Nigella
The Festival Musica Nigella
The Festival Musica Nigella is an annual international classical music festival that takes place on the Côte d’Opale. This year the festival returns for its 13th edition from 24th May to 3rd June with the theme the “French Touch”.
« Du point de vue de la pure qualité musicale, c’est sans doute le tout meilleur des festivals de la Côte d’Opale. »
“On a musical level, it’s without a doubt the best festival of la Côte d’Opale.”
Jaques-Hubert Mabille de Poncheville, La Voix du Nord, 2010.
As they do each year, Olivier Carreau, the festival’s president and a passionate supporter of classical music, and its artistic director, Takénori Némoto, have invited a group of internationally renowned artists to perform at the festival. For 2018, Takénori Némoto, composer, conductor and horn player, in collaboration with the other performing artists, has created an eclectic and innovative programme that resonates with a current popular theme.
The wide variety of concerts will feature new musical arrangements by Takénori’s Némoto, bringing new life to well known works, and the festival’s creative approach and outstanding musical performances promise exceptional moments of pleasure for the music-lover.
Festival Musica Nigella is a voyage into the world of classical music but also an opportunity to discover the cultural heritage and rich geo-diversity of the local area.
Each performance takes place in a carefully chosen location creating a familiar, informal atmosphere and a sense of accessibility for a genre which is far too often considered elitist. Whether in a museum, theatre, historical monument or church, or in an unconventional location such as a restaurant, private garden or the bank of a river, the music will combine with nature, art, history and gastronomy to fully embrace all the senses.
Home of the festival is the small picturesque village of Tigny-Noyelle. Tigny-Noyelle lies between the Baie de Somme, famous for its ornithological park at Le Marquenterre, and the charming medieval town of Montreuil-sur-mer, gateway to the rolling green countryside of Les 7 Vallées. In 2016, Montreuil-sur-mer came 2nd in the competition to find what the French considered as their ‘favourite village. Le Touquet Paris-Plage and Berck-sur-mer, seaside resort towns famous for their extensive white sand beaches, are also close at hand.
For its 13th edition, the Festival Musica Nigella has the pleasure to welcome more than 60 international artists. Amongst these, the French mezzo-soprano, Marie Lenormand, who is no stranger to the international stage. Originally trained in the United States, she won a prestigious Grammy Award in 2015 for Best Opera Recording for her performance in Maurice Ravel’s operaL’Enfant et les sortilèges, directed by Seiji Ozawa. Other distinguished performers at this year’s festival include Ayako Harada, one of Japan’s most renowned clarinetists and winner of the Japanese International Music Competition and International Wind Instrument Competition, and Flannan Obé, French tenor and comedian, winner of the 2006 SPEDIDAM prize at the Molières.
History of Musica Nigella
In 2006, the French classical music foundation Euphonie united its projects, Le Festival Musica Nigella, L’ Ensemble Musica Nigella and La Saison Musicale, under the umbrella name of Musica Nigella. With the name came a new image and a sense of common identity.
The Festival Musica Nigella is a classical music festival that takes place over a period of two weeks every year in late spring. Based on la Côte d’Opale in northern France, the festival attracts international artists to perform in multiple venues.
L’Ensemble Musica Nigella is an orchestral group of around 20 professional musicians who initially met when playing at the Festival Éponyme, a previous classical music event in the region. In 2010, under the leadership of their
director, Takénori Némoto, they decided to form the first professional musical ensemble to be endorsed by the region of Pas-de-Calais.
La Saison Musicale is a series of classical music concerts with an emphasis on presenting exciting new talent. The concerts are organised all year round at various venues on la Côte d’Opale.
The name Musica Nigella derives from Nigella, a five petalled small blue flower originally from Eurasia, but also a Celtic word meaning ’new land’, which, by chance, was the ancient name of the hamlet Noyelle, the home base of Festival Musica Nigella. As such, Musica Nigella is the synergism of musical experiences and new spaces.
The image of a ‘new land’ also reflects Takénori Némoto’s move from Japan to France in 1992. In Paris he continued his musical studies at the École Normale de Musique de Paris and the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique
et de Dance de Paris before meeting Olivier Carreau, the président of Euphonie, who invited him to join the foundation as its creative director.
Musica Nigela also chimes with the relocation of Euphonie’s head office from Paris to the small village Tigny-Noyelle in the Pas-de-Calais. It’s here in Tigny-Noyelle that Olivier Carreau has fulfilled his dream of building a small concert room with the intimacy and exceptional acoustic qualities necessary to host a premium classical music festival such as Festival Musica Nigella.
For more information please visit the festival’s website: www.musicanigella.fr
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