 Holidays
in France for music-lovers
On this page, we look
at some of France's main music festivals, and at the many other
opportunities that exist, partucularly during the summer months, for
visitors to France wanting to enhance a trip to France with a concert
or two - or even a full music festival.
While mostly concerned with classical music, this page also provides
brief information on the main jazz, folk and rock festivals that take
place each summer in France
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Part 1: the main
festivals of classical music in France .
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Late
May - June: Loire
Valley:
The Sully and Loiret Festival is a small but high quality music
festival taking place in the Château de Sully and other local
venues in the area of Orleans. It is mostly devoted to
chamber music and small ensembles.
Official festival site
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June:
Alsace: the
Strasbourg International Festival. This international festival takes
place each year in Alsace's capital city, in the month of
June. It features major European orchestras and performers.
Official festival
site
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July:
Provence: the
Festival of Aix en Provence. One of the most famous festivals of
classical music and opera in France, the Aix-en-Provence Festival takes
place each year in July. It attracts major European orchestras and top
conductors. the 2010 Festival dates are 1st - 21st July
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July:
Alsace: the Colmar
Festival is each year devoted to one or two composers. The 2010
festival (2nd - 13th July) will feature Ravel and Rachmaninov. Colmar
is an attractive historic town in southern Alsace.
Official festival site
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Mid-July
- early August; Provence: the
Festival of Orange, Les Chorégies. World famous opera festival, staged
in the exceptional location of the Roman amphitheatre at Orange, a
small town in the Rhône valley. In terms of number of performances,
this festival is very small, with usually just two operas being staged
twice each, plus a few other concerts. But in terms of quality, it
attracts world-class performers.
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Late-July
- mid August; Languedoc-Roussillon.
The Pablo Casals festival of chamber music. This festival, named after
the great cellist pablo Casals, mainly takes place in the surroundings
of historic churches in the eastern Pyrenees, notably at Prades and in
the Abbaye St. Michel de Cuxà. The festival attracts top-class
performers.
Official website
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August:
Auvergne: Festival of
La Chaise Dieu. Prestigious festival of classical music taking place
each August in the austere medieval abbey at La Chaise Dieu, a small
town at 1000 metres altitude in the Livradois - Forez regional park.
The 44th Festival will take place from 18th - 29th August 2010.
Official website
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September: Franche-Comté:
Besançon International Music Festival. Well established festival of
classical music, taking place each year in September, in this historic
regional capital in eastern France. The festival is particularly famed
for its Young conductors competition, which takes place every two years.
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January-December:
Paris. Like any world city, Paris offers a rich programme
of classical music events throughout the year. The city has numerous
concert halls and opera houses, as well as churches and other venues
that are used for concerts. On virtually any day of the year, the
visitor will have plenty of concerts or other musical events to choose
from.
Part
2 : Music in rural France - other opportunities
In the summer months, many small towns and rural areas of France put on
concerts in a wide array of venues, including châteaux, old churches,
open-air theatres and small halls, for the benefit of locals and
visitors. There are plenty of small festivals, sometimes thematic,
sometimes not, and many of them are hard to find until one actually
arrives in a place for a holiday. Generally speaking, concerts
organised in this manner are friendly and convivial events, sometimes
followed by a free glass of wine and a chance to chat with the
performers. Performers at these events cover the whole range, from
internationally acclaimed professionals to talented local amateur
groups; and while full orchestral events are rare, many such venues
propose concerts of chamber music, soloists, piano recitals, small
choral groups or ad-hoc ensembles.
One area that has made an effort to provide a
programme of concerts is the High valley of the
Allier, in Auvergne,
which in 2009 offered visitors a programme of some twenty concerts in a
six-week period in July and August.
Another example is the south of the Jura
mountains, in eastern France, which each year proposes a programme of organ recitals
in local churches.
For piano enthusiasts, the Roque
d'Anthéron international piano
festival, in rural Provence, is a locally organised festival
offering a programme of piano concerts over a four-week period from
late July to late August (23rd July - 21st August 2010).
There is also the annual International
Chopin
Festival, with a week-long series of concerts at
the château de Nohant, home of the 19th century novelist George Sand,
in the Centre region of France, in late July.
Music-lovers planning a week in France in October should note
the Fayence
string quartet festival, taking place in villages and small
towns in the hills above the French Riviera.
And for a musical break at Easter, the seaside
resort of Deauville, in Normandy, puts on each year the Deauville
Easter Festival of classical music, lasting two weeks.
Some other festivals
France offers plenty more festivals of other types of music: jazz
festivals, rock festivals, techno festivals, and more. Here is a list
of selected major festivals.
Jazz:
Festival
de Marciac, near Toulouse.
Country:
Country
music festival, Craponne sur Arzon, Auvergne.
Folk:
Festival Interceltique de Lorient,
Brittany. Major "Celtic" folk festival.
Rock:
Festival des Vieilles
Charrues, Brittany. France's major rock restival
Rock:
les Eurockéennes,
Belfort, Franche-Comté. France's other major rock festival.
Copyright
About-France.com 2009 - Contact: info "at" about-france.com
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