Ajaccio (AFP)

From Carnegie Hall in New York to Vienna's Musikverein, violinist Bertrand Cervera performs throughout the world, but also in the villages, vineyards, retirement homes and prisons of his native Corsica, passionate about the social bond created by music.

"Principal violin" of the Orchester National de France, first symphony orchestra of France, Bertrand Cervera is also soloist of the World Orchestra for Peace (WOP) of Unesco, which brings together since 1995 the best musicians of about forty country to honor "the unique strength of music as an ambassador of peace", in the words of its creator Georg Solti.

"It is not thanks to us that there will be peace but we play together, Russians, Ukrainians, English, Germans ... all towards the same goal.It is this spirit, the WOP", explains to AFP violinist born in Bastia on June 15, 1967 in a family of black feet just returned from Algeria.

"November 11, 2018, we played the 9th of Beethoven in a small German city at the time of the signing of the Armistice, me it moves me, it's moments of strength," slips the fifties, sporty look and golden tan, as comfortable in the tail of pie as barefoot in the vineyards of Corsica Domaine Abbatucci where this lover of biodynamics, recent holder of the agricultural tank, wine option, likes to play a few notes.

A relationship to the land that "is intimate, I wanted to find my brother by the root," he said, referring to the death of his elder in February 2018.

Invited in the orchestras of Lisbon, London, Kyoto or New York, he played under the baton of the greatest conductors. "Kurt Mazur is a mentor to me, he made the Hitler Youth, the Eastern Front, he felt guilty, he made me see things differently." "One day, we played Shostakovich's symphony Babi Yar and suddenly he stops and says + you walk on 90 corpses, that's it Babi Yar +, after that, we never play it again," says the musician trained at the conservatories of Nice and Paris.

- 'Rare diamond' -

In Yehudi Menuhin, he greets "a prodigy" of "crazy kindness".

"These guys give a lesson, they have a common craziness, and then, when we see mean-spirited people, we can not do it anymore," says Bertrand, who also played with Michel Legrand, Johnny Hallyday, Charles Aznavour, Michel Jonasz or Cindy Lauper.

For Charles Kaye, director of the WOP, Bertrand Cervera has nothing to envy: "a rare diamond among the best first violins in the world, his talent and his musicality echo his warm personality and his humanity", he says to AFP.

The violinist, married to ... a violinist and father of four, sees himself more as "a musician, I want to create a unique moment where we forget everything, a bubble where we are all together, an emotion".

For him, "no musical hierarchy". "Johnny Hallyday, on stage, was like a great conductor, electrifying!"

But "in a song of variety, there are 3 chords, there are 25 in a measure of Strauss, it is this wealth that I want to make known".

From this desire to democratize classical music was born in 2004 the festival "Sorru in Musica" where national and international artists play for free in the villages of Corsica for 10 days in late July. Academy of Music and concerts all year complete the adventure.

"The real meaning of the festival is to create a link," says the musician. "We also go to schools, retirement homes, prisons, homes for disabled people, I really feel like I'm doing my job.These people can not come to concerts so I'm going at their home".

An approach that has seduced violinist Iwao Furusawa, a star in Japan. "His ideas, his game make us instantly fall in love with Bertrand," says AFP musician who plays in Corsica, except its 150 annual Japanese concerts.

Insatiable, Bertrand swarms with projects: to democratize classical music on television, show around the tango, creation of his own vineyard in Renno, his village ... While continuing to travel the musical routes of the world.

© 2019 AFP