Musiques de Notre Temps

Musiques de Notre Temps: Contemporary Music Creation

The Musiques de Notre Temps festival was born in 2007 in Charenton-le-Pont (94220) from the vision of Ludovic Montet, a musician and artistic director committed to promoting contemporary music in all its forms. Supported by the association Musiques de Notre Temps, headquartered at 4 allée des Tilleuls in Charenton-le-Pont, the festival has established itself as a unique event in the Parisian cultural landscape: a festival that rejects boundaries between repertoire and improvisation, between classical and popular music, between concert and immersive experience.

A Philosophy of Openness and Breaking Down Barriers

The artistic direction of Musiques de Notre Temps is based on a spirit of radical openness. The aim is to offer the public new ways of approaching their relationship with music, by fostering both creation and improvisation, and by blending repertoires. The festival operates on the principle that contemporary musical vitality cannot be confined to a single aesthetic: it thrives on confrontation, surprise, and the encounter between seemingly disparate sound worlds.

In practice, this translates into a program that juxtaposes works of contemporary written music—world premieres, commissions from today's composers, pieces from the 20th and 21st-century repertoire—with free improvisation performances, electronic experiments, and interdisciplinary encounters. The festival values the physical presence of composers and performers, who participate in meetings and discussions with the public.

Meaningful Venues

Musiques de Notre Temps takes place in several local cultural venues in the towns of Charenton-le-Pont and Saint-Maurice. The Conservatoire André Navarra in Charenton-le-Pont, the Théâtre des 2 Rives, the Chapelle de Conflans, and the Théâtre du Val d'Osne in Saint-Maurice host concerts, performances, and meetings. These venues, with their very different acoustic characteristics, offer distinct listening environments that enrich the musical experience.

A Pioneering Festival in the Parisian Suburbs

By establishing a high-level contemporary music festival in Charenton-le-Pont, Musiques de Notre Temps took a gamble: to demonstrate that demanding musical creation can find its audience far from the major Parisian stages, in a local and convivial setting. This gamble has paid off. Over the years, the festival has built a community of curious and loyal spectators, attracted by the quality and uniqueness of its programming.

Musiques de Notre Temps receives support from the Ministry of Culture, the Île-de-France Region, and the Department of Val-de-Marne, recognizing it as an essential player in democratizing contemporary music.