Critic's choice
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Festival
Festival de l'Imaginaire from September 24 to December 11 2021
Masters of Afro-Cuban rituals and of the lila gnawa, virtuosos of the gypsy trumpet and of the Hindustani violin, great voices of the Corsican and Breton polyphonies, mystical singer from Ethiopia ... From September 24 to December 11, the Festival de l'Imaginaire celebrates cultural diversity, in Paris and throughout France.
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Opera
The pearl Fishermen - Grand Théâtre de Genève, December 10-16
On the beach in Ceylon, the pearl fishermen are waiting for the consecrated virgin, who is to calm the sea with her prayers. Zurga, their new chief, and the hunter Nadir, once fell in love with the same young woman, but swore not to pursue her for the sake of their friendship. But Nadir has secretly broken this oath. When the veiled virgin appears, Nadir immediately recognises Leïla, the one he loves... This love triangle, set in an'exotic' setting, is reinvented by director Lotte de Beer. She is looking for a contemporary and entertaining counterpart to the tendency to tell stories in distant regions and cultures. She finds it in reality TV competition shows where European contestants challenge themselves on an exotic island. The story of Leïla, Nadir and Zurga is thus propelled into shows as credible as the pre-programmed vagaries of Loft Story or Temptation Island. Bizet's music, performed by the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande under the baton of David Reiland, gives the characters great emotional relevance and the work immerses the audience in the grandiloquent emotions of a romantic European melodrama.