Dear reader,

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I am very happy to see you again for this second letter. I want to answer  here this question that my friends often asked me when I told them, that I wanted to start a salon musical  in Stavanger 5 years ago, then that I founded the association "Den Gjenfundne Tid" (Time Regained in English) 2 years ago, then that I was about to launch my first festival this summer:  "But why are you doing all this?"

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The obvious answer is that apparently, I can't help it! Even if I know that it will take me time, energy, time of musical practice (lol) and especially time that I could give to my loved ones, I cannot help it... But I never had the feeling that this time was lost time. On the contrary, if I take a step back and look at my personal universe since  I reintegrated music into my life in an active way, I see only fabulous moments, exciting encounters, new friends, and this feeling of being connected to an  inexhaustible and universal source of energy. Like you who share your discoveries of hiking places, your good plans for going out in town, the latest book you’ve read, I want to share the music that drives me every day and the energy it gives me.

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Last year was marked by two encounters that inevitably led  to the creation of the “Reconciliation festival”.  The first encounter was with the ballet "The man and the sea" by dancer and choreographer  Julien Boclé in a  tv-show. The second was with the physicist and music lover Yves Quéré  during the unplanned visit of the Institut de France during the “Journées du Patrimoine”.  And everything could have stopped there, on these wonderful moments that would have built me beautiful memories for my old age. But I started reading this book by Yves Quéré "a shell close to my ear" ... And since then, I've had this little voice telling me in the hollow of my ear, "Go ahead: share what you've discovered, get it done yourself...  You are  finding your way and you can walk it with others."

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And here we are! Mid-April 2023:  the  "Reconciliation festival: Art and Science for a beautiful world" is launched. I am so grateful to Yves Quéré who has accepted to be the godfather of the festival and who will be at our sides in August for this first edition. I also thank with all my heart the artists, the pianist Frédéric Vaysse-Knitter and the dancer Julien Boclé, who lit this spark of beauty with "the man and the sea".  

And I thank you, dear reader, who takes the time to read me. I hope you will enjoy planning  time for this festival. May it be a bubble of time, nature   and beauty for you and your family... and not yet another activity on your to-do list.

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The book of the month is ...obviously "A shell close to my ear: science, education and other shores" by Yves Quéré.  Here is one of the (very many!)  quotes that I read regularly as it makes so much sense to me, who has the chance to live in Norway,  this country where we benefit from the technology of the modern world,  in a beautiful nature  and where citizens declare themselves among the happiest in the world.  

 « Nature, which pre-exists the way we look at it, gives birth to science: it is the framework of our first words, the source of our first questions, and it remains an inexhaustible source of enigmas and wonders. »

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You can already get to know the artists thanks to this video where a short version of "The man and the sea" is proposed (Culture Box, April 2021). On Sunday, August 27 2023, the full version will be premiered for the first time outside France, in Stavanger, for the Festival Finale.

 

So, amazed, curious... Let me know what you think!

 

See you soon and I wish you a beautiful month of April, full of joy and music!

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Nirina Haller

Founder of the Reconciliation Festival and the association "Den gjenfundne tid"

 

PS:

• More links to the artists and participants of the festival on www.dengjenfundnetid.com

• You will find the first newsletter on the site in the section "About us"

• Plan your visit to the Reconciliation festival from now: check the “Tickets” section and benefit from the early bird price.