A LIVING LEGACY
A showcase for the Rencontres Musicales d'Évian
La Grange au Lac was born from a deep friendship between Antoine Riboud, then CEO of BSN (the future Danone group), and the celebrated cellist Mstislav Rostropovich.
The music-loving businessman had founded a classical music festival in Évian. In 1985, he entrusted the musical direction to his friend "Slava", who transformed it into a major event on the French, and then European, musical scenes. The Rencontres Musicales d'Évian was born and became a must-attend event for the world's leading artists. Thirty years ago, Antoine Riboud set about providing the festival with a concert hall that matched his ambition. Rostropovich, who had seen Yehudi Menuhin's tent in Gstaad, dreamed of a venue made from wood.
This was the architectural and acoustic challenge posed by Antoine Riboud to the iconoclastic architect Patrick Bouchain.
20th May 1993, the inaugural concert
Working with acoustics expert Albert Yaying Xu, Patrick Bouchain took on the bold challenge of building, in just eight months, this “wooden tent” with 1,100 seats, to particularly demanding specifications: no excavation of the rock protecting the spring, no trees to be felled, construction on sloping ground, a limited budget (ten million francs), and all of it carried out during the winter months. The construction of La Grange au Lac began in October 1992.
The 20th May 1993 saw the inauguration by the Minister for Culture at the time, Jacques Toubon, led by the baton of Mstislav Rostropovich. The concert hall was unveiled with its forest of birch trees as an astonishing backdrop to the stage, and its immense metallic shell suspended from the ceiling. La Grange au Lac sounded like the interior of a cello; it married the discreet luxury of the crystal chandeliers with the simplicity of the wooden benches. Its personality was already in evidence.
Continual improvements
- 2017: Six months of work were undertaken to enable La Grange au Lac to support more intense activity. The stage was redesigned installing a new platform and new scenography behind the stage, emphasising the venue's theatricality, outstanding acoustics and the musicians’ auditory comfort.
- 2019: The chandeliers were subject to extensive renovations: the density of the Bohemian crystal prisms was enhanced, the clusters of Murano blown-glass stalactites filled out and the lighting effects optimised through the discreet addition of beaded covers and LED tubes.
- 2021: The venue's seating was entirely renovated for audience comfort.
- 2022-2023: The stage was extended to ensure complementarity with La Source Vive, and acoustic adjustments were made to adapt La Grange au Lac to its new purpose as a concert hall dedicated to large ensembles.
- 2023-2024: The dressing rooms at La Grange au Lac were fully renovated: spacious, modern facilities were added, including an impressive entrance hall, large technical and logistics facilities, a rehearsal room, shared and individual dressing rooms, as well as a communal relaxation area for artists. The new dressing rooms at La Grange au Lac belong to the founder of La Source Vive.
The last two phases of work cemented the transformation of La Grange au Lac into a venue for large orchestras and heralded the advent of Les Mélèzes. None of these developments would have been possible without the unwavering and significant support of Aline Foriel-Destezet. She has been involved with La Grange au Lac for many years, supporting each stage of its development and enabling the realisation of its major improvements.
30 years of Rencontres
1993-2023: Thirty years later, La Grange au Lac stands as a timeless jewel, a place of encounters, exchange and live music, where artists and audiences continue to delight in coming together.
