A SUBLIME CELEBRATION OF MUSICAL CROSSBREEDING

OPENING ACT: CHARLOTTE REINHARDT SOLO

Leïla Olivesi is an outstanding artist: conductor, composer and pianist, winner of the 2022 Prix Django Reinhardt from the Académie du jazz, and a recent graduate in philosophy and musicology from the Sorbonne.
She excels at creating and conducting large ensembles: “Suite Andamane” (2019) and “ASTRAL” (2022) have been unanimously acclaimed by audiences and critics alike: Coup de cœur de l’académie Charles Cros, CHOC Jazzmag, Indispensable Jazz News, Top jazz Mezzo. “Leïla Olivesi writes for each timbre, each voice; she has them in mind, and gives them their freedom on stage. She follows in the footsteps of the great conductors, Mary Lou Williams, Carla Bley, Maria Schneider…” writes Francis Marmande in Le Monde.

Leïla Olivesi’s new project, “African Rhapsody”, previewed at the festival, tells the story of an African epic for freedom, full of intense color, rhythm and energy. Tailor-made for a dream octet, she composes instrumental works and songs based on poems by Leopold Sédar Senghor, Aimé Césaire and contemporary author Michel Ducasse.

Her orchestra, the nerve center of this new album, brings together top-flight improvisers, pillars of the French jazz scene: Adrien Sanchez, Manu Codjia, Jean-Charles Richard, Baptiste Herbin, Quentin Ghomari, and a rhythm section of excellence, formed by Donald Kontomanou and Yoni Zelnik.
Exclusive to the festival, Leïla Olivesi invites the talented and charismatic singer Camille Bertault to join her on stage.

In the warm, intimate setting of the Théâtre de l’Alliance Française, the Franco-Mauritanian composer explores the time of memory and hope, inspired by the poetry of negritude and carried by a music of mixed race.
A powerful song of love and freedom, for a swinging, groovy closing evening!

Leïla Olivesi: piano / Baptiste Herbin, Adrien Sanchez, Jean-Charles Richard: saxophones / Quentin Ghomari: trumpet: Manu Codjia: guitar / Yoni Zelnik: double bass / Donald Kontomanou: drums
Special guest – Camille Bertault: vocals