Camille Thomas & Julien Brocal

​During the lockdown of the French capital, cellist Camille Thomas has moved her concerts to a higher level.

The Franco-Belgian cellist began the series of concerts on rooftops, balconies and museums during Paris' first lockdown this spring. 

Camille Thomas began with a concert on the roof outside her apartment. Since then, there have been concerts at the Institute of the Arab World, the Palace of Versailles, Musée Nissim de Camondo and Palais Garnier, to name a few. This November included a concert on the roof of Institut de France, where she played a piece by Ravel.

'I feel deeply that beauty will save the world, and at that at the moment it is an essential food, it is the food of the soul. (...) It's important to be entertained, but the food for the soul that comes from being in a museum, from listening to a musician play, from actually receiving beauty is what keeps us going in the most difficult moments,' Thomas says from the roof of Institut de France to AFP (video).

She has called the unconventional concert series a symbol of the loneliness of musicians without an audience and museums without visitors during the pandemic. 

'It was my way of creating beauty despite everything,' Thomas says to francemusique.fr.  

The cellist's latest album, Voice of Hope, was released in June 2020. It is the first classical music album to be launched in collaboration with UNICEF, and a percentage of the sales will go to UNICEF France. 

During the 2021 Bergen International Festival, she will be playing in Troldsalen with pianist Julien Brocal, who released his third solo album this season. At Troldhaugen, they will perform cello sonatas by Grieg, Debussy and Chopin. 

Information

​Events planned for the 2021 Bergen International Festival will be launched throughout the autumn and winter.

It is likely that plans for the 2021 Bergen International Festival will be affected by the pandemic. By launching performances and artists as they are confirmed, the Festival would like to draw attention to the work our wonderful artists do, while knowing that the final festival programme may look different. 

The festival will follow the health authorities' orders and recommendations, and wants to create safe conditions and the least possible inconvenience to our audience. Therefore, ticket sales will not start until the spring.

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