The Insane Day

the Insane Day is a Festival of Classical music organized annually with Nantes, at the end of January or at the beginning of February, Wednesday to Sunday. Created in 1995, it is a growing success and is exported now with Bilbao, Lisbon, Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro.

Presentation

Created in 1995 by Rene Martin, the festival tries to open the classical music with a larger audience and even uninitiated person by proposing Concert S courts, at affordable prices, in the eight rooms, the two living rooms and the large market of the Cité of the congresses of Nantes, this single place taking part in a resolutely festive environment. The rooms have a capacity of reception respectively of 1900,800,450,400,300,200,120 and 80 places, is a total of 4250. In 2007, during the five days, of 9:00 the morning to 23:00 the evening, 270 concerts were proposed.

The name of the festival " Insane Journée" refers well-sure to the part of Beaumarchais " the Marriage of Barber or the Insane Day " , become " the Marriages of Figaro " of Mozart, first type-setter " invité" in 1995.

One or more Compositeur S is put at the honor each year and the programming mixes great classics and more ignored works, each part being often programmed several times. Among the S present interprets côtoient the most prestigious world soloists or formations and of the whole with more regional dimension, to the pupils of the academy of Nantes or the local orchestras of Harmony. The festival also proposes conferences and film projections articulated around its topic.

The moderate price in the concerts is maintained thanks to the co-operation of the whole of the actors: the Town of Nantes which applies to médiatiser the event, public transport which sets up regular and free shuttles for the holders of a ticket, the artists who accept seals unusually weak to occur, the media partners (Western France, Télérama, Le Monde of the Music, France Musique, Arte, Mezzo), the local tradesmen who relay the increasingly many event and sponsors.

Since 1995, the festival knew an unexpected growth. It passed from 25.000 spectators, 180 artists and 35 concerts in 1995 to 112.000 spectators (including 5.000 school), 1.800 artists and 250 concerts in 2006. Since 2002, the previous weekend, concerts are also given in other cities of the area Pays of the Loire: Challans, Cholet, Fontenay-the-Count, Fontevraud, Laval, the Arrow, the Roche-sur-Yon, Sablé-sur-Sarthe and Saumur, 150 concerts and 43.000 tickets sold in 2006.

However the festival is victim of its success today:

the counters of sale of tickets are taken by storm;
the queues are interminable (the interested people often await starting from 20:00 the day before, for an opening of the counters to 9:00);
the majority of the places are sold in the 24 hours; one finds even students who propose for a few tens of euros to the potential spectators to camp all during the night in front of the sales outlets and to assure an entry to them the desired concerts…

But the sale is possible by Internet.

Success is such as similar demonstrations were create these last years in other cities of the world: Lisbon since 2000 (defection for 2007), Bilbao since 2002, Tokyo since 2005, Rio de Janeiro June 1st, 2nd and 3rd 2007.

History

Type-setters with the honor in the programming:

1995: Mozart.
1996: Beethoven.
1997: Schubert for the bicentenary of its birth.
1998: Brahms.
1999: “Hector, Gabriel, Maurice and others” or French type-setters between 1830 and 1930: Berlioz, Fauré, Ravel, but also Debussy, Saint-Saëns, Franck, Lalo, Messiaen…
2000: Bach for the 250e birthday of its death.
2001: “The insane day of Ivan Illitch” (according to the character of Tolstoï) or Russian type-setters of 1850 to our days: Tchaïkovsky, Prokofiev, Alexandre Scriabine, Moussorgsky, Stravinski, Chostakovitch…
2002: Mozart and Haydn.
2003: “Italian baroque”: of Monteverdi to Vivaldi.
2004: The “romantic generation of 1810”: Chopin, Liszt, Schumann, Mendelssohn…
2005: “Beethoven and his/her friends”: Salieri, Weber, Cherubini, Diabelli…
2006: “The Harmony of the Nations” (the period 1650-1750).
2007: “The Harmony of the People” (the period 1860 - 1950).
2008: Schubert and its contemporaries.

External bonds

the very complete file of maville.com on " insane Journée"
the official page of " insane Journée"
the program 2007

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