Seuls en Scène 2025 presents Mémoires sauvées de l’eau by Nina Léger accompanied by Marina Chiche

“Si tu anticipais moins la fragilité des autres, tu éviterais de leur épargner ce qu’ils ont la force d’accueillir.”

“If you come to expect the fragility of others, you don’t give them the chance to prove they have the strength to welcome challenges.”

In 2023, Nina Léger completed a Villa Albertine residency in Oroville, California. From this project came a critically acclaimed novel, Mémoires sauvées de l’eau, that revisits the history of the Gold Rush and questions its consequences on the current environmental disaster. In the novel, past and present intertwine through a myriad of characters to chart the odyssey of a civilization that built itself while simultaneously causing destruction.

Accompanied by the violinist Marina Chiche, who was herself a Villa Albertine resident, Nina Léger presents an imaginative musical reading that makes us hear the different voices of this poetic and political novel.

Tickets

Free and open to the public; advance tickets required. Tickets available in late August.

Reserve free tickets through University Ticketing

Performance Details

Show performed in French. Duration: 1 hour

See all shows in 2025 French Theater Festival

Accessibility

The show will be held in an accessible venue.

Visit our Venues and Studios section for accessibility information about our various locations. Guests in need of access accommodations are invited to contact the Lewis Center at 609-258-5262 or email LewisCenter@princeton.edu at least one week in advance of the event date.

Additional Media

Watch Video Recording of Mémoires sauvées de l’eau at Maison de la poésie

Radio France Podcast — Nina Leger: “Writing is always an act of vulnerability”

About the Artists

Photo courtesy Nina Leger

Nina Leger is an author. Her 2017 novel, The Collection (Granta), first published in French by Gallimard under the title Mise en pièces, earned her the Prix Anaïs Nin and Prix Littéraire de la Vocation. More recently, Leger released Antipolis (Gallimard, 2021), a novel that follows the story of the Sophia Antipolis technology park. For her project as a Villa Albertine Resident in 2023, she continued her reflective research on the ways in which places—and their disputed histories—are written. In August 2024, she published Mémoires sauvées de l’eau (Gallimard). Alongside her writing, Leger teaches art history and theory at the Beaux-Arts de Marseille.

Photo courtesy Marina Chiche

Introduced to the public by the Victoires of Classical Music TV show and through her album releases, French violinist Marina Chiche pursues an international career that leads her to perform as a soloist and in chamber music ensembles at the most prestigious concert halls, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Théâtre des Champs Elysées, and the National Concert Hall in Beijing. An artist committed to her time, she uses her book Legendary Women Musicians (First/Radio France editions) and her radio appearances on France Inter to make classical music accessible to the widest possible audience.

Distinguished as a Young Leader of the French American Foundation, a resident at Villa Albertine, and a fellow of the Marshall Memorial Fellowship, Marina Chiche is an ambassador of the French Touch movement. She is among the most important figures in French music today who makes culture shine beyond borders.

Production Credits

Written and read by: Nina Léger
Music: Marina Chiche
With the support of Villa Albertine New York

Special Thanks

Association des Alumnis de la Villa Albertine, Caite Panzer ’04, Louise Quantin, Vincent Mano, et Laure Poupard.