The spirit of sharing and young talent shine through at the Étoiles du Classique de Saint-Germain-en-Laye

The 3rd edition of the Étoiles du Classique festival took place from Wednesday June 26 to Sunday June 30, 2024 at various heritage and cultural venues in the town of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, including the courtyard of its Château and the Alexandre Dumas theater.  The festival spotlights the very latest generation of artists, this year gathered around Jean-Jacques Kantorow, violinist and conductor and patron of the Festival. The Festival attracted over 5,000 spectators, 200 young talents and invited almost 1,200 children to attend the concerts. Financed by the INDIGO Foundation, specific mediation takes place in schools and actions to encourage young audiences to attend concerts.

The Etoiles du Classique festival is a springboard for young artists between the ages of eighteen and thirty, and is destined to become the premier event for presenting tomorrow’s young talent to the general public. Its philosophy is based on transmission, openness and benevolence, notably by bringing together new talent and creating moments of encounter between artists, audiences and the world of music. Concerts are accessible to all, thanks to a very reasonable ticket pricing policy.

The Étoiles du Classique is also a festival of commitment and solidarity. One of its objectives is to promote musical culture, sometimes perceived as “advanced” and not accessible to young audiences. To this end, the Festival’s activities are focused on three main areas :

• Mediating and educating on music in schools, followed by invitations for young children to Festival concerts
• Invitations to autistic and disabled children
• Musical performances in hospitals for sick children

The musical mediation sessions consisted in presenting the Festival and its show for young audiences from an educational angle, during a workshop lasting around an hour.

The musical instruments and the sound of each instrument are presented through videos, quizzes and permanent interactivity.  The history of the works in their program is also told, so that we can better perceive the emotion conveyed by the music as it transcribes an event into musical notes.

This year, mediation was carried out in 40 primary school classes in 7 communes, for a total of 1,150 schoolchildren, plus around a hundred autistic or disabled children from nearby medical-educational institutes.

The teachers shared their enthusiasm and the substantive benefits for the children.

« We really enjoyed the program. This presentation of various instruments was really instructive and very enjoyable. »

« The students were lucky enough to have access to a quality show. What’s more, the intervention in class enabled them to prepare for seeing and, above all, listening to the show. »

« The students came away delighted and enthusiastic. This morning, they were able to say what had moved them and why, and to talk about the instruments that particularly touched them. »

« The children were delighted, as were the teachers and accompanying parents. The rich and varied program gave our students a great opportunity for cultural discovery. »