Saturday, 18/7

Richard Strauss: "Enoch Arden"

A melodramme for narrator and piano.

Camélia Jordana, George Petrou 

Château les Sénéchaux, 20 h 30

The acclaimed French actress and singer CAMELIA JORDANA and GEORGE PETROU, founder of the AIRVAULT-ALLEGRO Festival, present the melodramme "Enoch Arden", composed by Richard Strauss in 1897, based on the poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson, published in 1864. 

This moving work for narrator and piano, tells the story of a sailor who, after a long absence, returns home to discover that his wife thought he was dead and had remarried another man, who took care of her and their children.

A masterpiece that dives into the depths of the human soul, exploring themes of love, loss and resignation.

Revealed at just 16 on Nouvelle Star, CAMÉLIA JORDANA quickly established herself as a unique voice in the French artistic landscape. A singer, songwriter, and actress, she has built a multifaceted career blending pop, world influences, and deeply personal expression. 

Balancing daring music, demanding roles, and outspoken views, CAMÉLIA JORDANA embodies a generation of fearless artists, capable of bridging art and society with intensity and authenticity.

Sunday, 26/7 

A piano recital with Titos Gouvelis (on piano Erard ca 1890)

Works by J. P. Rameau, C. Debussy, M. Ravel, C. Franck 

Château les Sénéchaux, 20 h 30

A brilliant virtuoso, an intellectual, a researcher and a writer, greek pianist TITOS GOUVELIS, presents a musical journey in French piano music, from baroque to romanticism and impressionism. 

"French piano music constitutes, both for pianists and for music lovers worldwide, one of the most enchanting fields of piano repertoire due to its inexhaustible source of finesse, imagination and emotion. Surely, it would be difficult, if not even hazardous, to classify French composers based on their compositional era or style, as the comparison between composers of the same historic period presents sometimes higher differentiation than similarity; and this provides proof of the variety, diversity and richness of French music throughout history.

Today’s recital focuses exclusively on French works composed by four great composers who belong to three different centuries: 18th (Jean-Philippe Rameau), 19th (César Franck) and 20th (Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel). The selection of the programme was based on an intention to indicatively demonstrate how leading French composers channelled and bridled their imagination within established musical forms, like Fugue or Sonata, how they transformed non-musical stimuli, like paintings or emotional states, into musical sounds, and above all how they drive inspiration from the past and present while simultaneously gazing towards the future with a spirit of innovation and discovery of something new. 

In any case, the distinction between the conservative and the progressive seems to have no real substance in the realm of great French musical creation, where knowledge and imagination, realism and vision, nostalgia and curiosity are intertwined and ideally complement one another. This very notion governs every note of this recital, from the first to the last."

Titos Gouvelis

Listen to Titos Gouvelis perform the piano Concerto by Dimitris Papadimitriou, with the Athens State Orchestra and George Petrou conducting. 

Friday, 30/7 

"Obbligato barocco"

Manami Mizumoto, Iason Ioannou, Theodoros Kitsos 

Château les Sénéchaux, 20 h 30

(On period instruments) 

Sunday, 2/8

F. Schubert: "Winterreise" 

Xavier Sabata, George Petrou 

Château les Sénéchaux, 20 h 30

Winterreise (Winter Journey) is a cycle of 24 songs composed by Franz Schubert in 1827 to poems by Wilhelm Müller. A major work of German romanticism, it depicts the melancholy wandering of a rejected lover through a winter landscape.

XAVIER SABATA is one of the most important countertenors of our time with appearances in Europe's leading theaters including the Vienna State Opera, Berlin State Opera, La Monnaie and Teatro Real.

Long-time collaborator of GEORGE PETROU, they present together for the first time this famous lieder cycle. 

Wednesday, 5/8

"Tormenti d' amore"

Myrto Papatanasiu, Theodoros Kitsos 

Château les Sénéchaux, 20 h 30

Soprano MYRTO PAPATHANASIU, is a regular guest of the world's greatest opera houses including the Paris Opera, the Metropolitan Opera of New York, the Dallas Opera, the Royal Opera House of London, the Sydney Opera. Together with THEODOROS KITSOS on theorbo they present a programme of beautiful love songs from 17th century Italy.

At the heart of the programme stands the celebrated Lament of Ariadne by Claudio Monteverdi. Is is the only surviving excerpt of the eponymous opera premiered in 1608. Audiences were reportedly moved to tears by the grandeur of music of unprecedented expressive power and violent emotional contrasts. The same bold, innovative language of the passions is found in the vocal works of Landi, Kapsberger, d’India and Caccini, as well as in those of Caccini’s two exceptionally gifted daughters.

This captivating journey into the early Baroque is further enriched by solo works for lute or theorbo by the great virtuoso Alessandro Piccinini.

Saturday, 8/8

"The romantic violoncello"

Deanna Talens, William Shaw 

Château les Sénéchaux, 20 h 30

DEANNA TALENS, principal cellist of the Würzburg Philharmonic Orchestra and internationally renowned chamber musician together with the brilliant British pianist WILLIAM SHAW present two emblematic works of the Romantic repertoire: the charming Fantasiestücke of Robert Schumann and the monumental sonata in A major by Cesar Franck.

Monday, 10/8

"Quartet Gara"

Works by J. Haydn, F. Mendelssohn, L. v. Beethoven 

Château les Sénéchaux, 20 h 30

The Gara Quartet was born in 2020 in response to the aspirations and desire of its four musicians to explore the string quartet genre from a historically informed performance perspective.  Gara Quartet regularly performs at internationally renowned festivals and venues including the Saintes Festival (France), the Madrid International Festival of Sacred Art (Spain), the Kölner WDR Saal (Germany), the Philharmonie Luxembourg, the Metz Arsenal and the Auditorio de Tenerife. 

(On period instruments) 

Saturday, 15/8

"The genius of Johann Sebastian Bach"

Ensemble baroque "Les Sénéchaux" (on period instruments) 

Abbatiale Saint-Pierre, 20 h 30

The baroque ensemble Les Sénéchaux was specially created as a resident ensemble of the AIRVAULT ALLEGRO Festival.

This year they present some of the great Master's most famous orchestral works: the 2nd orchestral suite, the 5th Brandenburg concerto and the beautiful cantata "Non sa che sia dolore", one of the rare cantatas composed by Bach in the Italian language.

After last year's great success, the internationally acclaimed soprano MYRSINI MARGARITI returns to the Airvault-Allegro Festival, alongside the brilliant flutist ZACHARIAS TARPAGKOS, principal flute of the Greek National Opera and an distinguished soloist on both modern or historical instruments.