“Cultural democratization is part of our missions”

Dix days, ten concerts, in partnership with the Opera but also on the university campus or at Rocher de Palmer, with big names in classical piano (Arcadi Volodos…) or jazz (Kenny Barron…): from November 18 to 28, the L’Esprit du piano festival will once again represent a highlight of musical news in Gironde. Update with its artistic director, Paul-Arnaud Pejouan.

You approach your 15^e edition. Proof that Bordeaux is a piano city?

I am deeply convinced of this. This year we are expecting 6,000 entries. And what is important is that the public is also there for concerts by young musicians. Between November 18, with Yulianna Avdeeva, and the 22, with Lukas Geniušas, we welcome the two winners of the 2010 Chopin competition. It will be interesting to see how both interpret the Franco-Polish composer. Notably Lukas Geniušas, who will play his entire 24 studies. This is not common.

Your festival is open to jazz or the electronic experiments of someone like Francesco Tristano. You don’t have a hierarchy?

No, it’s all music. What interests us in particular about Francesco Tristano is that he progresses in the same way in the classical repertoire as in electro. The “Bach and beyond” program, which he will present at the Auditorium, combines piano, electronic keyboards and sound treatments. It should show to what extent Bach remains a source of inspiration, even for very current music.

Francesco Tristano is also one of the pianists you regularly invite, along with Ivo Pogorelich and Arcadi Volodos this year. You’re not afraid of boring the public?

Can we tire of hearing the world’s greatest pianists playing major works, in this case Chopin’s Sonata in B flat minor for Ivo Pogorelich and Schubert’s Sonata No. 20 for Arcadi Volodos? I think not. And even if he played the same program three years apart, someone like Ivo Pogorelich would play it differently. His slow tempi, his quasi-mystical interpretation, are part of an approach that he continues to deepen.

You offer four concerts outside the Auditorium. Is it important to take classical music to places it doesn’t usually go?

Cultural democratization is part of our missions. Thanks to the sponsorship of the BNP Paribas Foundation, we can offer a free concert at Amphi 700, invite around a hundred students to Fémina or offer 200 places to seniors via the Bordeaux town hall. And then, it’s a question of adapting a place to an artist. A young pianist who attracts 200 spectators will have the impression of playing in an empty room if he performs at the Auditorium, whereas he will feel good at the Pergola. Our only regret is that there are so few small rooms with good acoustics in the Bordeaux area.

Places from 0 to 70 euros. Detailed programming on espritdupiano.fr