The Saint-Georges International Music Festival (French: Festival International de Musique Saint-Georges) is a prominent music festival held in

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label= Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the t ...

, celebrating the life and works of Joseph Bologne, Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges. It had its inaugural launch in 2011 and has since become one of the largest classical music festivals in the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean S ...

Purpose

According to the festival's website and press releases, the festival has three goals: * Celebrate the life and music of Joseph Bologne, Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges, a contemporary of

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

and one of the earliest known composers of African origin. * Promote diversity in

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

by bringing together exceptional artists from a variety of backgrounds and ethnicity. * Provide opportunities for under-represented artists (performers, composers, educators and students) to develop their talent and receive exposure on an international platform.

Performances and artists

American conductor and renowned Saint-Georges exponent and interpreter,

Marlon Daniel American conductor Marlon Daniel is one of the foremost exponents of music by composers of African and African American descent in the world. He has been described as "one of the youngest and most prominent pianist/conductors in New York today" (' ...

has served as the festival's

music director A music(al) director or director of music is the person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert band, the ...

and

artistic director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the ...

since its prelude in 2011 and inaugural season in 2018. The approximately two-week long festival is made up of concerts, lectures, symposiums, education programs and

master class A master class is a class given to students of a particular discipline by an expert of that discipline—usually music, but also science, painting, drama, games, or on any other occasion where skills are being developed. "Masterclass" is also ...

es that take place in various parts of the Caribbean, France and the US. The festival features some of the finest composers, performers, and scholars from around the world. Musical selections often feature a variety of classical music, from Saint-Georges' compositions alongside music by his contemporaries in the Classical period, to standard repertoire from the common era. The festival highlights composers of African-origin and diverse backgrounds, including contemporary works specially commissioned for the festival. Composers who have written pieces for the festival include Dominique Le Gendre, Fred Onovwerosuoke, Jonathan Grimbert-Barré, Jamshed Turel and Jérome Pfister. The festival's artists do various outreach programs around the world as part of the festival's mission to spread the music of Saint-Georges. Recent guest artists include

Koh Gabriel Kameda Koh Gabriel Kameda (Japanese: 亀田光; born January 14, 1975) is a German and Japanese concert violinist and violin teacher. Early life Koh Gabriel Kameda was born in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, the son of a German woman, Margarita and a ...

, Magali Léger,

J'Nai Bridges J’Nai Bridges is a two time Grammy-Award winning American mezzo-soprano. She is a winner of the Marian Anderson Award and has performed for the Metropolitan Opera, Washington National Opera, and San Francisco Opera. BET has described her as '' ...

, Janinah Burnett, Solomon Howard, Darnell Ishmel, Romuald Grimbert-Barré, Chauncey Packer, Léïla Brédent and Eric Silberger.

History

Born in

Baillif Baillif is a commune of Guadeloupe, an overseas region and department of France located in the Lesser Antilles. Baillif is a suburb of Basse-Terre, the prefecture and second-largest urban area of Guadeloupe located on Basse-Terre Island (the wes ...

, Guadeloupe, Saint-Georges is one of the first known composers of African origin, a civil rights activist and legendary hero of the French Revolution. Saint-Georges' extraordinary life has long been a model for creativity, excellence and strength. Several attempts to hold a festival celebrating the life and work of Saint-Georges were made throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, unsuccessfully. From 2002 to 2010, conductor

increasingly performed works by Saint-Georges with Ensemble du Monde, his New York City-based chamber orchestra. Interested in seeing greater acknowledgement for Saint-Georges' works, and becoming renowned as a specialist of Saint-Georges, Daniel partnered with French educator Catherine Pizon, and Guadeloupean historian Jean-Claude Halley in April 2011 to offer a celebration of Saint-Georges' music in Guadeloupe. Partnering with local musicians and bringing in international artists from 15 countries, the celebration included concerts, lectures and education programs about Saint-Georges' life. After the success of the 2011 celebration, Daniel founded the Association Festival International de Musique Saint-Georges to govern and organize the festival's activities. The association was incorporated as a non-profit organization in France in 2016, and a directing board of governors formed. Since 2018 the association received support from the

Regional Council of Guadeloupe The Regional Council of Guadeloupe Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label= Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, ...

and Comité du Tourisme des îles de Guadeloupe, as well as other government and private groups, to put on regular festivals in Guadeloupe and around the world. The inaugural season of the Saint-Georges International Music Festival was launched in February 2018, with Marlon Daniel appointed as the festival's ongoing music director and artistic director. Since that time, the festival has brought artists from over 30 countries, and is recognized as an official national festival of Guadeloupe alongside the Guadeloupe International Zouk Festival, International Ilo Jazz Festival, and Route du Rhum festival.

Académie

In 2019 the festival introduced the ''Académie de Festival International de Musique Saint-Georges''. The Academy provides lessons to the Guadeloupe community using the guest artists of the festival. Currently lessons are free and subsidized through various grants, though there is an application and audition process for the academy.

References

External links