Under the presidency of H.R.H. the Princess of Hanover and under the aegis of Martin Maurel Sella, a Monegasque delegation went to Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, from 6 - 9 June 2013. On the cultural side this was the ‘first internationalisation’ of Monte-Carlo’s Printemps des Arts festival, one of the Principality’s most symbolic cultural and musical institutions which will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2014 under Marc Monnet’s leadership.
With the cooperation of the Congolese bank Rawbank, the Monegasque Quatuor Monoïkos was able to perform in a prelude to the grand concert by the Kimbanguiste Symphony Orchestra of Kinshasa, the only one of its kind in Sub-Saharan Africa. Two months earlier, in Monaco’s Rainier III Auditorium on 6 April, the KSO had triggered off a triple standing ovation for the quality and emotion of its performance. On the child protection side, in one of the world’s capitals that contends the most with the poverty of street children, the Secretary General of AMADE-Mondiale (the World Association of Children’s Friends), Jérôme Froissart, accompanied his president on a tour of three organisations dedicated to caring for street children and above all young orphan girls. When summing up this ‘dual stage’ trip - cultural and associative - Frédéric C. Geerts, managing director of Martin Maurel Sella, patron of the Printemps des Arts festival and ‘facilitator’ of the development of charitable actions of AMADE Congo, highlighted on this subject “the implementation of new initiatives in Lubumbashi, Katanga province, in partnership with the local bank TMB, Trust Merchant Bank.”
