Comminges Festival
International Festival of Classical Music in Comminges
Whether you’re a classical music enthusiast or a novice, you’re sure to enjoy the concerts.
What could be better than discovering the Comminges region’s magnificent listed monuments while enjoying unforgettable musical moments?
Over 50 years of classical music festivals in Comminges
Every year from late July to mid-September, the Comminges region is alive with classical music…
The Festival du Comminges is a not-to-be-missed event of the summer season, where music, heritage and emotion meet in the heart of a region steeped in history. The festival honors the richness of the classical and sacred repertoire, bringing timeless works to life in exceptional venues such as Romanesque churches and majestic cathedrals.
Every year, renowned artists and young talents come together to offer audiences moments of great artistic intensity, in an atmosphere that is both intimate and grandiose. The Festival du Comminges is also an invitation to discovery: discovery of a unique heritage, a living culture, and music that crosses the centuries to touch every generation.
festival history
In the beginning
Pierre Lacroix, an industrialist from Mazères-sur-Salat, member of the Association and amateur pianist with an “absolute ear”, meets André Malraux, then Minister of Cultural Affairs, in Melles, at the funeral of his father-in-law Hippolyte Lioux. Pierre Lacroix invited him to visit Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges. Conquered by the site, André Malraux succeeded in convincing Pierre Lacroix to create a festival and an international music academy in 1967.
In 1974, a young organist/harpsichordist Jean-Patrice Brosse, still a student at the Paris Conservatoire, was approached to organize concerts.
The mayor of Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges, Guy Uchan, was enthusiastic about the project, and together with Pierre Lacroix, played a decisive role in getting the public authorities to rehabilitate the organ, and precisely the instrument.
The project had the support of the elected representatives, and the organ builder Jean-Pierre Swiderski was entrusted with the task of reassembling the organ. The project finally came to fruition with the creation of the Festival in 1975; Pierre Lacroix, founder; Jean-Patrice Brosse, artistic director.
The evolution
The Festival, very much centered on the organ, soon opened up to other styles: chamber, orchestral and choral music, and to other venues:
Saint-Gaudens, for example.
In 1973, a young organ prodigy, Jean-Patrice Brosse, was invited. He remained at the helm of the festival until his death in 2021. Under his impetus, the program rapidly expanded to include some twenty summer concerts, featuring the biggest names on the international scene. The Festival’s first major event: a golden generation for a loyal audience.
To this effervescence is added the creation of an Academy of Baroque Music, welcoming students from over thirty countries
In 1989, support from the Fondation France-Télécom (Orange today).
From then on, the Festival experienced significant and lasting growth.
Today
The Festival is 51 years old!
An event that has proved its longevity, its ability to rally the support and loyalty of listeners, and the confidence of public authorities. Today, the Festival has not only modernized its image, but is opening up to new audiences, such as residents of EHPAD, young people from day-care centers… the same applies to the opening of rehearsals.
In 2022, a new page opens with the appointment of Victor Julien-Laferrière as Artistic Director. First prizewinner of the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 2017, and one of the most brilliant cellists of his generation, he breathes new life into the festival, while respecting its soul.
success
The Festival du Comminges has become a well-known and popular music venue.
The best proof of this is its longevity, its loyal and ever-renewing audience and its proximity to the audience. Thanks to the quality programming devised by our artistic directors, the Festival gives as many people as possible access to sought-after concerts featuring internationally renowned performers.
Famous artists who came to the festival
The festival welcomed internationally renowned performers, including the fabulous mezzo-soprano Térésa Berganza in Saint-Gaudens, where she gave a triumphant standing ovation, pianists Georges Cziffra, Alexis Weissenberg, Brigitte Engerer, Aldo Ciccolini, the Lucas brothers and Arthur Jussen… Michel Plasson and the Orchestre du Capitole… Violinists Ivry Gitlis, Nemanja Radulovic, Renaud Capuçon…
Personalities :
The Queen of Denmark with her family and in a small group, academician Maurice Druon, Le Monde journalist Jean Lacouture, actresses Alice Sapritch, Françoise Fabian, Brigitte Fossey, Marie-Christine Barrault…
A few figures…
A popular success 42,500 listeners, 200 concerts over the last ten years (2015/2025).
Since the festival was founded in 1975, 900 concerts have attracted 350,000 listeners, 61 world premieres, 48 CDs recorded on the organ at Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges cathedral, 250,000 CDs sold internationally.
The academy associated with the festival and run by famous teachers (Michel Chapuis, André Stricker), has become a renowned center for musicology and early music interpretation, welcoming over 2,200 French and foreign students, some of whom have gone on to make careers of their own, such as Michel Bouvard and his wife Yasuko, organists who met at St Bertrand, and mezzo-soprano Marie-Ange Todorovitch.
FESTIVAL DU COMMINGES
31510 Saint-Bertrand de Comminges
Tel. : 05 61 88 32 00 / 06 83 26 07 79
accueil@festival-du-comminges.com