Patrick Scheyder: piano and conception

Michael Lonsdale and Madyan Matar, readings

In French

In partnership with the French Institute in Fes

A garden brings us together, whatever our culture, beliefs or occupations. It is a place of active peace where all in it can live in dialogue. Every plant and every being is of use to us in the noble sense of the word: indispensable for a rich life.

～ Patrick Scheyder

Pianist Patrick Scheyder listens to and looks at the garden as a place of life and tranquillity. He started the concept Of Gardens & Mankind with a view to associating the art of gardens with the arts – music, dance, cinema and literature. Are not gardeners artists, working with floral compositions and plant sculptures, creating with living things?

In the show Gardens East and West, Patrick Scheyder unites the power of texts and music to the art of gardens, inspired by The Thousand and One Nights, La Fontaine’s Fables and the stories of George Sand. With great ecological sensitivity, he questions nature, biodiversity and the position of man in the plant kingdom. The pleasures of hearing join those of smell and sight. The words and the notes of the piano that fall freely reveal the beauty of plants, trees and flowers. Here, plant biodiversity joins the biodiversity of human cultures.

His repertoire is predominantly romantic, encompassing both Chopin and Rimsky-Korsakov as well as Mozart and Bach, with some detours into personal compositions and improvisations. Literary choices including Rousseau, Victor Hugo and George Sand find correspondence with contemporary scientists, philosophers and landscape artists such as Jean-Marie Pelt, Hubert Reeves, Gilles Clément and Pierre Rabhi. All emphasise the essential preservation of nature and the need to respect biodiversity, including George Sand’s weeds.

We are honoured to have Michael Lonsdale at the festival for this show in the heart of the Jnan Sbil Garden.