Colmar International Festival  

For my third year at the helm of the Festival International de Colmar, I wanted to offer a lively programme in which classical music maintains a dialogue with our times and remains open to influences from other repertoires.
From the Baroque era to the present day, classical music has always drawn on exotic encounters and new experiences. With this in mind, I've come up with a programme in which a wide variety of works can be heard side by side, each adding a new hue: a string quartet, for example, can precede sounds from jazz or Eastern European folklore, while Baroque music can take unexpected paths and take on unexpected colours.
This diversity is not simply an effect of programming, but a conviction: music is built on exchange, exploration and transmission. Once again this year, world-renowned performers such as Yuja Wang, Gautier Capuçon and Viktoria Mullova will honour us with their presence. Alongside them, emerging talents such as Alexander Malofeev and Tim Mead create a link between tradition and daring, but always at the highest level. A state of mind that guides the initiatives we continue to develop around the concerts.
Once again, the Colmar Symphonic Mob© will perfectly embody this desire to make the orchestra accessible to all, bringing amateurs and professionals together in the same energy.
The Master Classes, which are open to the public, will once again enable young musicians to come into contact with the greatest, and allow everyone to observe the mechanisms of classical music pedagogy.
Finally, the pricing policy for the younger generation remains a key priority. Each 8.30pm concert will continue to be introduced by a mediation session. Let's continue this musical adventure together and make Colmar, more than ever, a place where music can be listened to, shared and reinvented.
Alain ALTINOGLU, Artistic Director