Published on 09/15/2024
In 18 days, the 48th edition of La Bâtie-Festival de Genève attracted more than 20,000 spectators. The multidisciplinary event of the cultural season, which ended on Sunday, offered 50 events in 36 locations.
The 104 performances had an average attendance rate of 83%, the festival said on Sunday. Half of the shows were presented in their French-speaking premiere, including “Mothers. A Song for Wartime”, the choral piece by Polish artist Marta Górnicka, and “Four New Works”, by American choreographer Lucinda Childs, both opening this edition.
Other notable performers included German composer Max Richter, who opened his new album and world tour at La Bâtie, and American organist Kali Malone. On the director side, Austrian Florentina Holzinger presented her over-the-top show “Ophelia’s Got Talent” and Lebanese-Canadian Wajdi Mouawad closed the festival with his five-hour piece “Racine carrée du verbe être.”
Dance parties
Nine shows were creations, such as “Juana ficción”, by the performer La Ribot and the conductor Asier Puga, and the solo “Troglodyte”, by the choreographer and dancer Thomas Hauert. Maya Bösch adapted for two actors “Dans la solitude des champs de coton”, by Bernard-Marie Koltès. A piece that was also visible in the staging of Roland Auzet, in reception.
Festival-goers also danced with the French group Isaac Delusion and the Italians of Mind Enterprises. Seven evenings of DJ sets were scheduled, with Swiss and international artists including the French Chloé who participated in the closing ceremony of the Paralympic Games in Paris, just a few hours after her set in Geneva, the festival noted.
The poster for this 48th edition included 20 fewer events than the previous one and was more concentrated in Geneva due to the loss of financial support. The next edition is already scheduled from August 28 to September 14, 2025.
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