One of the largest of its kind in Europe, the festival is held annually in the large park grounds of the Château de Florans in the Provençal town of La Roque d'Anthéron, and features the who's who of the international piano scene in the most idyllic atmosphere.
Right now the festival is in full swing. What is remarkable about this festival is that every pianist gets to choose between first-class concert grand pianos from different manufacturers before their concert on the large open-air stage. This year, C. Bechstein, Steinway and Fazioli are available for selection. Among the pianists who have already chosen the C. Bechstein Concert Grand Piano D282, starting with the inaugural performance on July 18 by Abdel Rahman El Bacha, are Alexander Gadijev, Celimene Daudet, Anna Geniushene, Lukas Geniusas, Aimi Kobayashi, Mao Fujita, Martin James Bartlett, Benjamin Grosvenor and Bertrand Chamayou.
No efforts are spared by the festival management and the responsible piano technicians, which is shown by the fact that two pianists have even been able to select two different grand pianos for their program halves out of programmatic reasoning: Alexander Gadijev, who chose Steinway and C. Bechstein, and Benjamin Grosvenor, who chose C. Bechstein and Fazioli.
The wonderful festival will continue until August 20th. We thank all the pianists who have already given and will give us their trust in La Roque d'Anthéron!
Photos @ Valentine Chauvin
