‘What is wonderful is that when the order is simple, the response is simple.’ (P. Bouchain) Set in the heights of Évian-les-Bains, La Grange au Lac is an auditorium that can accommodate up to May 1993 for the “Rencontres musicales d’Évian”, it hails from the encounter between Antoine Riboud (businessman and instigator of the festival), Mstislav Rostropovitch (famous Russian violoncellist, president of the Rencontres from 1985 to 2000), and Patrick Bouchain. Built in six months, “la Grange” is a structure with no foundations, which combines the lightness of a tent and the stability of a building. Inspired by mountain granges and Russian dachas, it’s set in the midst of the trees, and imposes the regular rhythm of its framework among the treetops. Its structure, which holds up the pine balconies, has a light cladding of red cedar. It gives off a slight woody perfume on both the inside and outside; a sort of sensorial signature. Inside, the magic of the place takes over, with its stage surrounded by a hedge of dried birches, lit up by six Bohème and Murano crystal chandeliers. A ceiling of aluminium scales, designed by the acoustician, Albert Xu Yaying, perfects its acoustics. Within a humble and soberly designed exterior, La Grange au Lac is thus revealed as a highly technical piece of equipment, an instrument intended specifically for classical music.
