the essential
The emblematic singer of Rita Mitsouko, Catherine Ringer, will be on the stage this Tuesday evening at the Robert Hossein space, in Lourdes, with “The Eroticism of Living”, a show combining poetry and music.
Of the big names on display at the Robert Hossein space for the months to come, Catherine Ringer is, without a doubt, the most legendary artist. The duo she formed for nearly thirty years with her companion Fred Chichin, “Les Rita Mitsouko”, still lives strong in the hearts of the public. Their popular songs still rock the dance floor today…
But, it is in a completely different register that the singer will perform this Tuesday evening (8:30 p.m.) in Lourdes with her show “The Eroticism of Living”, of the same name from Alice Mendelson’s collection of poetry (see by elsewhere). Accompanied on the piano by Grégoire Hetzel and staged by Mauro Gioia, Catherine will “say” and sing the verses of this poet who always wrote but who never considered publishing until the age of 95 …Where the enthusiasm triggered by his creations provoked a recital by Catherine Ringer.
Texts that sing the passion of life
“In 2021, having suffered from the Covid closure, the little theater of La Huchette in Paris is organizing carte blanche to supporting personalities every Monday. Asked, I accept and decide, rather than a song recital, to do a reading of the sensual poems of Alice Mendelson, a friend of my father, says the singer of Rita Mitsouko These are texts dating from 1947 to today, which sing the passion of life, of. love, men, colors, moments and words…”
The setting of these poems to music quickly met with success, each performance arousing the enthusiasm of the public. This Tuesday evening in Lourdes, there will be nearly 900 spectators (places are still available) religiously listening to Catherine Ringer for this suspended moment, like an ode to the joy of living. This is also the first time that she has performed in the Marian city, but not in Bigorre since Rita Mitsouko have already passed through Tarbes…
“This show was imagined as a poetic film transporting us from the post-war period to the present day and featuring one of the most emblematic and iconic artists on the European scene, with a voice capable of bringing poetry to life , underlines Mauro Gioia. A sound film, while the images and verses are formed on stage.
-One voice, one piano, two artists… And that’s about all to allow the audience to concentrate on the beauty of the verses, the voice and the music. A show to bring to life the collection “The Eroticism of Living”, a dazzling manifesto of poetry as an act of life, “that is to say as an act of love, insolent, joyful, without renunciation…”
Who is Alice Mendelson?
Alice Mendelson was born in 1925 (died in early 2025) to Polish Jewish revolutionary parents. From a young age, she wanted to become a schoolteacher but could not enroll in the École Normale d’Instructeur, which was forbidden to Jews. Her father was arrested and deported to Auschwitz but Alice and her mother miraculously escaped the Vél’d’hiv Roundup… In 1944, under a false identity, Alice joined the resistance within the FFI.
She continued her studies in philosophy and entered teaching through the back door as a pioneer. Having left for Algeria with her husband, a philosophy professor, she passed the Capes and became a French teacher. Returning to Paris in 1962, Ms. Rohman (her married name) finally taught happily as a teacher at the Lycée Michelet then at the Lycée Montaigne from 1970 until her compulsory retirement in 1991.
Driven by the love of life, words and transmission, she subsequently led a writing workshop until the age of 90. Alice Mendelson always wrote but never dared to consider publishing until the age of 95 when the enthusiasm triggered by her creations provoked a recital by Catherine Ringer of a selection of her poems under the title Eroticism to live, and a publication by Rubharbe editions of a collection of the same name.
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