For Olivia Gay, there has long been an unanswered question: “What can we do, as an artist and a citizen, to be useful to the forests, which are suffering so much?” Question from a child who grew up “at the foot of the Vosges, in constant contact with nature”, in a family where we liked “that the children live in the open air”… and also from a distinguished rider who chose ” to live in the forest of Fontainebleau with two young horses”. Question, above all, of a brilliant musician, one of the great talents of her generation, trained mainly in Germany and winner of the prestigious Cziffra Foundation. “I still spend my day with a wooden instrument”, she laughs… Not just any instrument, by the way: the cello she plays was made in 1733 by one of the best luthiers in History, the Venetian Domenico Montagnana.
The luminous-sounding cellist has finally found an answer to her haunting question. In July 2022, it entered into a partnership with the National Forestry Office and its Agir pour la forêt endowment fund. “In my forest of Fontainebleau, I saw the little green men of the ONF passing by! she says. I thought of just contacting them. And I found myself at the Climate Academy in Paris, immersed in fascinating discussions on the issues of the forest, its preservation and even its rescue while the megafires continue to ravage it. Olivia Gay now plays in the forests of France. This Friday, March 31, she will play in the Vendée forest of La Barre-de-Monts. On April 23, she will be among the legendary trees of Brocéliande; May 13, near Rambouillet; on July 12, in La-Teste-de-Buch, one year to the day after the start of the terrible fire of 2022. Part of the money is donated for the reforestation of forests decimated by fires and related tree diseases to global warming.
His new record, Whisper Me a Tree (from Fuga Libera), is a wandering “among water and trees, framed by Elgar’s Songs of Morning and Night”. We also hear Offenbach, Fauré, Dvorak… as well as composers with a melodious sound (Max Richter, Camille Pépin). All on cello alone, or with the National Orchestra of Cannes conducted by Benjamin Levy. What do all the chosen works have in common? “A direct, carnal link with the land and nature, where I feel good. I hope to make people think… We need the forest to breathe, to live and also to create. Nature has always been at the heart of artists’ inspiration. And the first music comes from the sounds of nature! »
A music that immerses the spectator in a happy meditation amplified by the listening conditions… Because a concert in the forest is like no other. “One of the goals is the immersive and sensory experience,” says the cellist. It’s about awakening all the senses, which is a good basis for listening to music. The music of nature intertwines with the music we play. A bird’s song, the wind, a sunset…” The choice of each place is made according to rigorous criteria, with a forest professional: “We settle where we disturb the wildlife as little as possible: in clearings, old quarries…”
If she has a favorite tree, it is “the weeping willow, which evokes by its falling foliage a deep romanticism, a sweet melancholy but also a refuge, a comforting cocoon behind its green curtain. Like Disney Pocahontas’ “Grandmother Foliage”! This weeping willow takes on the appearance of a reassuring grandmother, a guide, a familiar voice, a confidante. But Olivia Gay’s favorite forests are those in the mountains for their “fairy conifers… You expect to come across an elf or a troll at any moment.” A nod to this leaping Danse des elves by David Popper, which she performs wonderfully. In terms of magical creatures, it is indeed a cellist that the walker in the forest should now expect to see appear at the bend of a path.
More information to find Olivia Gay in concert on https://www.olivia-gay.com
