Festival 2026

Faculty

Jonathan Eaton
Kara Cornell
Stephen Dubberly
Robert Frankenberry
Jeff Martin
Anne Maugard
Bernard McDonald
Luis Orozco
David Štech
Francois Testory
MunTzung Wong

Venues

Institut Marty Grande Salle
Salle de Nevers
Salle de Sénéchal / Conservatoire de L'aveyron
Maison Dardenne
Eglise des Augustins
Chapelle St-Jacques
Chapelle de Pénitents Noirs
Théâtre la Bastide

Master Classes

Wednesday 24 June
with Anne Maugard

Wednesday 01 July
with Jonathan Eaton

Wednesday 08 July
with Luis Orozco

Friday 22 July
with Bernard McDonald

Recitals

Saturday 4 July
Concert jazz AJAR avec notre participation de Cabaret Paris Berlin / Local concert jazz band AJAR with swing music and songs from the artists of Cabaret Paris Berlin.

Monday 13 July
Gala d'overture

Wednesday 15 July
World Troubadours

Thursday 23 July
Les voix du futur

Training

Master classes
Faculty members conducted a series of master classes, open to the general public, to further the educational opportunities of the festival.

Voice lessons
Members of the voice faculty offered voice lessons for students.

Role coaching
Voice faculty and artistic staff offered Individual and group coaching sessions geared to the challenges of specific roles and the French language.

French class
Because a number of program participants do not speak French, a daily French class was offered by local instructors for those who wished to improve their language skills and pronunciation.

Occitan songs
Occitan is a Romance language spoken in the historical region of Occitania, which includes parts of southern France, Monaco, Italy's Occitan Valleys, and Spain's Val d'Aran. Once the language of medieval troubadours, it has a rich literary tradition but has faced decline, particularly after French became the official language in the 16th century. A selected group of singers studied the language and learned traditional songs that were presented in a public recital.

Outreach Activities

Opéra chez les ainés
Small groups of singers traveled to local senior citizen facilities to present programs of opera favorites.

Atelier Enfants
Small groups of singers traveled to conduct workshops with local children

Fenêtres ouvertes / Open Windows
Every Thursday morning, during the weekly market in the main square, Place Notre-Dame, singers serenaded the market-goers with opera favorites from the open windows of the Maison Dardenne. 

Opera Boeuf / Cabaret International
Immediately following select performances, the company moved to a local bar a few blocks from the theater to present light arias, songbook classics, and Broadway favorites in an open-mic format. Audience members thrilled to see favorite performers in a more casual atmosphere.

Participants

The 2026 festival featured 36 young artists from across the globe, hailing from Belgium, China, Japan, Finland, France, and the United States.

Repertoire

Le nozze de Figaro
Perhaps the most sublime operatic work of all time, performed in Italian.

Orphée y Eurydice
Performed in a bold new version in a baroque church, shifting between modern scenes and poignant flashbacks, performed in French.

Cabaret Paris Berlin
A new semi-staged version which relies on a selection of pieces from Kander and Ebb's Cabaret, interspersed with other German and French songs, specifically from Paris and Berlin, stemming from the cabaret tradition for which these cities were so renowned, in German, French, and English.

Performance Calendar

Tuesday 23 June
Défi Lyrique / young artists audition for our faculty/professors

Thursday 25 June
Fenêtres ouvertes / Open Windows performance for Thursday market

Friday 26 June
Opéra chez les ainés / Opera for the elderly

Saturday 26 June
Atelier Enfants / Opera for the children

Monday 29 June
Opéra chez les ainés / Opera for the elderly

Thursday 02 July
Fenêtres ouvertes / Open Windows 2 performance for Thursday market

Friday 04 july
Opéra chez les ainés / Opera for the elderly

Thursday 09 July
Fenêtres ouvertes / Open Windows 3 performance for Thursday market

Monday 17 July
Gala d'overture

Wednesday 15 July
World Troubadours

Thursday 16 July
Fenêtres ouvertes / Open Windows 4 performance for Thursday market

Thursday 16 July
Cabaret Paris Berlin, performance 1

Friday 17 July
Le nozze de Figaro, performance 1

Saturday 18 July
Le nozze de Figaro, performance 2

Sunday 19 July
Orphée y Eurydice, performance 1

Tuesday 21 July
Cabaret Paris Berlin, performance 2

Wednesday 22 July
Orphée y Eurydice, performance 2

Thursday 23 July

Fenêtres ouvertes / Open Windows 5 performance for Thursday market

Les Voix du futur

Le nozze de Figaro, performance 3

Friday 24 July
Orphée y Eurydice, performance 3

Opera Boeuf 3

Saturday 26 July
Orphée y Eurydice, performance 4

Le nozze de Figaro, performance 4

Opera Boeuf 4

Sunday 25 July
Le nozze de Figaro, performance 5

L'Alberge Bohème / Final company party