Opening Concert at Kissinger Sommer: A Dream Start with Jean-Yves Thibaudet

On June 20th, Jean-Yves Thibaudet opened this year’s Kissinger Sommer with a true dream start in the Max Littmann Hall of the Regentenbau in Bad Kissingen, one of Europe’s best concert halls in terms of acoustics. Together with the renowned Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France under the direction of Mikko Franck, he performed the festive opening concert. With this guest appearance, he continued his decades-long connection to the festival.

The opening concert of the Kissinger Sommer presented the festival theme »Je ne regrette rien« with a panorama of French music—from Romanticism to the present day. The program included Camille Saint-Saëns’ 5th Piano Concerto (“Egyptian Concerto”), which is exemplary of the exotic sound language of the French repertoire and reveals the imaginative sound world that characterizes the work. Especially this year, which marks the 150th birthday of Maurice Ravel, the French-themed program gained additional significance.

Below is the review by Elke Tober-Vogt from Mainpost, dated June 21, 2025:

"Cascades, arpeggios, wave-like dynamic developments, interwoven with the orchestra, captivate and overwhelm….

Thibaudet melodically, harmonically, and rhythmically transported the audience to the Orient, devoted himself to arabesque-like ornaments and sparkling musical loops. In this varied, episodic narration, with room for commas but especially musical dashes, one could lose oneself and reflect on one’s own illusion. After a peak in tension in the handling of time, a final movement galloped forward, whose opulence and complexity nearly overwhelmed the ear despite the transparency of the execution."

The concert was broadcast live and can be experienced again here.