, this year saw one of the regular returns of clarinettist Pierre Génisson, one of the festival’s Young Talents of 2011. Capuçon, meanwhile, has been coming ever since 2013. ‘I actually wouldn’t miss it’, he told me before his chamber concert with Batiashvili and pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet. ‘They’re doing incredible work for young musicians – I tried one of their cellos and it was beautiful – and they do it with their hearts. Overall, too, there’s a very special spirit here: with Aubert de Villaine and Bernard Hervet, the festival team; with all those vintners who genuinely take part in the festival’s organisation; and with the excellence of the music and the wine. The one very important value inherent in both music and wine is that they’re something you share, and the way we’re sharing music here is so wonderful, with established and younger artists all together. The festival is also very international, and not simply in terms of its artists. Perhaps half of the audience is from France, and I’m sure the team are pleased that the other half is international. It’s a fantastic kind of ambassadorship for France, through Burgundy: keeping the DNA of our culture and history, while at the same time being open to the world.’

One concert this year that especially demonstrated this openness, not to mention the originality of Chan’s programming, saw Vivaldi’s Four Seasons – featuring Chan and a chamber formation of fellow Met musicians joined by festival regulars violinist Svetlin Roussev and harpsichordist Patrick Ayrton – interspersed with Piazzolla’s Four Seasons performed by Quinteto Astor Piazzolla, a tango band from Argentina making their festival debut. ‘I think the Argentine players often find that genre-wise they occupy a funny middle ground in which their work always ends up being categorised as “world music”, with original tango people regarding Piazzolla as too classical’, explains Chan. ‘So I thought a collaboration like this would show the connections between the two, as well as the differences.’ Certainly the meetings on stage that night – greeted with rapturous applause – were numerous: both groups were on stage throughout, each season played first by one group and then the other, with the two sets of musicians even beginning to feed off each other’s styles. Further stylistic meetings happened just within the Vivaldi, because Chan and Roussev divided the concertos between them, Roussev performing in a period-aware style and Chan adopting a more traditional approach.

To say that all this is enough for a small festival to be getting on with is something of an understatement, but the Musique & Vin team aren’t stopping here. For instance, 2012 saw the creation of the festival’s own Orchestre des Climats de Bourgogne (named after the region’s 1,247 Unesco-approved climats, or specific vineyard sites), which this year played the final night under conductor Daniele Gatti. And looking to the future, they’ve now decided not to stop commissioning instruments when they reach their target of 33 and they’re discussing a partnership with the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Brussels, loaning some of their highest-calibre instruments to the resident artists there. In other words, if any feature deserves to end with the words, ‘Watch this space’, it’s this one.