Gauthier Herrmann will play the cello at Arties Festival India

This weekend, Calcutta has a date with chamber music performed by young musicians from France. Arties Festival India, to be held at Marble Palace on Saturday and Hyatt Regency on Sunday in association with t2, has been travelling the world (as Arties Festival) with a repertoire of western classical music presented with a refreshing approach.

“In recent years, Arties performances have become a regular fixture on the cultural calendars of other metros but they have always bypassed Calcutta. This time we made sure that they came,” said Abhishek Basu, the director of Calcutta Arts Club, which promotes young talent.

The Calcutta-bound team comprises Hugues Borsarello and Diet Tilanus on violin, Marie Chilemme on viola, Olivier Patey on clarinet, Emmanuel Christien on piano and Gauthier Herrmann, the founder-manager of Arties, on cello.

One of the high points of their performance will be the acoustics. “There will be no amplifiers. What you hear will be straight from their instruments,” Basu promised.

The Marble Palace event will be a private affair, featuring Schubert and Mozart. The Hyatt event, organised along with Alliance Francaise du Bengale (AFB), will have a larger audience.

“Since the programme will happen so close to Francophonie Day (March 20), we asked for French composers,” said AFB director Alexandre Martinez.