To anyone who cares to listen...

In these times when the periphery pretends to be the centre, when nonsense adorns itself with the trappings of intelligence, mediocrity with those of excellence, and vulgarity with those of distinction, dehumanisation is advancing at a forced march. These are ominous disruptions and premonitions which Gunther Anders, in the middle of the last century, attributed to humanity’s inability to conceive of the insurmountable consequences of total destruction wrought bythe atomic bomb – consequences that would henceforth weigh heavily on our mental health… the facts seem to prove him right and compel us to say, to paraphrase the title of a book by the poet Claude Ber, hat there are things that… no!

What, then, of musical creation in such an environment?… It thrives, and vigorously at that!, and it will continue to do so as long as there are individuals who harbour within them the passion to wage what Pierre Boulez rightly called a struggle. (sic).

Moreover, in such a context where renunciations and compromises brazenly rub shoulders with convictions and intransigence, it proves beneficial and necessary to assert loud and clear that the contemporary music we promote, together with others, is in fact firmly rooted, like a Star of David, in a in which, driven by the lofty human values of knowledge and excellence, it is conceived, composed, crafted, performed and shared.

Our 2026–2027 season will once again promote it tirelessly.

Jean-Luc Menet