The "Piano Nocturnes" festival

Only the piano!

Piano recitals in a racecourse ... What a crazy idea!

The idea of creating a piano festival came to me from a lack that I felt in our region.
Indeed, there is a lot of chamber music in the summer but little solo piano.
I also wanted to promote the youth, to contribute to make known some "rising stars" of the piano and finally, the desire to move away from the comfort of the traditional places dedicated to classical festivals.
But this place has for me something magical and when I asked its president Mr. François Forcioli Conti if my project seemed feasible, he did everything to facilitate my task.
We have one of the most beautiful racecourses in the world... thanks to you, let's make our Festival a must!

Christine GASTAUD - Pianist, piano teacher at the Conservatoire National de Région de Nice, Creator and Artistic Director of the Nocturnes du Piano and President of the association Le Piano en Liberté.

The racecourse of the French Riviera

An idyllic place!

An extraordinary site!

Welcome to this extraordinary site, which has been entrusted by the local authorities to the Société des Courses de la Côte d'Azur. It has built one of the most beautiful racecourses in Europe. But its recognition must go beyond this single equestrian activity.
A veritable garden on the Mediterranean, the racecourse must be the natural place to host exhibitions and creative events and contribute to the reputation of our beautiful region.
An international piano festival could not but arouse enthusiasm and invite us, as far as possible, to allow the association "Le Piano en Liberté" to gather the means for its project.
The quality of this musical event is bound to be a success with piano lovers.
Thank you to all of you and we wish you great musical moments.

François FORCIOLI-CONTI - President of the racecourse of Cagnes-sur-Mer.

A breathtaking sound!

Imagine a piano on a sixty-hectare racecourse, the Mediterranean on the horizon: a tiny dot on the immensity... a boat on the ocean!
Improbable you would say.
How could it sound? Wouldn't it be an eccentricity, a presumptuous folly? To think so would have been to underestimate Christine Gastaud's intuition and her keen perception of the potential of the place, shared by François Forcioli-Conti, the President of the Côte d'Azur racecourse, who unreservedly adhered to the project, also a music lover.
The stage was set up at the foot of the grandstands, with perfect lighting at nightfall. A light sound system guarantees a good projection of the sound to the last tier, without the timbre of the beautiful Fazioli suffering, and if it were not for the wind, it would probably not be necessary. No stage wall, no reflective conch, but the view on the racetrack, the space, the sea horizon. An area was delimited with green elements to receive the public. The acoustics have been tested.
The sound of the piano is contained in the circumscribed space, reflected by the windows of the hippodrome salons, the vast concrete canopy overhanging the grandstand preventing it from dispersing. Whatever the row, the listener is then in the best place to listen to the music.

Jany CAMPELLO - Piano teacher at the conservatory of Puteaux, and journalist for the International Music Press.
Founder and editorial director of the musical webzine conSpirito.

Share this page: