International Friends of the International Lyric Art Festival in Aix-En-Provence

2021 program highlights and operation: this 73rd edition of the Festival had to face a double challenge. Following the cancellation of the edition of the summer 2020, this year's became an extremely rich edition of great renewal, offering festival-goers a record seven new opera productions and 15 concerts.the second constraint lay in the still uncertain health situation. But both challenges were met to perfection: the edition went off without a hitch, and it was both a popular and critical success.through its particularly diverse program, ranging from baroque opera to contemporary musical theatre, and embellished by a great variety of concerts, the Festival marked the return of several leading artists and ensembles (sir simon rattle and the london symphony orchestra) and the first appearances of others (barrie kosky, thomas hengelbrock); it placed the spotlight on women artists (lotte de beer, silvia costa, susanna mlkki, patricia kopatchinskaja), and introduced promising new talents from the acadmie and the mediterranean youth orchestra.this year, world premieres were given pride of place, including samir odeh-tamimi's the arab apocalypse, performed at the grande hall of the luma foundation in arles, with whom the Festival d'aix collaborated for the first time; and kaija saariaho's innocence, initially programmed for 2020, and unanimously hailed as one of the most brilliant successes of this century. As a whole, the edition proved to be especially in touch with major contemporary issues, which it treated with either humor or gravity, including such topics as the relationship between the genders and the path to overcoming collective trauma. Success was achieved with the help of our festival-goers, who enthusiastically filled the performance venues, and of critics, who relayed throughout the world the artistic qualities of our projects.thanks to implementation of special health measures to guarantee the safety of the Festival teams, of the artists and of the public, no setbacks were experienced during the preparation period nor during the Festival itself. Despite restrictions on border crossings, all International artists, including musicians from the london symphony orchestra and singers in the golden cockerel, were able to participate in this remarkable edition. A campaign of information and support allowed for the pass sanitaire (health pass) to be put in place smoothly and with a minimum of hassle.