Les Lundis Musicaux
A series of legendary recitals, Les Lundis Musicaux was founded in 1977 by Pierre Bergé, then director of the Théâtre de l'Athénée.
Until 1989, it hosted more than 250 concerts featuring the greatest artists of the time: Dame Felicity Lott, Jessye Norman, Irwin Gage, Montserrat Caballé, Régine Crespin, Dalton Baldwin, Mirella Freni, Placido Domingo, Cathy Berberian, Martin Katz, Marilyn Horne, José van Dam, Teresa Berganza, Christoph Eschenbach, Joan Sutherland...
In 2014, Patrice Martinet, then director of the Théâtre de l'Athénée, recreated Les Lundis Musicaux and entrusted its artistic direction to Alphonse Cemin, pianist and conductor. The adventure continued in 2021 when Olivier Poubelle, Olivier Mantei and Bernard Le Masson became owners of the theatre and Olivier Poubelle took over its management.
In ten seasons, Alphonse Cemin has revived Les Lundis Musicaux through his programming, inviting promising or already highly admired artists exploring the repertoire of melody and lied. The beauty of the piano and the voice. The intimacy and poetry of chamber music. A precious moment, a breath of fresh air outside of time, because the raw beauty of the recital offers a charming simplicity that brings these great artists closer to the audience and focuses on the very essence of these repertoires: music and poetry. To reinforce this link with the texts and to highlight them, translations are projected during the performances. Nearly a hundred international musicians have been welcomed since 2014 for exceptional recitals: Dame Felicity Lott, Julie Fuchs, Julius Drake, Damien Pass, Stanislas de Barbeyrac, Stéphane Degout, Ian Bostridge, Alain Planès, Nahuel Di Pierro, Cyrille Dubois, Tanguy de Williencourt, Jenny Daviet, Hilary Summers, Malcolm Martineau, Dorothea Röschmann, Michael Spyres, Laurent Naouri, Sandrine Piau, Judith Chemla, Mathieu Pordoy, Julie Boulianne, Petteri Iivonen, Christoph Prégardien...
Karolina Blaberg Stiftung supports Les Lundis musicaux
Based in Zurich, the Karolina Blaberg Foundation has been promoting the musical arts as well as theatre, dance, cinema and literature since 2013. The Blaberg Foundation's support for Les Lundis Musicaux in promoting the lied and melody repertoire stems from a meeting and long friendship between Karolina Blaberg, patron of the arts, and Alphonse Cemin, artistic director.
The Lundis Musicaux team
Alphonse Cemin, artistic director
Le Balcon: production:
Gaspard Kiejman, production manager
Catherine Verheyde, lighting
Yann Chapotel, video equipment
Romain Tanguy, video control
Lili Gomond, surtitles