Monday, February 6, 2017

New Show Opens in Les Baux March 4


The Carrières de Lumières (Quarries of Light) is a magical space in a vast cave-like quarry at the base of the village of Les Baux. There in the cool darkness, close to 100 video projectors and 27 speakers generate the choreographed movement of 2,000 images over an area of more than 75,000 square feet, onto walls as high as 45 feet, onto the ceilings and even the floor. The sound-and-light show changes once a year and has become one of the most-popular sites in Provence. Since its opening in 2012, Les Carrières de Lumières has attracted more than 2.1 million visitors.

The 2016 show, Chagall: Midsummer Night's Dreams (March 4, 2016 to January 8, 2017) drew 540,000 visitors. In case you missed it, it will be shown again this summer as part of a program called Les Intégrales des Carrières; more on that appears below. (To see my story on the Chagall show, click here.)

The new show, called Bosch, Brueghel, Arcimboldo: Fantastique et Merveilleux , opens on March 4, 2017 and runs through January 7, 2018, exploring the “fantastic and wonderful” worlds painted by these Northern and Southern European 16th-century artists.

 The first part of this "immersive art experience" is dedicated to Hieronymus Bosch; you’ll discover his emblematic triptychs and the characters that people his work. The next section is devoted to the Brueghel dynasty, portraying the countryside and the lives of its peasants. The third section plunges into the fantasy world of Arcimboldo, known best, of course, for whimsical, fantastical heads made of fruit and flowers.

The show lasts roughly 30 minutes and plays on a continuous loop. It’s accompanied by an eclectic soundtrack ranging from Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana to Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons to Moussorgski to Led Zeppelin.

Also on view will be a six-minute film about "cinemagician" Georges Méliès, an early silent-film pioneer and master of special effects. Another short film, about Jean Cocteau, will be projected in the Salle Cocteau.

Once again, this summer the Carrières will reprise the last three shows on ten special evenings in July, August and September. Called "Les Intégrales des Carrières," these special 8:30 pm projections will allow visitors the chance to experience Klimt and Vienna, a Century of Gold and Colours (2014), Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael: Giants of the Renaissance (2015) and Chagall: Midsummer Night's Dreams (2016). On each of these ten nights, you'll get to see all three shows. Tickets are 24€ and can be purchased here.

The Carrières de Lumières are located in the Val d’Enfer, a stone's throw from Les Baux. The quarries here first produced white limestone, used in the construction of the village of Les Baux and its château. In 1821, the aluminum ore bauxite was discovered here by geologist Pierre Berthier, who named it after the village. In 1935, economic competition from modern materials led to the quarries' closure. Dramatic and otherworldly looking, the area has inspired artists of all sorts; it provided the setting for Dante’s Divine Comedy and Gounod created his opera Mireille here. Later, Cocteau came to film The Testament of Orpheus in these very quarries.

Formerly known as the Cathedrale des Images, this particular quarry was closed in 2011 and re-opened (after a €2 million re-do) as the Carrières de Lumières the following year, under the management of Culturespaces. The Carrières du Val d’Enfer have been awarded Natural Monument status in France. 

For opening hours, prices, directions and more, click here. 

Carrières de Lumières 
Route de Maillane  
13520 Les Baux de Provence 
Tel: +33 4 90 54 47 37
carrieres-lumieres.com

For general information including upcoming activities in Les Baux, click here.

Want to spend the night in a quarry? Sure you do! All the details on one very cool Luberon rental are here. 

Photos: (1, 2) Glimpses of the new show, which opens March 4. (3) The quarry in daylight. (4) Another section of the vast space is often lit beautifully for private parties and other events. (5) One of my favorite photos of the village of Les Baux, taken by Philippe Clairo.  
Posted by Julie Mautner at 3:39 PM 2 comments
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Tuesday, January 10, 2017

20 French Instagrammers to Follow

Instagram is loaded with gorgeous photos of Provence. Here are 19 local accounts you might enjoy following...plus one I love in Paris. Feel free to share your favorite French IG accounts--or your own--by leaving the info under comments, at the bottom of this post. 




A photo posted by ProvenceGuide (@provenceguide) on



A photo posted by La Provence (@laprovence) on



A photo posted by provence (@provence) on



A photo posted by @myprovenceofficiel on



A photo posted by VuTheara Kham (@vutheara) on
And last but not least...



Posted by Julie Mautner at 7:21 PM 13 comments
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Monday, January 2, 2017

Curtain Up! A Theater Debuts in Avignon



A new, 50-seat theater will open in mid-January in the heart of Avignon, in an 1875 hotel particulier just behind the Opera House, just off the Place Horloge.

Called Theatre Le 9 Avignon, the venue will host a range of performances including classical music, cabaret, comedy and small-cast plays. Arnaud Lanez, communications director of the Avignon Opera, has signed on as the “conseiller artistique.”

The first, “toe-in-the-water” season launches January 12 with a free performance of Les Notes et Des Mots, a three-person evening of music, song and poetry by Tatiana Probst, Barbara Probst and Francois Lambret. The schedule then continues until July--when the space will be rented out for the Avignon Theater Festival--and starts up again in fall.

To call the Theatre Le 9 a very-personal labor of love would be a wild understatement. Owner/director Hilary Lemaire conceived the project and chooses all the shows; her husband Jean-Pierre Lemaire, literally built the theater and the beautiful home that surrounds it.  “I always loved the idea of living above the shop!” Hilary says. When you arrive for a performance, don’t be surprised if it’s Hilary or Jean-Pierre who greet you at the door, take your coat and usher you into your red-velvet seat.

For Hilary, the theater is the culmination of a life spent in theater, both on the stage and behind the scenes.

For Jean-Pierre, an “idea guy” and an experienced master builder, this was an important renovation project for his most-important client yet: his wife.

Hilary calls herself London Irish: “born in London but proud of my Irish heritage.” She trained in theatre at Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance (London) and went on to marry a jazz musician. “It was a cool but not very lucrative career,” she says, “and one of us had to pay the rent.” Hilary found work as a teacher but the marriage didn’t last; she transitioned into journalism and became features editor of Campaign, a journal for the advertising industry. There she met her second husband and together they embarked on what Hilary calls “an amazing adventure,” which, thanks to his job with Heinz, gave them ten wonderful years in Asia.

In Japan, Hilary rekindled her theater career, working for--and eventually running--Tokyo Theatre for Children. She was also involved in community theater, as both an actor and a director.  

After four years the couple moved to Hong Kong, where Hilary performed in a professional, English-speaking theatre company and eventually created her own company, presenting cabaret performances. She also wrote a series of touring murder-mystery shows.

When retirement beckoned, the couple settled in Antibes on the French Riviera, which they had always loved. There Hilary created The Red Pear Theatre, presenting more than 150 shows with artists drawn from London, Dublin and the US. She also designed and led a workshop program that brought actors into the classrooms of five local international schools.  Actors were in and out of their home constantly, with Hilary often donating proceeds from their performances to Educating Cambodia, an organization she still supports. 

After a long illness, Hilary’s husband passed away in 2010. “There was a period of adjustment,” she says, “and then it was time to turn the page.”

Hilary met Jean-Pierre in Antibes when a friend sent him over to help her with an electrical problem. “He rang the bell and it was a coup de foudre,” she told me. Eventually the couple decided to move to Avignon and set out to find the perfect building, one that would lend itself to the unusual combination of home and theater. “The estate agent showed us everything he thought would appeal,” she recalls, “but nothing did, of course. Then he mentioned a house that had just come on the market but needed way too much work. Jean-Pierre was looking for a challenge, wanting to create something very special. He looked at the rabbit warren of tiny rooms, the pigeons, the mess and then at me; he saw me smiling and we both said, ‘yep, this is it.’”

The house had gorgeous bones and a fine pedigree but was a total ruin. While Jean-Pierre isn’t exactly an architect, engineer or contractor, he does all those things and more: electrical, woodworking, cabinetmaking, plumbing. (Hilary calls him “a creator of buildings who has the ideas and the skills to realize them.”) And so he set to work making Hilary’s dream house. He evacuated 265 tons of rubble and 40 tons of wood...and built an entirely new house within the old walls. Wiring the building took nine kilometres of cable; he went through 400 sacks of plaster at 30 kilos each.

“And I did it all with 20 tons of amour,” he says.

Today the house has reception rooms and the jewel-box of a theater on the ground floor, with living areas above. In the reception rooms, Hilary will be showing artwork, clothing and jewelry from artisans she loves. A large, terraced courtyard garden will be used for drinks at intermission and post-show mingling with performers.

“The goal was to restore the home to what it had been...but with modern ideas,” Hilary says. “For example, I wanted the garden to have a Japanese element.  I lived in Asia ten years and loved the contrapunto idea of blending modern, classic and Aisan influences. Some of my furniture comes from those years and I wanted the garden to be a zen experience.”

A private launch party on December 20, with three performances, built the buzz around town and gave Hilary the chance to test her sound and lighting in front of a packed house. “Arnaud from the Opera proclaimed the acoustics ‘perfect,’ she says proudly.

Performances will be international...some in French, others in English. Hilary says her years with Red Pear in Antibes “will bear fruit” while many of her heavy-weight London theatre-world friends have agreed to perform as well. To draw younger performers and theatre-goers, there will be a Master Class program and connections are being forged with local universities. Certain performances will be fundraisers for Educating Cambodia.

So what’s on? The debut season launches with Les Notes et Des Mots, for one night only, on January 12. Tickets are free (limit two per person) and can be reserved by email or phone (see contact info below).

On Monday Feb 13, Hilary presents Love Letters, with Anne Reid and James Bolam. Reid is an English stage, film and TV actress known for the soap opera Coronation Street (1961–71); the sitcom Dinnerladies (1998–2000), and her BAFTA-nominated role as Celia Dawson in Last Tango in Halifax (2012–16).

The next night (Feb 14), Reid will perform My Funny Valentine, a cabaret show in English created for this venue with Jason Carr, a two-time Tony Award-nominated pianist. “Anne came to Antibes and happened to mention that all she’d ever really wanted to do is cabaret,” Hilary explains. “I said ‘just give me a date!’ She went back to London, found a musical director and returned a year later with her first cabaret show. Since then she’s done cabaret in New York and London...she absolutely loves it. It means so much to me that me that she’s coming!”

On Friday March 24, there will be a concert of arias with soprano Julie Roset and pianist Helene Blanic. Roset recently won a competition sponsored by the Avignon Opera and as part of her prize, Hilary provided funding to continue her studies. This concert is her thank you. “Julie is delightfully expressive and has an infectious personality,” Hilary reports. “Having that in this intimate setting will be wonderful. I can’t wait to have her on our stage!”

On Friday April 28, look for a concert by the eight students of a one-week Master Class with soprano Francoise Pollet. (“Francoise is the diva,” Hilary proclaims. “To her, you bow down.”) The performance will be the culmination of the students’ week-long training.

Friday May 26 there will be a two-person dramatic evening with Pierre Rochefort and another actor to be named soon.

On June 29 and 30, the first season wraps with Tom Crean: Antarctic Explorer, a one-man show in English, written and perfomed by Adrian Dooley. Crean was the only member of Shackleton’s crew to go with him three times to the South Pole; Hilary describes the work as “pure magic...the best one- man show I’ve ever presented.” 

Theatre Le 9 is located at 9, rue Racine, just off the Place Horloge. The website is still under construction but info on all performances is on the Facebook page here. For info and reservations: +33 (0)4 84 14 27 28, le9theatreavignon@gmail.com.

 Photos: (1) Jean-Pierre and Hilary, during construction. (2) The theater takes it's name from the address, at 9 rue Racine. (3, 4) The theater itself, before and after. (5) Anne Reid will perform February 13 and 14. (6) Reception area for pre- and post-show mingling. (7) Part of the couple's lovely kitchen, upstairs of the theater.
Posted by Julie Mautner at 2:40 PM 2 comments
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Monday, December 12, 2016

My Excellent Autumn Luberon Adventure

Huile on Wheels! If you know the Luberon, you know this truck.
(Four pix) Lunch at Chez Auzet in Menerbes: squash soup, a rich Roquefort and walnut tart, goodies to take home,  Gérard and his son Vincent, 6th and 7th-generation bakers.
Local rosés on display at Maison de la Truffe et du Vin. The annual truffle market in Menerbes is December 28.
(Four pix) From Le Clos de Buis in Bonnieux: breafast, a pretty guest room, owner Pierre Maurin, view of Mont Ventoux.
(Two pix) Who could resist the charming Roland Masset or his Bonnieux antique shop Au Detour d'Une Promenade?
(Three pix) At the Bastide de Gordes: me and my new best friends, setting the dining terrace, view of the back of the hotel...and its knockout view.
(Three pix) Anthony Mathieu at Le Phebus, his dad's Michelin-one-star dining room, the pool at night.
The lower "new" church in Bonnieux.
Eighty-six steps up to the 12th-century "old" church in Bonnieux...and fantastic views.
The Restaurant de la Gare: before Pierre Cardin took over...and now. It may or may not be closed for the winter...their hours remain a mystery.
The Roman bridge Pont Julien
Corinne Russo is my secret weapon when it comes to all things Luberon.
One of my Luberon tours will include a guided visit to the Ochre Conservatory.
 Sunset over Roussillon means the party's over, at least for today...

This is the time of year when I do much of my research, checking out new and renovated hotels, visiting rental villas, trying restaurants I've heard good things about, finding cool new places to share with my readers and clients. There are always so many things to discover...I keep a list and am adding to it all year. And it’s so much more fun when someone totally in-the-know, like my sweet friend Corinne Russo, goes with me. So a couple Saturdays ago, when Corinne said "let's go exploring in the Luberon!," I jumped at the chance.  Plus, she offered to drive. Bonus!

Born and raised in Cavaillon, Corinne left her job at the Cavaillon Tourist Office last year and has teamed up with two partners in a company called Culture Couleur, which provides color research, expertise and team building for private companies, tourism organizations and economic development. But tourism remains Corinne’s passion and she is frequently called upon by hotels, restaurants and tourist boards to help with marketing, PR and development projects...throughout all of Provence but especially across the Luberon. No one knows the region better! Using her extensive network of contacts, Corinne is helping me put together some fantastic new day trips and activities to add to my offerings at WhatToDoinProvence.com, where you’ll already find lots of fun things to do in the Luberon such as cooking classes, a foodie bike tour, a lavender tour, art workshops, photo safaris and more.

Our first stop was the Le Clos de Buis in Bonnieux, a perfect little eight-room, three-star hotel with great prices, a large garden and pool, gorgeous views and a super-warm atmosphere created by owners Pierre and Lydia Maurin. (The hotel isn’t new but I’d never visited.) If you like the idea of staying in the heart of an ancient village--but still want a country feel—this is your place. Among other things, I loved the hotel’s pretty Provencal decor and the extra kitchen for guests who want to do some of their own cooking.  I also loved how they kept the old bread oven, back from when this was one of a few village bakeries in the late 1800s and early 1900s.  No one is quite sure when the bakery actually shut down but Pierre’s cousin, age 96, says he’s never seen it open in his lifetime. If you need a handicapped guest room, by the way, they have a really nice one which opens right onto the streets of the village...no steps.

Speaking of steps, I love how Bonnieux—the highest perched village in the Luberon—has  an upper and lower church, so folks who lived in the valley didn’t have to climb all the way up top to attend mass; the 12th century "vieille église" or old church is 86 steps up from the upper-most village street! The one everyone calls the "église neuve" (new church) was built in 1870 and perches on the slope in front of the lower village. These days, Sunday services are held in the new church every few weeks, on a rotating schedule with other villages, while the old church is open occasionally for tourist visits, classical music concerts, marriages and funerals, and special services like Christmas Eve Mass.

Bonnieux’s steep upper streets are lined with 800-year old buildings, most of which are built on top of even older structures and ancient caves; from up top you get a spectacular view. To the east, is the Fôret de Cèdres (cedar forest), with trees imported from North Africa during the Napoleonic era. Three km north of town, you’ll find the Roman-built Pont Julien Bridge, which crosses the narrow Calavon River and was in use until 2005! (The main road through the Luberon Valley, the D900, pretty much follows the route of the Via Domitia, which linked Italy and Spain in Roman times.) Beyond that, you’ll see the mighty Mont Ventoux, “the Giant of Provence,” well known for many grueling stages of the annual Tour de France.

But back to our own tour! Neither Corinne nor I can resist a cute antique shop and the one directly opposite the hotel Clos de Buis, called Au Détour d’Une Promenade, beckoned us. Owner Roland Masset was just closing up for vacation but invited us in to poke around and chat. He’ll reopen in spring, at which time I plan to go back and buy at least half the shop.

We had hoped to lunch at the Cafe de la Gare in Bonnieux, one of my favorite haunts in days gone by. Pierre Cardin took it over a while back and I’m curious about the changes he made. But no luck there...they were closed up tight...despite the sign that says “Open Monday to Saturday.” (Their voicemail says the same.)  This was my third attempt to try it in the last year and a half...but I’ll try again in Spring.

Instead, we toodled up the hill in Menerbes to see Corinne’s old pal Gérard Auzet, at his tiny cafe just next door to the Dora Maar House. A 6th-generation baker, Gérard sold his well-known boulangerie and tea room Chez Auzet in Cavaillon a while back, thinking he’d retire. But he quickly grew bored and decided to open a small cafe “for friends,” next door to his hilltop home, this summer. At this new Chez Auzet (52 rue du Portail Neuf, Menerbes, 04 90 72 37 53), Gérard and his son Vincent prepare just a few things each day for lunch and sometimes dinner...closing up “when there’s no more people.” It’s perfect! Every day, père et fils make a few savory tarts, a few sweet tarts, salad and soup; a terrifically satisfying lunch with a glass of wine, dessert and coffee costs well under 20€. I had the Roquefort/walnut tart; Corinne had the pissaladiere tart; we both had squash soup and salad and a glass of red wine from nearby Domaine de Jeanne. Best of all, Vincent pulled out his guitar and serenaded us after lunch, starting with The House of the Rising Sun, one of the very first songs I learned to play on piano. If Gérard’s name seems familiar, he became a bit of a celebrity in these parts with the 2005 publication of Confessions of a French Baker, a book written (with him and about him) by none other than Peter Mayle.

After lunch we strolled over to the Maison de la Truffe et du Vin, which combines a restaurant, party space, wine shop, tasting room and bookstore....all designed to promote the truffles and wines of the Luberon area (which includes three AOCs: Côtes du Luberon, Côtes du Ventoux and Côteaux de Pierrevert). And yes, you can buy truffles here! If you plan to eat, request a table on the terrace...the view, the view, the view! I’m told they can also arrange truffle hunts for those who want them. And if you love truffles, don’t miss the Petit Marché à la Truffe de Ménerbes (truffle market) which happens in the village on December 28. 

Next stop: the hotel Bastide de Gordes, which I hadn’t seen since their recent and very-major renovation. The big news there is that they’ve just received the prestigious “Palace” hotel distinction from Atout France, the French Agency for Tourism Development; only 23 hotels in France have this higher-than-five-star rating for exceptional facilities, architectural heritage, personalized service, superb location and outstanding design. (My friend Stella hosted her daughter's wedding here just after the renovation, in June 2015, and said the whole event was beautiful beyond words.) Our adorable host was named Manon but since they didn’t have that name tag, she was wearing one that said Julie instead. Works for me!

We capped the day with a visit to another gorgeous hotel, the five-star Relais & Châteaux called Le Phebus, in Joucas. There we were greeted by Anthony Mathieu, the 21-year-old year old son of owner Xavier Mathieu, whose hotel dining room has one Michelin star. Set to close for the season the next day, Le Phebus was completely full except for one large lovely room, but seeing it—and the rest of the property--gave me a perfect sense of this family’s refined sensibility. (I loved the helicopter landing pad...and the indoor/outdoor kitchen, where summer cooking classes are held. How great to learn some new French dishes and techniques...and then settle in for your meal on the shaded poolside terrace!) Over coffee and petits fours, Anthony told us all about their winter renovation plans, which include expanding the restaurant, building a new indoor pool, adding a meeting room and putting finishing touches on a smashing, 3400-square-foot, five-bedroom rental villa with butler service and a private pool. All work will be complete before the hotel reopens in April. Note to Xavier: if and when you retire and hand over the keys to your son, your beautiful hotel will be in very good hands indeed! Anthony couldn’t have been warmer or more welcoming.

When we weren’t jumping out of the car to take photos— the Luberon’s rolling hills and vineyards were magnificent in the autumn sunshine--Corinne filled me in on all the local news and gossip...and pointed out all sorts of places that she loves, such as the indoor/outdoor restaurant La Fleur de Sel in Les Beaumettes, where Nathalie Sodavalle does the cooking and her husband Frédéric runs the front. “Terrific food, very fresh and very reasonably priced!” Corinne proclaimed. This would be a great lunch stop if you’re biking the Veloroute de Calavon, the 37 km path running east/west along the Luberon’s old train tracks: a little trail leads from the bike path to the restaurant.  Corinne tells me that each village along the path purchased the parcel of land on which it sits...just in case they ever want to restart train service through the Luberon. Clever!

What usually happens on days like this is that I run out of time about halfway through my to-do list....and this was no exception.  So Corinne and I scheduled a second recon mission a few weeks later, when we visited two five-star Relais & Châteaux hotels (the Domaine de Capelongue and La Coquillade), the fantastic Ochre Conservatory outside Roussillon, the new hotel La Maison des Ocres in the village itself and the artist/designer Frederic Medina, who will offer sketch classes to my clients next year. But I’ll write about that day another time.

In the meantime, Corinne and I are putting finishing touches on the tours I’ll be adding to my site for 2017. Among other things, you’ll find a day devoted to ochre which will include a visit the Ochre Conservatory, an outdoor painting class and a stroll on the Sentiers des Ochre (Ochre Trail) to see the gorgeous red/orange cliffs for which Roussillon is known. (A bit of advice: don’t wear white!) Another tour will focus on antiques and artisans. Watch my site WhatToDoinProvence.com for more info on these and other Luberon activities in the weeks to come! 

Photo Credits: Pont Julien courtesy of ProvenceGuide.co.uk. Lower church in Bonnieux via Net-Provence.com. Corinne took the photos of Chez Auzet, the portrait of Anthony Mathieu, me at the Bastide de Gordes and the wine bottles. I took the rest...or swiped them from the Bastide de Gordes, Le Phebus or Clos de Buis websites.
Posted by Julie Mautner at 11:09 AM 5 comments
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