77th Festival – September 13 to 22, 2024

A festival is first and foremost a celebration! For ten days, you’ll be treated to a wide range of musical events, from quartets and symphonies to vocal music, new works, jazz and world music.
The great orchestras are of course at the heart of the program, with the Orchestre National de France, Anima Eterna Brugge, the Stuttgart Philharmonic, Les Siècles, the Orchestre national de Metz Grand Est and the young Consuelo ensemble.
The vocal ensemble Aedes, Tenebrae and La Tempête will also be performing. The Festival will also be present in the regions, in Dole, Vesoul and Arc-et-Senans.
The main themes of this 77th edition include the anniversaries of Gabriel Fauré and Anton Bruckner, a focus on the saxophone (Saxback and Habanera ensemble), the final year of Alexandros Markeas’ residency (three concerts) and a new concept for the grand opening evening: in the green setting of the Gare d’Eau, swing jazz with the group Quai de la Seine, followed by a symphonic saga with the Orchestre Victor Hugo.
The Festival is maintaining its core strengths while reinventing itself, with a constant desire to reach out to all audiences, with free concerts, a special offer for young audiences and schoolchildren, a wide range of prices and discounts, and a ticket office open from 21 June in the new offices of the team who have prepared this festival of music for you.

Jean-Michel Mathé, Director
Myriam Grandmottet, President
And the Festival team

There was not a false note in the program, with an exceptional artistic level.
The great symphony orchestras once again punctuated the festival with exciting concerts: The Orchestre national de France was imperial, with violin star Julia Fischer as soloist; the Stuttgart Philharmonic was vibrant with emotion, particularly in Tchaikovsky’s 6th; the incredible intensity of the Orchestre national Metz Grand Est in Shostakovich; a masterly finale with Anima Eterna in Bruckner; not forgetting the symphonic saga of the Orchestre Victor Hugo at the opening, and the young Consuelo ensemble’s breathtaking Strauss at the Saline royale.

The vocal concerts were a great success, notably at the cathedral of Saint Jean in Besançon and the collegiate church of Notre Dame in Dole (Ensemble Tenebrae), at the Kursaal (Ensemble Aedes with Fauré’s Requiem) and in Vesoul with the Compagnie La Tempête. The two chamber music concerts (trio and quartet) in the Salle du Parlement also won over the public.

The same enthusiastic reception was given to the eleven world music concerts, the concerts by the Saxback ensemble and the jazz aperitifs in the Place Granvelle and the Petit Kursaal, despite the fact that three concerts had to be postponed because of the weather, which was decidedly capricious this year.

Audiences were equally enthusiastic about the eleven world music concerts, the concerts by the Saxback ensemble and the jazz aperitifs in the Place Granvelle and Petit Kursaal, despite the fact that three concerts had to be postponed because of the weather, which was decidedly capricious this year.

It was also the end of the residency for composer Alexandros Markeas, with his 3rd string quartet, a major symphonic piece, and an original and exhilarating concert with the Habanera Quartet. He passed the baton to Régis Campo for the 2024/2026 residency.

Once again, the Festival was able to count on the 600 artists it welcomed, its organising team (15 employees and 35 volunteers), and all its public and private partners. All of them contributed to the success of this 77th edition.

• Visitor numbers are slightly down on 2022

• In 2024, the Festival’s budget will exceed

Unfavourable temperatures forced the Festival to move the opening night indoors. As a result, the capacity of the Petit and Grand Kursaal was reduced from 4,000 to 1,100 spectators, leaving hundreds of people at the door and impacting the Festival’s overall attendance figures (-18% compared to 2022, the benchmark year without the Competition).