The 2022 Festival
Dominique Longchamp, President of Amis du Festival Valloire baroque – Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres
When so many had to give up because of the Covid pandemic, the festival mercifully lived on through 2020 and 2021! A combination of good luck – the virus would relent when July came round – audacity and tenacity on the part of our team who doggedly carried on, even though the government’s green light would only come a few days short of the opening!
As these lines are being written, the furious Omicron has barely receded when its descendant threatens us with a sixth wave! Never mind, we are betting on a fully flourishing 2022 festival… an obvious choice since we are celebrating Baroque Fleurance!
Our regulars will have noticed two evolutions in our programming; one concerns La Traverse (the Off festival) which this year only offers the “Valloire enchanté“ concert, a must-attend event for so many choristers from all over France. The other evolution bears on the concert on Monday July 25th at 3 pm at the Espace Culturel Le Savoie at St-Michel-de-Maurienne, a concert given each year for the children of the leisure centres and the EFPADs of the valley … and of course the locals; this season, it combines baroque music and hip-hop dance! An original “mix“ likely to appeal to a wide audience. All the more so as the show will involve some twenty children from Saint-Michel and Valloire who will have taken part in a workshop led by the artists that morning.
This pedagogical initiative results from the converging views of the festival, keen from the start to offer actions to Maurienne audiences removed from music, and those of Ophélie Gaillard, the renowned cellist, a “friend“ of the festival since day one, heartedly eager to promote these projects which she was already carrying out before moving closer to Savoie. Building on the momentum of this first experience, we are hoping to propose further “Pedagogical Actions”, year round, in particular for schoolchildren of the Maurienne.
As a conclusion, allow me to tell you about Julia Maier.
Julia worked for the festival from 2014 to December 24th, 2021. The volunteers and artists who met her know how much passion and talent she invested into everything, showing a legendary benevolence, great generosity and genuine humility.
You proved incredible strength in your almost four-year battle against a brain tumour. The festival and I wish here to express our admiration and say a huge thank you. Goodbye Julia.
Dominique Longchamp
In 2009, Dominique Longchamp brought together the founding team of the Festival Valloire baroque, a project whose main lines he had devised.The team, about twenty persons, either native of Valloire or “adopted”, rapidly evolved into an organizing team, managed, year after year, since the first season of the festival in 2010, by the initiator of the project.
Today, strengthened by the cohesion and harmony of their team, the organizers are increasingly skilled in the tricks of their “trade”. They are proud to receive messages of encouragement, such as that of a Savoyard politician :“I congratulate you for the quality of the work you have achieved to promote this wonderful event that does honour to the cultural programme of the Maurienne valley.
Dominique Longchamp is Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.