In December 2018, Passeurs d’Arts Méditerranée brought its first year to a close with a Ron Davis Alvarez master class and a concert at the Festival Côte Bleue.
Representatives of business and HR marvelled at the musicians’ progress and Ron Davis Alvarez’ Sistema-based pedagogical innovations before enjoying concerts from both the young and the slightly less young, as Passeurs d’Arts Méditerranée and Paris’ Tutti Maestro put on performances for their assembled guests.
Back to the beginning
Founded in November 2017, the 5th Passeurs d’Arts programme has so far concentrated its efforts on Sausset les Pins, a town close to Marseille on France’s Mediterranean coast.
Supported by the Passeurs d’Arts team in Paris and taught and coordinated by the Finnish violinist and pedagogist, Verna Kaunisto-Feodorow, Passeurs d’Arts Méditerranée made its first steps in spectacular form, when, in December 2017, a small group of its members visited the French capital to play for and meet Gustavo Dudamel.
Since then, the programme has gone from strength to strength, performing at the Marseille Opera in May, before packing eight concerts into eight months in a busy pre-Christmas period, culminating in the Festival Côte Bleue concert.
PdaM’s day-to-day & highlights from 2018
Based at the Pierre Matraja school in Sausset les Pins, Passeurs d’Arts Méditerranée currently provides nine hours of tuition a week to a small group of students, who voluntarily attend classes in their breaks.
After six months of practising, the students put on their first large-scale concert in memory of Sistema Founder Abreu in April 2018. And, just one month later, they joined the children of Démos-Marseille in the Ernst Reyer Foyer of Marseille’s opera, performing as part of the national tous a l’opéra programme.
In a diverse and varied programme, the children formed a string section playing an eclectic mix of Venezuelan salsa-samba, Finnish folk music and classical tracks such as Ode to Joy and Te Deum to a capacity crowd.
Watch photos and clips of Passeurs d’Arts Méditerranée performing in the Marseille Opera
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The concert went so well that the players of the Marseille Opera's orchestra themselves then visited Sausset les Pins in June 2018 to reprise Ode to Joy together with the Passeurs d’Arts Méditerranée children.
The Orchestre Philharmonique de Marseille and Passeurs d’Arts Méditerranée perform in Sausset les Pins
And, as the weather gradually turned cold, the students of Passeurs d’Arts Méditerranée were once more able to end their year in the company of a significant Sistema figure, as they teamed up with El Sistema Sweden’s Ron Davis Alvarez at the Festival Côte Bleue.
The 2018 edition of the festival saw the students and Ron take centre stage, with the 15th December starting with Ron Davis Alvarez holding forth on his Sistema-based pedagogic methodology and the importance of encouragement, acceptance and kindliness. And, soon, he had the opportunity to put his words into practice, displaying the skills that saw him recognised as one of the top 50 teachers worldwide in 2017 in a master class containing both local students, a Passeurs d’Arts student from Paris & three former Démos Malpassée students.
Despite the different groups never having played together before and Ron teaching in English, the music was soon flowing, with the traditional Sistema energy filling the room to the delight of an enthusiastic audience. And, this was just the start of proceedings. As soon as the tuition had been concluded, Ron took up his baton once more to conclude Passeurs d’Arts Méditerranée’s first year and to conduct a combined Passeurs d’Arts Méditerranée-Tutti Maestro concert, prepared by Verna Kaunisto-Feodorow and featuring the children of Pierre Matraja and the Passeurs d’Arts maestros from Paris.
Watch a clip of Ron Davis Alvarez’ master class with Passeurs d’Arts Méditerranée at the Festival Côte Bleue
Looking ahead
Moving forwards, Passeurs d’Arts Méditerranée does not intend to rest on its laurels and has big plans for 2019.
On the one hand, the Passeurs d’Arts Méditerranée team is working hard to set up a new programme of alternative, Sistema-based music learning at the Academie de Musique Rousset, which it and the academy hope to have up and running by the summer.
On the other hand, the existing Passeurs d’Arts Méditerranée students have already started work on an exciting cooperative programme with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Provence and the dancer, Yannick Diaz, which sees them participating in a series of workshops together as they work towards putting on a common performance in March 2019.
We, therefore, wish the team all the best in the new year and look forward to hearing about their concert in March and their general development in the months and years to come.
Photos of Passeurs d’Arts Méditerranée’s first year
All photos courtesy of Passeurs d’Arts Méditerranée
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Want to keep track of PdaM and its activities?
As well as reading updates here on the Sistema Europe website, you can keep up-to-date on Passeurs d’Arts Méditerranée developments by following them on Facebook or, alternatively, by visiting their website, where regular updates are posted under their nos realisations / our achievements section.
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