- Before the concerts, the transportation of musical instruments requires significant organization.
- During the Crazy Day, a team of ten people is, for example, mobilized just for the pianos.
Attached to the back of a minivan or in a truck keeping the temperature permanently at 19 degrees: the transport of classical musical instruments is an art where you have to excel to organize a festival like the “Folle Journée”, which starts this Wednesday evening and for four days in Nantes.
"The piano is the king of instruments", immediately denys Denijs de Winter, tuner of grand pianos who works behind the scenes of the Nantes festival. Massive - "450 kilos without feet" - precious - "140,000 euros for large concert pianos" - and ubiquitous in the classical repertoire, pianos require a dedicated team of ten people during the "Crazy Day".
Instruments from Poland
The “conductor” of this logistics is Alice Combre, who has anticipated with the help of colorful tables the location of each of the 34 pianos that will be required for the 26th edition of the festival. "Depending on the rooms, works and performers, I know which partner will be able to put which piano in which room," says Alice Combre, counting no less than 180 concerts with piano in the program, or more than half of the shows announced. in Nantes from Wednesday to Sunday.
"With Beethoven, it was a fairly easy year for me," she reassures, referring to the theme of the festival. Same story for Blanka Golaszewska, manager of the Sinfonia Varsovia orchestra who trucked her cellos, timpani and other horns from Poland.
Elton John's piano
After fifty years of transporting and tuning instruments for the greatest pianists on the planet, Denijs de Winter is also up to the challenge of preserving the instruments when traveling by plane. "I had a little problem with a piano and then I said to myself, maybe if I put on the case" Attention, this is Elton John's piano ", as everyone knows, they will do be careful, ”he recalls. Since then, he has never had any worries, he says with a smile.
If for the “Crazy Day” it was not necessary to bring pianos from abroad, the transport by truck nevertheless requires very special attention. Once relieved of their feet and lying on their side, the giants, which generally measure 274 centimeters - the precise length of the emblematic Steinway D-274 model - must be kept permanently at a temperature of 19 degrees Celsius.
The issue of temperature actually concerns all owners of classical musical instruments. Thus the harpist Sylvain Blassel never separates from his instruments for fear of theft and to protect them from the cold. "The harps, I bring them back to my hotel every time," explains this Parisian musician who brought two of his instruments to Nantes in the trunk of his minivan.
Culture
Crazy day in Nantes: "It's an incessant ballet to manage", reveals the director about behind the scenes
"The Crazy Day is the classic Woodstock"- Classical music
- Festival
- Culture
- Nantes