One of Voilah!'s highlights will be Jazz au Jardin, a free concert at the Botanic Gardens featuring French musicians and the Jazz Association Singapore Orchestra (Jasso), led by its executive director Jeremy Monteiro. PHOTO: NORHENDRA RUSLAN
SINGAPORE – A free jazz concert at the Botanic Gardens, a celebration of street art and skateboarding at the Somerset Skate Park, and an exhibition featuring writer Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s personal effects.
The Voilah! France Singapore Festival 2024 returns from April 25 to May 26 with a renewed focus on arts and culture.
This is the festival’s 10th year since its rebrand in 2015. It has traditionally celebrated all things French, ranging from food and lifestyle to science and technology. Arts and culture have also been a key component of the programming.
Ambassador of France to Singapore Minh-di Tang says at a recent media lunch to launch the festival: “I want to reach more people, not just those who go to concert halls and theatres every week.”
Hence the free Jazz au Jardin on April 28, which will feature French trumpeter Nicolas Folmer and saxophonist Sylvain Beuf playing alongside the Jazz Association Singapore Orchestra (Jasso), led by its executive director Jeremy Monteiro and associate music director Chok Kerong.
Similarly, the free closing weekend programme Artletics, which will take place at the Somerset Skate Park on May 25 and 26. This event celebrates street art as well as France’s upcoming role as host of the 2024 Olympic Games.
Singaporean street artists Zero, Spaz and Simpleproblembeings will join French artists Kekli and Elsa Martino in transforming the urban landscape with colourful art. The public is invited to join in an art jam in this event co-organised with arts education organisation Art Outreach.
French champion skateboarder Edouard Damestoy, who is hoping to be a medal contender at the Paris Olympics, will pump up the adrenaline with a display of athletic prowess. Singaporean DJs will also spin for rave parties to end the evenings on a high note.
Ms Tang is hoping to build on the festival’s successful outreach efforts such as the French Film Festival 2023. The festival partnered the People’s Association to offer family-friendly fare at community centres and organised outdoor screenings at Sentosa, reaching a record 15,700 attendees.
Voilah! has built partnerships with other tentpole events on Singapore’s cultural calendar over the years. So the Singapore International Festival of Arts (Sifa) will open with French-Norwegian company Plexis Polaire’s award-winning adaptation of Herman Melville’s classic tale Moby Dick. The Asian Festival of Children’s Content features France-based talent – Japanese illustrator Satomi Ichikawa and Taiwanese publisher Chun-Liang Yeh.
Ms Tang, who notes that Ichikawa’s charming illustrated books are stocked in every French kindergarten, is keen to highlight diversity in French culture and points to Wild Rice’s ongoing restaging of Tartuffe as an example of how stories can resonate across times and cultures.
She says: “There will still be the cultural events that people look forward to, like the classical music concerts. But there are also the artists who adapt classics for a contemporary audience, like Wild Rice, which is staging Moliere’s Tartuffe and Moby Dick at Sifa, which has puppetry.”
The science component for 2024 will look at women’s health with a screening of Serendipity (2019), a film documenting French artist Prune Nourry’s battle with breast cancer, a forum on urban biodiversity and an international conference on generative artificial intelligence. Admission to these events will be free.
Five highlights at Voilah!
Daydream
By Hubert Le Gall
Info: Cuturi Gallery, 61 Aliwal Street; April 27 to June 22, noon to 7pm; free admission
French artist Hubert Le Gall combines sculpture and design in his works. PHOTO: CUTURI GALLERY
French artist-designer Hubert Le Gall creates works that blur the line between sculpture and design. Daydream features recent works as well as pieces created for Singapore, which are made in collaboration with French artisans working in media including bronze, porcelain and tapestry.
Look out for L’Eternel Printemps, a 500kg bronze horse-cum-cabinet, and the Chaos-crocodylus, a whimsical work featuring a crocodile with porcelain flowers erupting from its body. There is a meet-the-artist session on April 27, 4pm. Sign up at singapore@cuturigallery.com.
Saint Exupery: A Legacy
Info: Alliance Francaise de Singapour, 1 Sarkies Road; May 3 to July 31, Tuesdays to Fridays, 1 to 7.30pm, Saturdays, 9am to 5.30pm; free admission
Fans of The Little Prince will want to pop by this exhibition, which features objects belonging to author Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Items on show include his identity bracelet and his leather briefcase as well as original sketches and notes.
Piaf! The Show
Info: Mediacorp Theatre, 1 Stars Avenue; May 10 and 11, 8pm; admission from $58
The life of legendary French singer Edith Piaf is celebrated in this show. It has been 60 years since she died in 1963, aged 47, from liver cancer. Born to a street performer father and brothel-owning mother, the petite singer is best known for writing and performing La Vie En Rose.
French singer Nathalie Lermitte plays Piaf and tells her colourful life story through songs accompanied by projections of previously unpublished images.
Culinary Delights Of New Caledonia: A Four Hands Chef Event
Info: Cook & Brew, The Westin Singapore; May 9 to 11; 7pm
Food has always been a big part of Voilah!. This year’s foodie highlight is this four-hands dinner, which spotlights the freshness of New Caledonian cuisine and produce.
Baptiste Copeaux, executive chef of Le Meridien Noumea Resort & Spa, will cook alongside chefs from the Westin Singapore. Book online at str.sg/GShw. Diners may also win a trip for two to New Caledonia.
Poetry Of The Harp
Info: Victoria Concert Hall, 11 Empress Place; May 22, 7.30pm; admission from $20
Virtuose de la Harpe
Info: Esplanade Concert Hall, 1 Esplanade Drive; May 25, 7.30pm; admission from $15
Hailed by Gramophone magazine as “a virtuoso of the highest order, profoundly musical and capable of realising a remarkable range of nuance”, French harpist Xavier de Maistre will be playing two concerts.
The first is a solo recital of his transcriptions of keyboard staples. The second concert will feature Alberto Ginastera’s Harp Concerto.
The Singapore Symphony Orchestra will also be playing Ottorino Respighi’s homage to ancient Rome under the direction of French maestro Pierre Bleuse.
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