From Monday evening until next Saturday, the Festival des Harmonies will take place in the green theater of Braudel Park, in Les Sablettes.
Organizer of the event, the La Seynoise Philharmonic invites, as usual, groups from the region to come and perform under the starry sky, every evening from 8:30 p.m. Free concerts which attract several hundred people each year.
“In general, explains Frédéric Denoyer, president of the Seynoise philharmonic, when we give a concert in a hall or under a big top, we have an informed audience in front of us, and very often they are the same listeners. For us, the interest of the Festival des Harmonies is to capture a passing audience, who does not know us and who, often, stays until the end. This therefore allows us to broaden our audience and show how many excellent amateur orchestras there are in the region. I also challenge informed music lovers to differentiate between a professional orchestra and amateur orchestras such as those we invite!”
This year, responded to the invitation: the Harmonie La Renaissance du Pradet (which will play Monday evening), the Avenir musical du Beausset (Tuesday evening), the Harmonie de La Ciotat (Wednesday evening), the Concert band of La Farlède (Thursday evening) and La Lyre provençale d’Ollioules (Saturday evening).
La Seynoise will perform on Friday evening, the day of the music festival, with the first part (from 8:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.) a performance by her chamber orchestra.
Always a pleasant setting
“Each group has its own personality and program and there is no prior consultation before the festival, specifies Frédéric Denoyer. Knowing that an amateur band changes its repertoire on average twice a year, we cannot ask them to prepare a specific program for this event. La Seynoise will mainly play film music, but also a little jazz and variety. She will come with around 60 musicians, as will the Ollioules orchestra. The other groups have between 30 and 60 musicians.
The festival is organized in partnership with the city, which ensures communication and security of the event. “She also sets up beautiful lighting with spots in the trees, which creates a nice summer atmosphere. And in this always pleasant setting, spectators can picnic on site”.
Doesn’t the possible noise from packets of crisps bother the musicians during their performances? “No, replies the organizer, at least not as much as the cicadas!”
