Munch to see at the Colmar International Music Festival

The 2007 International Music Festival of Colmar (3rd -15th July) celebrates one of the most eminent French orchestra conductors of the 20th century, Charles Munch who was born is Alsace in 1891. The 23 concerts of the festival, now in its 19th year, offer the opportunity to rediscover Munch’s favourite repertory from J.S. Bach, Beethoven and Brahms to Debussy and Poulenc.

The Orchestre de Paris, founded by Munch in 1967, the year before his death, will celebrate its 40th anniversary in Colmar and will perform the closing two concerts of the festival under the baton of Michel Plasson. The superb National Philharmonic of Russia (NPR) and the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris will each perform and will feature a variety of conductors including the world renowned John Nelson and Ion Marin, who will offer his own interpretation of Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique.

The festival is also an opportunity to highlight Charles Munch’s taste for choral music in the purest Alsatian tradition. The extraordinary Moscow Academy of Choral Art will perform sacred works by Mozart, Poulenc and Stravinsky as well as choral works by Brahms. The grand finale to their series of concerts at the stunning Saint Matthieu’s Church will be given by the phenomenal Russian pianist, Grigory Sokolov, in a special recital.

Further details of this year’s festival can be found at Festival-colmar.com. The Colmar Tourist Office is offering special packages for the duration of the festival. Two days at the event and one night’s accommodation, for example, costs from €78.00 (£52.88) per person (excluding travel). Other packages and further details can be found at Ot-colmar.fr.

The TGV Est high speed train link is now open between Alsace and Paris. The service has reduced rail journey times from London to Colmar by almost half and it now takes just four hours and fifty minutes (Tgvesteuropeen.com).