After the Olympics, the Pope. The already extraordinary year of Brest conductor Jean-Christophe Spinosi will take on another dimension this Sunday. With the Matheus ensemble, he will play at the end of the mass that Francis will preside over in the afternoon at the Casone green theater in Ajaccio. “A great source of pride” for the musician, Breton by adoption since he was 19, but of Corsican origin. A “double passport” which came into play when the organizers of the ceremony built the program, in record time.
“When the people of Marseillais welcomed the pope, they prepared for almost a year. Everything happened in just two months. The organizers looked for who could be representative. It needed a touch of classical music. I believe that the choice quickly fell on me and Matheus,” relates Jean-Christophe Spinosi, this Saturday afternoon, during a telephone exchange, a few minutes after his arrival in Corsica.
The only “outside” guest of the ceremony
Her performance with singer Zaho de Sagazan, at the closing of the Paris Olympics on August 11, is still remembered. Hundreds of millions of viewers were spellbound by their cover of “Sous le ciel de Paris” by Edith Piaf, at the Jardin des Tuileries. The Brest conductor did it again during the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games on August 28, notably by conducting a magnificent Marseillaise. “Sunday will be our third mondiovision ceremony in a few months. It’s quite an extraordinary story,” he marvels.
And a fantastic showcase for Breton know-how, he could have added. On the music side, the Matheus ensemble will, in fact, be the only “external” guest at the ceremony, in which the Sartène choir and hundreds of singers from all over Corsica will participate.
Another coup for Jean-Christophe Spinosi, who will also have had the honor of directing the only opera in prime time on French television, in 2024, “L’Olimpiade”, by Vivaldi (the recording made in June at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, in Paris), was broadcast on July 19 by France Télévisions.
Keep the surprise intact
What piece will the Matheus ensemble play this Sunday? “I won’t tell you. I’ve already told you almost too much,” smiles Jean-Christophe Spinosi. Unlike the Olympics, no confidentiality contract. But the wish to keep the surprise intact.
During a ceremony under high security, Breton musicians will have the privilege of playing a few meters from the Pope. And they will probably have the opportunity to exchange a few words with him. Jean-Christophe Spinosi has not yet decided on the message he will send to the pope: “I still have a little time to think about it. Probably something personal. And I will wish him strength and health to continue working for peace and love. Love is a word that is generally absent from the grammar of politicians. But that’s the job of a pope. Through music, this is also what we advocate at each of our concerts. »
