2011 marked the fourteenth season of Lyrique-en-mer, served by newly elected board members. All these members have worked closely with Richard Cowan, the festival's founder and artistic director, Philip Walsh, its music director, and with the Belle-isle Choir, to ensure the success of the 2011 season.
Two masterpieces, Puccini's La Bohème and Donizetti's Elisir d'Amore, both directed by Richard Cowan and directed respectively by Philip Walsh and Philip Morehead, were performed in the historic Arsenal of the Citadelle. The concerts of sacred music, consisting of Mozart's Requiem, Mass in G by Schubert and the Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 by Bach, directed by Philip Walsh, were a resounding success, limited only by the maximum capacity of the premises.
The technical quality of the choir rises year by year, thanks to the monthly work with Philip Walsh, our Music Director, weekly rehearsals with Choir director Christine Greneau, and vocal technique classes led by Richard Cowan, artistic director of the festival.
The festival in 2011 renewed the chartered boats from the mainland, with departures from La Trinité sur Mer, Quiberon, Port Navalo, but also from Vannes, a total of eleven boats for almost 1150 spectators of the mainland.
Local governing authorities, the Communes of Belle-Ile, the Morbihan Department and Brittany Region, have renewed their financial and moral support of the Festival Lyrique. We have become the largest opera festival in Western France.
The exchange continues with music schools at international level with American Universities, but also in France with the active participation in these programs of the École Normale Cortot in Paris, with three young artists from this school, Mariam Sarkisian, Mezzo -soprano, Artavazd Sargsyan, tenor and Cherise Lukow, Soprano, in key roles.
The 2012 season will present two operas at La Citadelle Vauban, Verdi's Otello, Rossini's Cenerentola and sacred music will resonate in the four churches of the island with the Puccini's Messa di Gloria ...
A warm welcome to you all!
Jacques Huntzinger