Ouessant

June 7, 2002

Singers, trumpet players, pianists…brought together by Lydia Jardon, Ar ré-se (“Celles-là” in Breton language, “Those ladies” in English) are on Ushant, the secluded island off the French shore, in pursuit of musical tempests and the Absolute.

The first time Lydia Jardon approached the jagged shores of the Isle of Ushant, she was 18 years old, and a storm was blowing. On the bridge of the tossing boat, her hair whipped by the wind, she softly murmured Rachmaninov’s 3rd Concerto, a thunderous monologue in the form of a warning of heavy squalls. Little did she know that, a few years later, she was to play this work which "so resembles her: hot-tempered, strong, passionate". In principle, a masculine repertoire, the critics said, into which the soloist surged like the sea sweeping deep inside the rocky crags around the island. ?To play the concerto, you need a man’s hand, a huge hand,? she says, placing her "paw" of inordinate dimension against your palm. "But then you also have got to come out alive at the end these giant, Dantean phrases," she adds, bursting into baritone laughter.

Having challenged the men on their musical score, Lydia Jardon created a women musicians festival last year, on Ushant, the Isle of Women. The island of the women who stayed behind when their men were at sea for months on end, the island of the women who pointed their cannons at the English while their men were casting their fishing nets off-shore.

But Lydia Jardon adamantly refuses to be labelled a "feminist", and even if the (record) label she has just created at the age of 36 "AR RE-SE" ("Celles-là" in Breton language, "Those ladies" in English) is also reserved for women, she prefers to laugh about it than to militate about it.

Photo : V. Ferrane/Vous Etes Ici

"I am not at all into an egalitarian approach?since I believe in doing better than men!" In her own words, she is a "célibattante" (combination of a single woman and a true fighter!) who travels everywhere with her cat, Pelléas, in tow, and recognises herself in this group of women she embraces.

"They don’t mistake violence for ardour, harshness for strength. They are much less aggressive towards the keyboard than men are." A solitary "but not forlorn" soloist’s dream, this community of pianists, trumpet players and singers surrounded by water, by its ebbs and flows, its original melody which Lydia Jardon has just recorded on disc, La Mer.

"Perhaps the most energetic element that exists?, remarks the pianist as she prepares for her "communion" with the public, as explosive as she is ascetic – "I entered music like one enters a religion? – and who chose by way of the absolute a secluded island, an island at the end of the earth, on which a cluster of grand pianos is settling after crossing the waves. Like in a Dali painting, the pianos fly through the air, winched from the boat to the quayside while waiting to be touched by grace.

M.J.

Encounters with Women Musicians
at Ushant from August 5 to 9

Women musicians have a rendezvous on Ushant, the Island of Women, for three evening concerts. Among the figures in this gynaeceum constituted by the pianist Lydia Jardon: the soprano Virginia Besson, the mezzo Marianne Mateos de Havilland, accompanied by the pianist Susan Manoff for a "Tour of the world in 80 minutes” from Schumann to Strauss, from Rossini to Bizet, from Debussy to Chausson. Also present is the "solo instrumentalist revelation" from the last Victoires de la Musique awards, the young cellist Emmanuelle Bertrand in duo with the pianist Marie-Josèphe Jude on the theme of "German Romanticism", and a young trumpet player Nadine Schneider, accompanied by Lydia Jardon. A word to music lovers: on the second encore, there is every chance the pianist will abandon classical rigour and launch into her favourite keyboard playground: Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue…
At 6 p.m., in the Salle Polyvalente at Ushant.

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August 14, 2001

Ouessant: A Beautiful Piano Lesson

Gather together on France's Ile d'Ouessant artists of international status in the domains of piano, violin and opera, thus offering the public three concerts of an equal, even superior quality to those performed in major capital cities, seemed at first view to be a daring venture.

Lydia Jardon of the association Pianos du Monde (Pianos of the world), on the initiative of her musical encounters and her Ouessant Isle friends, masterfully took up the challenge. And the results in terms of both numbers of spectators and quality are eminently flattering: the three concerts held at the town hall/theatre last week enraptured audiences totalling some 500.

On Monday, August 6, the virtuoso pianist Dana Ciocarlie and the violinist Irina Muresanu, both laureates of international Grands Prix, inaugurated the concerts, this first performance on the theme of "Central Europe", with pieces by Josef Suk, George Enesco, Johannes Brahms and Paul Constantinesco.

The second production, on Wednesday, August 8, was inspired by "Fragrances from Spain and other lands" and performed by the superb Breton mezzo soprano Sylvie Sullé and the Czech pianist Irena Kudela, assistant to conductors such as Boulez, Rostropovitch...

Photo: DR

"From Romanticism to Jazz"

The last concert, held on Friday, faithfully interpreted the theme "From Romanticism to Jazz". The pianist Lydia Jardon, who no longer needs any introduction to Ile d'Ouessant inhabitants, hereby enabled the public to discover the American musician Louis Vuillemin, akin to a Debussy and a Bill Evans according to Lydia.

These first Ouessant Women Musicians Encounters attest to an exceptional quality and originality that augurs well for a brilliant future worthy of the major festivals.

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August 2, 2001

The All-women Musicians Encounters
on the Island of Women

When a pianist dreams of finding an original concept for sharing her passion for music, five artists disembark on the Island of Women with the mission of offering three concert performances. Under the artistic direction of Lydia Jardon, the First Women Musicians Encounters will take place between August 6 and 10 at Ouessant.

The ocean's salty timbre in her voice, waves of brown hair across her shoulders, Lydia Jardon explains that she "entered music like one enters religion".

For the past three years, the musician has been spending part of her summers on the Ile d'Ouessant where she animates two Summer Academy of Piano course sessions. Touching down at Brest, arms laden with luggage and a cat for travelling companion, Lydia Jardon still bears the smile of the French musician the American public has just loudly acclaimed.

A decidedly feminine encounter

"I was in Newport attending the opening of the biggest classical musical festival in the United States", she explains. A rendezvous the artist knew was not one to miss. Her hosts have invited her to return. The wager has paid off.

This month, Lydia Jardon will be welcoming five artists to the "island of women".

"I've known Ouessant for 20 years, discovering it in my student days when I was living in Brest. In-between the lessons I was following in Paris and the lessons I was giving in the Finistère [region], I'd steal off to the island whenever I could, invited to stay by parents of my students. A stunning experience, a real discovery,“ the artist repeats.

Ouessant has subsequently become the scene for the Women Musicians Encounters, three concerts by artists of international renown.

The first evening, Monday, takes up a Central European theme with recitals by the violinist Dana Ciocarlie and the pianist Irina Muresanu. On the program: Suk, Enesco, Brahms and Constantinesco.

On Wednesday, the pianist Irena Kudela and the mezzo soprano Sylvie Sullé will sprinkle the island with "Fragrances from Spain and other lands", interpreting the music of de Falla, Bizet, Garcia Lorca, Ravel and Milhaud.

And Lydia Jordan in person will be performing at the all-women festival's closing evening on Friday, August 10, captivating her audience with a journey from romanticism through to jazz, cradled between Chopin, Vuillemin and Gershwin.

All three concerts will be performed in the town hall/theatre, route de Créac'h. They start at 18h00 so as to enable music-lovers in transit to catch the 19h30 boat back to the mainland.

Stéphanie Le Bail

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Last update: Friday, August 1, 2008