We remember it well. In Autumn 2014, after eight years of building works, the eagerly awaited auditorium opened its doors for its first season, put together by its music programming counsellor Antoine Manceau. Soon, the Nagata-designed acoustic stood out as one of the most effective in Paris, with its intimate atmosphere and its clear, shimmering timbre. Three seasons later, it has now become one of the capital's most notable halls for piano, with a specific focus on young artists in a way that no other French organisation that we know of has matched. Some will say that it's a matter of perspective – after all, there are several excellent pianists in the Arnault family – but, none the less, in the course of three years, the "New Generation Piano" series has succeeded in making a name for itself with a diverse audience, ranging from card-carrying music lovers to the more artistically omnivorous.
With the opening in 2015 of the ambitious Paris Philharmonie and its 2400 seats, objectives had to be realistic. To live beside such a giant, it was essential to fight on a different front, to plough a different furrow: more modest, for sure, given the 350 seat capacity, but with the possibility of bolder programming. While many musical projects in France are commercially driven, exorbitant prices have no place at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, where ticket buyers jostle at the gate and tickets disappear quickly. And with no less than ten concerts a year dedicated to the new generation, the Foundation is positioned squarely as a champion of young artists. This season's programme doesn't stray from that path: from December 2017 to June 2018, audiences will have the chance to see no less than seven young stars.
Next into the lists, Behzod Abduraimov (December 7th) is a young wolf with fabulous fingertips. After a Liszt B minor Sonata whose shattering impact we can easily imagine, the Uzbek pianist will be serving up one of his great specialities, Prokofiev's terrifying Sonata no. 6 which, under his fingers, we expect to be a true sonic jungle. Another notable guest is Italian pianist Beatrice Rana, on January 20th. Fresh from pushing Bach to its limits with her recent Goldberg Variations, Rana is turning her attention to Schumann's Symphonic Studies and Ravel's Miroirs; be prepared for the shockwaves when she attacks the three parts of The Firebird in Guido Agosti's stunning transcription. Playing such iconic works may constitute a risk for a young artist, but that doesn't seem to frighten these two: Abduraimov and Rana seem unfazed, and we can all be thankful for that!
Beethoven isn't left on the shelf this year: after Seong-Jin Cho's sonatas last month (no. 8 "Pathétique" and no. 30), next up will be Giuseppe Guarera on March 9th and Sélim Mazari on Jun 8th, to perform the no. 23 "Appassionata" and the pairing of nos. 16 and 31 respectively. But we'll note that each of these two artists is willing to show that there repertoire isn't limited to the commonplace. Selim Mazari will turn his gaze to the delicate art of Scarlatti, with a selection of his sonatas, while Guarera will be hunting exotica with Debussy (Estampes) and Liszt (the rarely performed Rhapsodie espagnole), before which his fingers will have already been given a serious workout by the shifting arabesques of Rachmaninov's Etudes-tableaux, Op.39.