Accustomed to the auditoriums of the metropolis or the great castles, the Vibre! festival, based in Bordeaux, relocated this year a few concerts in the multipurpose halls and cinemas of the wine-growing towns of the Médoc an hour away.

In Listrac-Médoc, 2,700 inhabitants, Vibre!

bet on a multipurpose room, used regularly for garage sales, associative meals or shows by local artists, to attract "audiences who would not come naturally to the concert", explains Julien Kieffer, the new director of the festival.

A first attempt to relocate to the cathedral of Bazas, a small town at the entrance to the Landes forest, had "especially affected a Bordeaux public" last year.

"We realized that certain doors were difficult to cross, because loaded with symbols, socially", says the director, who since taking office in 2020 seeks to rejuvenate and "break the elitist image of chamber music ".

Funded by patrons from major local vineyards, such as the Rothschild Foundation, the formula offers concerts at a maximum of 10 euros - against triple or quadruple in a prestigious room.

It is accompanied by introductory workshops in classical music for more than 160 inhabitants, mostly children, in this municipality in the process of periurbanisation, crossed by an incessant flow of cars and trucks.

"It was good, I thought of a lot of characters", says Gabriel, 9, seated on one of the 100 brown polypropylene chairs in front of the stage where the French quartet Van Kuijk, rather accustomed to the Philarmonie de Paris or at the Konzerthaus in Vienna, finish playing.

To appreciate Mozart, Mendelssohn or Shostakovich, the children, initially intimidated or concealing a few laughs - are invited to "go on a journey in (their) imagination" by re-listening, with their eyes closed, to three minutes of violin.

"Forest" and "Boar"

"I thought of a forest, with lots of animals", says a boy, "me a park with flying birds", suggests a little girl, and "me, a story with fairies", adds another participant.

Guided, the pupils gradually associate images - "a forest", "a jungle" - with the sounds played on the violin, then propose characters - "a wild boar", "a treasure seeker" - whose characters agree with notes and tempo.

Violinist Karine Watelet during a workshop with students, before the Vibre! festival, on May 6, 2022 at the Listrac-Médoc socio-cultural center ROMAIN PERROCHEAU AFP

Each story is mimed with grimaces and antics by the actress, to extracts from Mendelssohn or Shostakovich, which make the children laugh out loud.

The goal of these original and "visual" scenes is to "bring children back to active listening", so that they "physically feel the vibrations of the music", explains the violinist.

Wednesday, in front of the Van Kuijk quartet, there were about fifteen children and 80 adults, most of whom had attended initiation workshops.

A "success" for André Lemouneau, 70, municipal councilor of Listrac, who hoped for "more people" but remembers a film club launched with fanfare by the town hall and "stopped after four sessions" because it did not attract only a handful of people in this town, where the population "difficult to move" is culturally "vampirized by Bordeaux".

Violinist Karine Watelet (d) and actress Aida Sanchez (g) during a workshop with students, before the Vibre! festival, May 6, 2022 at the Listrac-Médoc socio-cultural center ROMAIN PERROCHEAU AFP

The day before, there were only about thirty of them at the concert organized at the cinema in Pauillac, the large wine-growing town of the Médoc.

At Listrac, "the recipe for success was the workshops to make people want to come, because throwing a string quartet here without any preparation, we would have had 10 people, lovers of great music, and that's it “, smiles Mr. Lemouneau.

© 2022 AFP