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Michaël Canitrot presents the Monumental Tour Europe as part of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union

Ever since I was a child, my two passions have been electronic music and French heritage. It was therefore natural for me to combine the two for the Monumental Tour.

Since his début at the Bains Douches nearly twenty years ago, DJ Michaël Canitrot has come a long way. He is now devoting himself to the Monumental Tour, his new concept that combines electro music and heritage. As part of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union (FPEU), the Monumental Tour Europe concert took place at the Palais-Royal national estate on 12 May. To close the FPEU, Culturebox will broadcast the Monumental Tour on 30 June. 

The Monumental Tour project is supported by the Institut français, notably for a tour of the Asian continent. 

Published on 23/05/2022

5 min

As the child of music loving parents, Michaël Canitrot was immersed in the world of music from childhood. While he grew up surrounded by vinyl records, he also discovered French culture and heritage very early on, for which he developed a real passion. His career began in 2000 at the Bains Douches, where he rubbed shoulders with David Guetta, who believed in him and offered him the opportunity to perform there. Surrounded by his team, Michaël Canitrot then developed the So, Happy in Paris parties, a travelling format that took him to mythical venues in Paris, such as the Olympia, Chez Maxim's, La Coupole or the Eiffel Tower. DJ and party organiser Michaël Canitrot is also a producer: from his first single Desire released in 2009, to his recent hit Falling with the artists Coco and Syon, his compositions range from house to electro-pop. Since 2003 and until 2012, thanks to his meeting with Gilles Jacob, his music accompanies the red carpet ceremony at the Cannes Film Festival. He also performed at the Louvre in 2017 for the inauguration of Emmanuel Macron. 

Since 2010, Michaël Canitrot has been designing sound and light shows where electronic music meets mapping and VJing techniques to create immersive experiences. This combination of music, heritage and contemporary digital creation is at the heart of the Monumental Tour, a project he has developed with the aim of getting out of the clubs and offering his music to the general public in heritage locations. After a trial run at the Fête de la Musique in 2018, in the courtyard of the Monnaie de Paris, the project spread its wings the following year. Since then, the Monumental Tour has taken over numerous French heritage sites such as the courtyard of the Palais Rohan in Strasbourg, the Château de Vincennes, the Phare des Baleines on the Île de Ré, Mont-Saint-Michel, the Cité de l'Automobile in Mulhouse, and the Château de Pierrefonds. This is an opportunity to offer a unique show, adapted to the architectural particularities of each venue, and to promote young talents, selected through a springboard to be the opening act for the concert. 

The Monumental Tour, whose scenography is created by the AV Exciters collective of architects and designers, aims to bring a new perspective to heritage and attract a wider audience. The project, which has long been supported by Stéphane Bern, will allow several famous French castles to rediscover their festive dimension. Although some monuments were initially cautious about this new format, the project has now been placed under the patronage of UNESCO and has the active support of the Centre des Monuments Nationaux. For the celebrate New Year in 2022, Michaël Canitrot performed at the Château de Chantilly in front of several million television viewers on France 2. The Monumental Tour, which requires a research project for each date to adapt the requirements of cutting-edge technology to sites that are sometimes thousands of years old, now aims to travel abroad. 

Monumental Tour - Abbaye du Mont-Saint-Michel
Monumental Tour - Abbaye du Mont-Saint-Michel
  • 2000

    2000

    First date at the Bains Douches.

  • 2003

    2003

    Michaël Canitrot is commissioned to provide musical accompaniment to the red carpet ceremony in Cannes.

  • 2019

    2019

    Start of the Monumental Tour.

  • 2022

    2022

    The Monumental Tour arrives at the Château de Chantilly.

  • 2022

    2022

    The Monumental Tour is selected as part of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

The Institut français and the Monumental Tour

The Institut français Will support the "Monumental Tour" for a Tour in Asia. 

L'institut français, LAB