Festival 2025

Faculty

Jonathan Eaton
Kara Cornell
Stephen Dubberly
Annemarie Kremer
Thill Mantero
Jeff Martin
Anne Maugard
Luis Orozco
David Štech
Francois Testory
MunTzung Wong

Venues

Institut Marty Grande Salle
Salle de Nevers
Salle de Sénéchal / Conservatoire de L'aveyron
Maison Dardenne
Chapelle St-Jacques
Chapelle de Pénitents Noirs
Théâtre la Bastide

Master Classes

Wednesday 25 June
with Stephen Dubberly

Wednesday 02 July
with Anne Maugard

Wednesday 09 July
with Annemarie Kremer

Friday 25 July
with Annemarie Kremer

Recitals

Sunday 13 July
La Prélude de la Comédie Musicale

Wednesday 16 July
Gala d'overture

Tuesday 22 July
L'Invitation au voyage

Wednesday 23 July
Chansons et Cançons

Training

Master classes
Faculty members conducted a series of master classes, open to the general public, to further the educational opportunities of the festival.

Voice lessons
Members of the voice faculty offered voice lessons for students.

Role coaching
Voice faculty and artistic staff offered Individual and group coaching sessions geared to the challenges of specific roles and the French language.

French class
Because a number of program participants do not speak French, a daily French class was offered by a local instructor for those who wished to improve their language skills and pronunciation.

Occitan songs
Occitan is a Romance language spoken in the historical region of Occitania, which includes parts of southern France, Monaco, Italy's Occitan Valleys, and Spain's Val d'Aran. Once the language of medieval troubadours, it has a rich literary tradition but has faced decline, particularly after French became the official language in the 16th century. A selected group of singers studied the language and learned traditional songs that were presented in a public recital.

Outreach Activities

Opéra chez les ainés
Small groups of singers travelled to local senior citizen facilities to present programs of opera favorites.

Fenêtres ouvertes / Open Windows
Every Thursday morning, during the weekly market in the main square, Place Notre-Dame, singers serenaded the market-goers with opera favorites from the open windows of the Maison Dardenne.

Opéra en Calèche
To promote the opening performance of Carmen, a beautiful vintage carriage, pulled by two horses, moved through the streets of the city while singers presented arias (and a choreographed segment by a local flamenco company) from the opera. 

Opera Boeuf / Cabaret International
Immediately following select performances, the company moved to a local bar a few blocks from the theater to present light arias, songbook classics, and Broadway favorites in an open-mic format. Audience members thrilled to see favorite performers in a more casual atmosphere.

Participants

The 2025 festival featured 25 young artists from across the globe, hailing from Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Mexico, Spain, and the United States.

Repertoire

Carmen
Presented in an intimate new version, incorporating all the musical and dramatic highlights of the opera, and accompanied by a flamenco-flavored ensemble, performed in French.

The Fantasticks
This famous American musical is based on an equally famous French play by Edmond Rostand, the renowned creator of Cyrano de Bergerac. Our production comically enhanced the Romeo versus Juliette drama with one family singing and speaking mostly in English, and the other in French.

Performance Calendar

Thursday 26 June
Fenêtres ouvertes / Open Windows performance for Thursday market

Friday 27 June
Opéra chez les ainés / Opera for the elderly

Monday 30 June
Opéra chez les ainés / Opera for the elderly

Thursday 03 July
Fenêtres ouvertes / Open Windows 2 performance for Thursday market

Friday 04 july
Opéra chez les ainés / Opera for the elderly

Thursday 10 July
Fenêtres ouvertes / Open Windows 3 performance for Thursday market

Sunday 13 July
La Prélude de la Comédie Musicale 

Wednesday 16 July
Gala d'overture

Thursday 17 July
Fenêtres ouvertes / Open Windows 4 performance for Thursday market

Thursday 17 July
The Fantasticks, performance 1

Friday 18 July
The Fantasticks, performance 2

Saturday 19 July
Opéra en Calèche

Carmen, performance 1

Opera Boeuf 1

Tuesday 22 July
L'Invitation au voyage

Wednesday 23 July
Chansons et Cançons

Thursday 24 July

Fenêtres ouvertes / Open Windows 5 performance for Thursday market

Professional seminar on opera careers in the USA and Europe

The Fantasticks, performance 3

Friday 24 July
Carmen, performance 3

Opera Boeuf 3

Saturday 26 July
The Fantasticks, performance 4

Opera Boeuf 4

Sunday 27 July
Carmen, performance 4

Fête de rue / Street party