Artist's words
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FRANK MARTIN, A FORGOTTEN STAR
«If it is not necessarily "peace and consolation" that the artist must give other people, but it should in any case be that liberation that beauty produces in us.»
Frank Martin was born in Geneva, Switzerland in 1890. He showed very early aptitudes for music and was able to find an original language in which the inspiration of great composers mix, such as Bach, Schumann, Debussy, Franck, Schönberg, but also Gregorian Chant, Jazz, Flamenco or the Pink Floyds! During his lifetime, Frank Martin was able to convince the most famous artists of his time with his authenticity, audacity and fantasy. Dinu Lipatti, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Herbert von Karajan, Pierre Fournier, Yehudi Menuhin, the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Wiener Philharmoniker became his most enthusiastic supporters. His works have been premiered in the most prestigious halls and festivals. However, he used to say that «only solitude and complete disinterest of opinion allow invention». Is this perhaps why, once the composer disappeared, his music was heard less and less?
In order to recall Frank Martin's glorious past, the recording project Journey to Geneva, for cello and orchestra, was born, and it is as a continuation of that program that this chamber music recital was conceived.
Indeed, Frank Martin’s La Ballade is written either for cello and orchestra or for cello and piano. Therefore it seemed very interesting to be able to offer the public the piano version of La Ballade, which allows the composer's work to be put into perspective through its different sources of inspiration. Johann Sebastian Bach’s rhetoric, Robert Schumann’s melodic sensitivity, Claude Debussy’s poetry or César Franck’s harmonic audacity promise the public a moment of intense emotions and exciting discoveries.
It is a program that allows us to meet a composer who inspired the greatest performers of the 20th century.
ESTELLE REVAZ & ANAÏS CRESTIN
Estelle Revaz and Anaïs Crestin met in 2012 at the Mendoza International Festival in Argentina. Their musical training through French and German schools has naturally allowed them to get along well both musically and humanly. Since then, they have performed regularly in South America and a concert Tour is planned for 2019 in Argentina, Uruguay, Belgium, France, Switzerland and Germany.
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ANAÏS CRESTIN
Anaïs Crestin regularly plays in Europe and South America. In Argentina, where she has been living since 2008, she performs at the Colón Theater, CCK, Usina del arte, Ushuaia Festival, Mozarteum Concerts, La Plata Theater, Neuquén Theater... with international artists such as soprano Sophie Klussmann, cellists Ophélie Gaillard and Estelle Revaz, saxophonist Claude Delangle, violinists Julien Szulman and John McGrosso, clarinetists Ronald Van Spaendonck and Luis Rossi or the string quartet « Cuarteto Gianneo ».
Her repertoire for piano with orchestra ranges from Mozart concertos to contemporary creations, including Argentinian works such as Carlos Guastavino's Romanza de Santa Fe and a selection of tangos. In 2018, Anaïs Crestin performs, in a South American premiere and with the Salta Symphony Orchestra conducted by Noam Zur, Nadia Boulanger's Fantaisie for piano and orchestra.
Her last disc Bajo templado published by the « Pulso 70 » label with Sebastián Tozzolla, solo clarinetist of the Colón Theater's philharmonic orchestra, was nominated for the Gardel Awards.
Anaïs Crestin was trained in France and Germany at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold with the excellent concert artist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet. She received merit scholarships from DAAD, GFF and Lions Club. She has won numerous piano awards such as the First Medal of the Brest Piano Competition, the First Prize of the Ginastera Competition and the Second Prize of the Necochea Competition. Between 2009 and 2017, Anaïs Crestin worked at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires as pianist of the philharmonic orchestra and as choirmaster.
Since 2018, Anaïs Crestin is a professor at the University of Arts and at the Astor Piazzolla Conservatory in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
