MIDI DU FESTIVAL — THE ACADÉMIE DU FESTIVAL D’AIX: JOURNEYS OF TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY COMPOSERS

Pierre Boulez was one of the driving forces behind the creation of the Académie du Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. Since 1998, nearly 180 composers have participated in the Académie through a variety of residencies (including the Composition Residency, Opera Creation Workshops, and multidisciplinary residencies), affording them the opportunity to present their work at the Festival. The participants of the 2025 Composition Residency will speak alongside composer Unsuk Chin, the mentor of this year’s residency; composer and former Académie participant Sivan Eldar, whose opera The Nine Jewelled Deer is being presented in Aix this summer; and the publisher Janis Susskind, from Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd. Through the lens of their respective careers, these figures from the new generation of musical creators will discuss the current challenges encountered by composers, and the evolving landscape of contemporary music.

WITH THE PARTICIPATION OF: Sivan Eldar (composer – The Nine Jewelled Deer), Unsuk Chin (composer, mentor of the 2025 Composition Residency of the Académie), two artists from the 2025 Composition Residency of the Académie and Janis Susskind (director of Boosey & Hawkes musical editions).

THE CENTENARY OF PIERRE BOULEZ (1925–2025) — “COMPOSING IN TODAY’S WORLD” SERIES
Pierre Boulez (1925–2016), a major figure in contemporary music, left a profound mark on the twentieth century as a composer, conductor and music theorist. He secured a special place in the history of the Festival d’Aix by initiating the Académie’s first composition residency in 1998. As part of the centenary celebrations of his birth, and in conjunction with the Composition Residency of the 2025 Académie, the Festival invites us to explore Pierre Boulez’s rich legacy through two panel discussions devoted to the challenges facing composers today and in the years to come.