From July 17 to August 7, 2022, the 39th edition of the Festival was marked by the return of a large audience to the concerts after two years disrupted by the pandemic and the Festival’s interruption two years earlier. The season’s four concerts were once again sold out, with artists and musical ensembles loyal to the Heures Musicales de Cunault. Their invigorating concerts revitalized the Festival’s momentum. Jean-Louis Gouin was artistic director.

August 5, 2022: François Chaplin brings Chopin and Mozart to life to close the 2022 Festival

The final concert of the 2022 season of the Heures Musicales de Cunault took place in the Trêves church, in front of an audience of over 200.

On the program for this grand musical finale: Frédéric Chopin, with the Waltzes op. 34 and 64 and posthumously, the Nocturnes op. 55 and 62, a Barcarolle op. 60, and also Mozart with the Sonata in C major K. 330. It was a great musical moment, both intimate and grandiose, much appreciated by the audience. Recognized as a “great Chopinian”, pianist François Chaplin, who recently recorded the complete waltzes of Frédéric Chopin, drew on the vast repertoire of Mazurkas, Nocturnes, Polonaises, Sonatas, Études, Balades and Impromptus, as well as the Waltzes left by the great composer, whose music Claude Debussy considered to be one of the most beautiful ever written.

July 31, 2022: The splendor of royal music from the court of Versailles resounded under the majestic vaults of the Prieurale de Cunault.

This new highlight of the “Heures musicales” was enhanced by performers from the ensemble Les Trompettes de Versailles, founded in the mid-80s by Georges Bessonnet with two trumpets accompanied by organ. Today, the ensemble comprises trumpeters Stéphane Vaillant and Nicolas Pardo, organist Georges Bessonnet and Marie-Madeleine Andrieu, principal timpanist.
The ensemble brilliantly performed compositions by Michel Corrette, Henry Purcell, Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Michel Richard de Lalande, Jean Langlais, Camille Saint-Saëns and Louis Vierne.

July 24, 2022: The Cordes de Loire quartet makes the Trêves church resound

The Church of Trèves is a place conducive to a climate of intimacy and communion between artists and audience. It resounded once again thanks to the magical performance of the young ensemble Les Cordes de Loire, created a year earlier by cellist Irène Jolys. The ensemble comprises Rachel Sintzel, violin, Elie Hackel, violin, Vuokko Lahtinen, viola, and Irène Jolys, cello and conductor.

The program features Ludwig van Beethoven’s Quartet n° 4 op.18, dedicated to Prince Joseph Franz von Lobkowitz. It was composed in 1800. Its particular tonality and dramatic inspiration make it the most “Beethovenian” of quartets.

Composed in 1873, Quartet No. 2 Op. 51 in A minor is the second of three quartets written by Johannes Brahms. It is dedicated to Dr. Théodore Bilroth.

July 17, 2022: A beautifully crafted “Oboe and Organ” overture

The first notes of the 2022 edition of Les Heures musicales de Cunault were offered to a packed audience. The performance by Jérémy Sassano (oboe) and Thomas Pellerine (organ) was worthy of the fortieth anniversary of the founding of the Association des Amis de Notre-Dame de Cunault and of the 39th edition of the Heures musicales. Jérémy Sassano and Thomas Pellerine form an outstanding duo, combining the delicacy of the oboe with the rich palette of the organ.

Originally from the Touraine region of France, Jérémy Sassano pursues his career as a renowned oboist and teacher mainly in Germany. As for Thomas Pellerine, he is an organ professor at the Conservatoire à rayonnement régional d’Angers. The greatest composers of the Baroque and Classical eras: Antonin Vivaldi, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Ludwig Krebs, Josef Gabriel von Reinberger and Felix Mendelssohn were all featured in this concert.

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