The Shape of Attention
13 – 19 June 2026
Saturday 13 June
To Vienna by train
Vienna, Musikverein
Wiener Philharmoniker • Lorenzo Viotti
Poulenc : Les Animaux modèles
Debussy : Printemps
Zemlinsky : Die Seejungfrau
The Wiener Philharmoniker’s 10th Abonnementkonzert distinguished itself through its unusual choice of repertoire. None of the works on the programme could be described as concert staples, and the fact that the orchestra did not rely on routine made the performances captivating — especially in the Poulenc.
Vienna, Musikverein (later)
Wiener Symphoniker • Singverein der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien • Petr Popelka • Vera-Lotte Boecker, Andrew Staples, Marie Smolka, Wiebke Lehmkuhl, Patrick Grahl, Matthias Winckhler
Schumann : Das Paradies und die Peri (op. 50)
I wasn’t convinced Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri would hold my interest, and indeed I often found myself observing the many performers who crammed the limited stage of the Musikverein to avoid drifting away. Some of the more expressionistic pages nevertheless caught me by surprise, and I ultimately found exaltation in the luminous, rapturous finale.
Sunday 14 June
Back to Paris by plane
Two major institutions devoted to contemporary art now stand a short distance apart in the very centre of Paris. The Bourse du Commerce – Pinault Collection opened in 2021 after architect Tadao Andō transformed the site with his usual flair. I focused my short visit on the current exhibition in the rotunda, one of Japanese artist Fujiko Nakaya’s “fog sculptures,” an intoxicating, immersive sensory experiment called Cloud #07156. Minutes away, the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art contemporain had just relocated into the historic building of Le Louvre des Antiquaires, stunningly reïmagined by Jean Nouvel, who anchored it firmly in the site’s history and opened it up to its surroundings. The opening exhibition, meant to convey the breadth of the foundation’s endeavours, offered a varied selection of works and demonstrated the galleries’ versatility through their ingenious system of mobile floors.
Tuesday 16 June
Paris, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
Les Ambassadeurs – La Grande Écurie • Andrea Buccarella • Fatma Saïd, Sasha Cooke
Giovanni Ferrandini : Il pianto di Maria
Nicola Fiorenza : Sinfonia fugata for three violins and continuo
Pergolesi : Stabat Mater
I regularly test my love-and-hate relationship with baroque music by attending the occasional concert, this one prompted by the appeal of Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater and the pleasure of benefiting from my friend K.’s encyclopaedic knowledge of all things historically informed. I spent most of the evening brutally bored, even during the Stabat Mater, which managed to be not funereal enough and painfully slow at the same time. When voices and instruments resonate so briefly, there is no excuse for languid tempos. A brief encore demonstrated that, at the right pace, the mood set in naturally. Thankfully, my brain rescued itself from boredom by spending a good portion of the performance trying to remember the name of the theorbo.
Thursday 18 June
Paris, Auditorium de Radio France
Orchestre National de France • Riccardo Muti
Alfredo Catalani: Contemplazione
Verdi: Quattro stagioni, ballet from I vespri siciliani
Tchaïkovsky: Symphony No. 4
At the end of this uneven performance — which only took off during the symphony — Michel Orier, Radio France’s Director of Music, bestowed the title of Conductor Emeritus upon a visibly glowing Riccardo Muti, nearly 85 years old, and probably a little too proud that he can still walk to the podium unaided. Muti, however, spoke from the heart when reminiscing about his 45-year relationship with the orchestra, which Orier described as a compagnonnage — a long-standing artistic fellowship. Muti also made touching remarks about two musicians retiring that very evening, including the outstanding flautist Michel Moraguès. When a musician retires, part of their legacy remains embedded in the orchestra’s sound and personality.
Friday 19 June
Paris, Théâtre de la Ville • Pessoa – Since I’ve Been Me
I’d picked up a little book of Portuguese poetry while in Lisbon a few months ago. Fernando Pessoa, of course, was prominently featured, with pronouncements like:
Dizem que finjo ou minto
Tudo que escrevo. Não.
Eu simplesmente sinto
Com a imaginação.
Não uso o coração.
It is said I pretend or lie about
All that I write. No,
I simply feel
With imagination.
Not with the heart.
It seemed only fitting that a visual poet like Robert Wilson should want to place his own imagination in dialogue with Pessoa’s. While rooted in Wilson’s by now familiar visual grammar, the production displayed enough originality to avoid the sense of déjà vu characteristic of many of his operatic stagings. By featuring Pessoa’s heteronyms, Wilson emphasised the fractal nature of the poet’s imagination, with its recurring patterns and abysses of self-reference.
And so, for now, the lights dim… until the next act.