Rachele Andrioli leads the singing workshop of the Bogue d’Or, one of four run by the Groupement Culturel Breton des Pays de Vilaine. Work turns on polyphony and on what the Apulian repertoire shares with Eastern Europe, Africa and South America. For its 51st edition the festival has left the Croix des Marins for the Carré 9 and its marquees, home to fest-noz, fest-deiz and the concours chant à danser. Andrioli sings again at Chicass’Noz.
Tag: music-festivals
Bal Basque Fest Noz au festival Dispar Amzer
Gavottes and andros fill the hall at Douarnenez, answered by dances from the Basque Country. Two Breton singing pairs carry the kan-ha-diskan, Diridollou with Lavigne and Quéré with Le Menn, while Bilaka Kolektiboa brings the Basque dance. Txistu, xirula, gaita and alboka sound against harp, bassoon and bombarde. Dixit sings with Morgane Gregory, Klervi Piel and Sterenn Toscer. The bal is one night of Festival Dispar Amzer at Place des Halles.
Sonerien Du ouvre le Festival Presqu’île Breizh
The Festival Presqu’île Breizh opens with a concert by Sonerien Du at the Espace Louison Bobet in Quiberon. The band plays the repertoire that fest-noz dancers follow, so the floor matters more than the seats. Over three days the festival spreads across Quiberon and the neighbouring communes, with some thirty spectacles and hundreds of dancers and musicians. A grande parade celtique sets off from the same hall.
Festival Presqu’île Breizh in Carnac
Carnac takes its turn in the Presqu’île Breizh festival, a Breton music event gathering the cercles and bagads of Brittany and beyond. On the Grande Plage the cercle de Lorient performs as Celtique Bugale an Oriant. The Koroll GR34 project then opens twenty-six emblematic Breton dances to anyone who wants to try them. Thirty women pipers of the Hundred Percent collective parade up Rue Saint-Cornély to the Place de l’Église.
Rock-sur-Meu: an all-Breton bill in Montfort
Four Breton rock acts share the bill at the Salle du Confluent in Montfort-sur-Meu. Sons O’Flaherty play Celtic rock, Apes O’Clock brass rock, Xarpi grunge and Sinbad a French strain of alternative rock. Food, drink and vendor booths run alongside the sets, with entertainment through the evening. The festival returns to the same hall after a previous bill that drew more than four hundred people, and its line-up is Breton from end to end.
Perros Jazz Festival: BLAZ at the Café Breton
The duo Blaz plays a dinner-show at the Café Breton for the Perros-Guirec Jazz Festival. David Hopkins and Clément Vallin work from original compositions between jazz, world music and contemporary sound. Improvisation carries the set: percussion, bass and samples build groove and dance rhythms close to trance. The café cooks its own food; a 10 € artistic contribution per person helps compensate the artists and support a festival dedicated to traditional music.
Le Grand Bal d’Arsonora : bal Renaissance à Lanvallay
Into The Winds, directed by Adrien Reboisson, turns the Salle des fêtes de Lanvallay into a Renaissance dance floor. An initiation session in medieval and Renaissance dances comes first, then the ball itself. The ensemble reads its steps from l’Orchésographie de Thoinot Arbeau and plays on instruments anciens. The ball belongs to Arsonora, the medieval music festival of the Association Fête des Remparts de Dinan. Costumes can be hired on site.
NoBorder Hors les Murs in Plozévet
NoBorder Hors les Murs brings three distinct approaches to dance music into Plozévet. Rennes duo Gregailh pushes the hurdy-gurdy through distortion, electronics and percussion; Eris amplifies songs and traditions from Upper Brittany; Garenne pairs baroque training with Massif Central fiddle practice. Hosted by L’Avel-Dro with Le Quartz and Bretagne(s) World Sounds, the bill connects fest-noz energy with experimental folk.
La Grange aux Pianos Festival
La Grange aux Pianos hosts Musique en Berry within the artist’s house of pianist Cyril Huvé in Chassignolles. The setting gives the festival an unusually direct relationship between performers, instruments and listeners, far from the distance of a large conventional hall. Its guiding ideas of music in freedom and at natural scale emphasise concentration, presence and the character of the place itself. Situated in George Sand’s country, the house also belongs to a wider landscape shaped by literary and musical exchange. The festival’s identity therefore rests as much on how music is encountered as on repertoire: close listening, an artist-led venue and a rural Berry environment brought into the same experience.
Concert Hors les Murs du Nohant Festival
The Nohant Festival Chopin travels beyond its usual walls with a recital designed to bring emerging musicians before new audiences. Young artists share the work developed through the festival’s masterclasses, performances and inclusive outreach. In the rural market hall, the architecture becomes part of the listening experience, placing formal musical training in an open, communal setting. The project extends the festival’s reach without losing the concentration of a recital, allowing talent and repertoire to remain at the center. It also reflects a commitment to audiences who do not ordinarily enter established concert venues, including people with disabilities. By carrying the Nohant name into a village gathering place, the program connects a major Berry music institution with the everyday cultural geography around it.