In 2021, we announced an edition under the sign of the reunion, with the artists and the places of concert, but also and especially with the public: you answered present!
Figures of the 74th Festival
It was obviously one of the fears of this edition: will the public be there after two years marked by the health crisis? The first trend had reassured us, and we can now confirm that the answer is yes!
We had anticipated this decline, the association is not in danger and we are pleased to see that many are already returning to the concert halls.
Your loyalty will have allowed us to limit to – 28% of attendance, with a total of 17,400 spectators (25,000 in 2019, the last year with Competition). This decline is in line with the national trend observed for live performances in theaters, ranging from -15% to -70%.
- 11,000 people attended a paying concert in this edition
- the free concerts and proposals reached about 6,400 people, despite a drop in attendance on the opening night, mainly due to the weather conditions and the presentation of the health pass.
In a context still marked by the aftermath of the health crisis, and thanks to the support of its public and private partners, we had anticipated a drop in ticketing revenue and the Association is not in danger.
Artistic review
The return of the Compagnie La Tempête, in Besançon and Baume-les-Dames, has once again left its mark with two very beautiful concerts.
The Orchestre national de Lyon, between two stages of the Competition, has reserved a beautiful evening with the pianist Alexandre Kantorow, with notably a piece by Camille Pépin, La Source d’Yggdrasil. Les Siècles brilliantly celebrated Saint-Saëns, while Les Dissonances offered to the public (younger than usual) a “dazzling” Rite of Spring [Resmusica], without a conductor!
After a remarkable opening concert, the Orchestre Victor Hugo Franche-Comté, a privileged and historical partner of the Competition, brilliantly took on the demanding exercise of the first two rounds of the competition under the baton of the twenty young candidates.
In addition to vocal and symphonic music, the opening concerts of Bagad Kemper were very attractive, not forgetting Koum Tara and Hâl (Keyvan Chemirani) in world music, while the Apéro-jazz seems to be an appointment awaited by the inhabitants of Besançon in the first part of the evening.
If most of the evenings were well attended, in particular the closing concert which welcomed more than 700 people to hear the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto (postponed from 2020), some concerts were a little less attractive: Boris Berezovsky‘s recital (with a change of date) or the evening of “Cordes au féminin” with Le Concert Idéal.
In the region, attendance was also mixed, with a large audience in Lons-le-Saunier and Baume-les-Dames, but more cautious in Dole as well as on the stages of Vesoul and Belfort (the latter venue having applied a reduced gauge).
In spite of the health context, the 57th Young Conductors Competition was held in its entirety and kept a large audience on its toes, remaining an unmissable highlight of this edition.
Although the three finalists each demonstrated undeniable qualities, none of them was able to compete for the Grand Prix de direction.
