The Ambronay Festival is a French

opera festival This is an inclusive list of opera festivals and summer opera seasons, and music festivals which have opera productions. This list may have some overlap with list of early music festivals. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition, ...

and early music festival. The festival has been running in October for 30 years and previously produced recordings with labels such as the Auvidis label. 7 of 14 early recordings were with

Jordi Savall Jordi Savall i Bernadet (; born 1 August 1941) is a Spanish conductor, composer and viol player. He has been one of the major figures in the field of Western early music since the 1970s, largely responsible for popularizing the viol family of ...

. Since 2005 the Festival has been issuing recordings on its own label, Ambronay Éditions. More recently Leonardo García-Alarcón has been a regular performer and recording artist. The main venue is the Benedictine Abbey Notre-Dame d'Ambronay of the village of

Ambronay Ambronay () is a Communes of France, commune in the Ain Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region of eastern France. Geography The commune of Ambronay is at the centre of a semicircle of mountains a ...

. The abbey has an exceptional acoustic In the abbey performing spaces are: Tour Dauphine, Chapiteau, Abbatiale. Other venues include the Théâtre de Bourg-en-Bresse, Monastery of Brou, also at

Bourg-en-Bresse Bourg-en-Bresse (; frp, Bôrg) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Ain Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region in Eastern France. Located northeast of Lyon, it is the capital of the ...

, Théâtre des Augustins in

Montluel Montluel (; frp, Montluèl) is a commune in the Ain department in eastern France. It is situated on the outskirts of Lyon. The inhabitants are known as ''Montluistes''. Population Personalities * (1743-1818), Catholic Bishop of Quimper ...

, the Abbaye Saint-Martin d'

Ainay Ainay is an area within the Presqu'ile district in the 2nd arrondissement of Lyon, to the south of Place Bellecour and the north of Perrache. It is best known for its Romanesque church, the Basilica of Saint-Martin d'Ainay. A high-class area, b ...

, Lyon, and

Belley Cathedral Belley Cathedral ( French: ''Cathédrale Saint-Jean de Belley'') is a Roman Catholic cathedral, dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, and a national monument of France, located in the town of Belley, Ain Ain (, ; frp, En) is a department i ...

Themes

There is a theme for the festival each year:past brochures
/ref> * 2005 - including premieres of works by Francisco António de Almeida and Pedro António Avondano Ensemble Divino Sospiro, dir. Enrico Onofri. ''Tonos, cantadas et xácaras du Baroque espagnol'' by Los Músicos de Su Alteza dir. Luis Antonio González * 2006 - including

Marco Marazzoli Marco Marazzoli (1602? – 26 January 1662) was an Italian priest and Baroque music composer. Early life Born at Parma, Marazzoli received early training as a priest, and was ordained around 1625. He moved to Rome in 1626, and entered the s ...

''La Vita Humana'' Le Poème Harmonique dir. Vincent Dumestre. * 2007 - including Robert Carver, Ludus Modalis, dir. Bruno Boterf * 2008 - Women composers - including works by

Johann Adolf Hasse Johann Adolph Hasse (baptised 25 March 1699 – 16 December 1783) was an 18th-century German composer, singer and teacher of music. Immensely popular in his time, Hasse was best known for his prolific operatic output, though he also composed a co ...

, Akadêmia dir. Françoise Lasserre * 2009 - celebrated 30 years by inviting the founders of the baroque movement. Including William Christie directing Handel's ''Susanna''. * 2010 - celebrated the younger generation: Marco Mencoboni and Cantar Lontano,

Fabio Biondi Fabio Biondi (born 15 March 1961) is an Italian violinist and conductor. He is a specialist in Baroque and early music. Biography Born in Palermo, Sicily, Biondi had a late start, having never even held a violin till age 11, but by the follo ...

, Manfredo Kraemer,

Jean-Christophe Spinosi Jean-Christophe Spinosi (born 2 September 1964) is a French conductor and violinist, the founder of French orchestra Ensemble Matheus. Life and career In 1991 he created the Ensemble Matheus in Brest, an orchestra which accompanies him through ...

, and those still younger such as Geoffroy Jourdain and the Les Cris de Paris, Héloïse Gaillard and Ensemble Amarillis, Emmanuel Bardon and Canticum Novum,

Sébastien d'Hérin Sébastien d'Hérin is a French harpsichordist and conductor. As a harpsichordist he studied under Gustav Leonhardt, Pierre Hantaï, Bob van Asperen, Kenneth Gilbert and Christophe Rousset. He founded his own ensemble, Les Nouveaux Caractères in ...

(harpsichordist) and Leonardo García-Alarcón. * 2011 - ''Passion Bach'', with the Mass in B Minor conducted by Sigiswald Kuijken - and also Italian baroque; Caldara by

Philippe Jaroussky Philippe Jaroussky (born 13 February 1978) is a French countertenor. He began his musical career with the violin, winning an award at the Versailles conservatory, and then took up the piano before turning to singing. Unusually for a countertenor ...

, Vivaldi by

Max Emanuel Cenčić Max Emanuel Cenčić (born 21 September 1976) is a Croatian countertenor, as of 1994 based in Austria. He was a member of the Wiener Sängerknaben. Early career as a boy soprano Born Max Emanuel Cenčić in Zagreb, he started singing at a ve ...

and Porpora by

Vivica Genaux Vivica Genaux (; born July 10, 1969) is an American coloratura mezzo-soprano. She was born in Fairbanks, Alaska. She has sung in major operas such as ''The Barber of Seville'' at the Metropolitan Opera, ''L'italiana in Algeri'' at Opéra National ...

Discography

Recordings issued under the festival's own label, Ambronay Éditions include: * Hasse: ''Serpentes ignei in deserto''. Ensemble:

Les Paladins ''Les Paladins'' is an opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau first performed on 12 February 1760 at the Paris Opera. The author of the libretto is not known for sure but was probably one of the Duplat de Monticourt brothers. Rameau called ''Les Paladins'' ...

. Conductor:

Jérôme Correas Jérôme Correas (born 3 August 1966) is a French conductor, harpsichordist and bass baritone. Life Born in Les Lilas, at the age of five Correas began studying the piano. In 1982, he met the great harpsichordist and musicologist Antoine Ge ...

(2006)Vickers, David (2007)
"Hasse: ''The Fiery Serpents in the Wilderness'': A superb package but is it enough to restore the composer's reputation?"
'' Gramophone''. Vol. 84, p. 90. Online version retrieved 23 June 2015. * Rossi and Marazzoli: ''Soleils Baroques''. Ensemble: Les Paladins. Conductor: Jérôme Correas (2008)Roche, Elizabeth (January 2010)
"The moral oratorio"
p. 51. ''

Early Music Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad musical era for the beginning of Western classical m ...

'', Vol. 38, Issue 1

References

{{Coord, 46.0064, N, 5.3611, E, source:wikidata, display=title Classical music festivals in France Music festivals in France Early music festivals Opera festivals