Wanderer

Enough seen. The vision was encountered under all skies.
Enough had. Sounds of cities, evening, and in the light, and always.
Enough known. The decisions of life. – O Sounds and Visions !
Departure into new affection and noise !
Arthur Rimbaud (Illuminations)

Because the performing arts were for me a passion and because the topicality makes it necessary, the personal adventure of the Blog du Wanderer widens from the francophone “I” to the plurilingual “we” and advances in a collective space which, being neither the simple reflection nor the extension of the blog, will now exist alongside it.
Because this same performing arts deserve better than a frenetic and consumerist compilation, we make a contract with the reader inspired by the Stendhalian image of a mirror one would carry along a road, not to romanticise but rather to illuminate or to warn.
It is not a question here of considering art as a haven away from real world but rather as a way of confronting and understanding it. It seemed equally necessary to give this site a literally sentimental educational function, closer to the “vocation” of the Proustian narrator than to the austerity of a so-called “specialized” journalism. In the same way that writing is to show and demonstrate, the Wanderer––like his Wagnerian namesake––travels and questions.
We will try to report and to analyze the evolution in the staging of Wagner, first and foremost, and of many others, but also to nurture the reflection around it, according to the principles of both an inquisitive and caring wander…
Wanderer is a new cultural online journal, based in Geneva (Switzerland) and dedicated to performing arts, from the classics to the contemporary creation, whose founders are Ronald Asmar, Guy Cherqui, Romain Jordan and David Verdier. Subjects will range from opera to concerts, theater and dance… within the European borders and beyond.
Here you will find :

• Analyzes and reviews of live performances
• Interviews.
• Thematic collections on all subjects related to the performing arts and their evolution
• Reflection articles leading to a deeper understanding of a performance by establishing links with the humanities
• Invitations to reading
• Analysis of audio and video recordings
• An inaugural series, the “Castorf primer”, inviting to discover from A to Z the controversial staging of the bicentennial Ring in Bayreuth
• A decidedly international and plurilingual angle : the Italian  versions is online, and we are opening our English version today : Welcome !

We do not claim to be everywhere nor to attend every event, but we will try to always be where the performance makes sense and fuels the reflection on the performing arts, while keeping the passion that animates us, the joy of frequenting so many performance and concert halls and this desire to share our emotions, positive or not. This is why we wanted to broaden our original musical vision to the theater and dance : new personalities of opera staging often come from other universes and it is interesting to guide the reader to the crossroads of these references. Trusting the curiosity of a faithful and demanding readership, while also trying to give pleasure to read, we take up the challenge that a truly critical approach, in the broadest and deepest sense of the word, is possible .

Wanderer wants to be a companion through the motionless voyage into the world of today's performing arts scene.

[1] http://wanderer.blog.lemonde.fr

This post was written by Guy Cherqui and David Verdier