Evian

At the beginning of May 1983, the eighth music festival ‘Jeunes musiciens sans frontières’ was held in Evian. Although the principal guest of the festival was Witold Lutosławski, celebrating his seventieth birthday that year, the performers of his music were indeed very young. During a concert given by the orchestra of the Curtis Institute of Philadelphia (Curtis Symphony Orchestra), making its first appearance in Europe, the American students, under Lutosławski’s baton, played his Second Symphony. Also performed by young musicians were the Double Concerto (students of Lyon Conservatoire) and Jeux vénitiens (Junge Deutsche Philharmonie). Altogether, seven works by Lutosławski featured on the programme. The oldest among them, the Variations on a theme of Paganini, was played by the sisters Katia and Marielle Labèque, who happened to be the same age as that at which Lutosławski used to play that work with Panufnik.

As was the tradition at the time, a string quartet competition was also held in Evian. Lutosławski chaired the jury, which assessed the playing of fifteen ensembles.