From 19 June to 17 July 2010, the Namur Music Festival is running. It is one of the festivals organised by the Belgian Festival de Wallonie. Every year from June to October, the Festival de Wallonie is staging some 70 concerts in the four corners of the Walloon Region and in Brussels. A common theme, the desire to tell people about their region’s architectural and musical heritage, a strong inclination towards parties and conviviality, these are the characteristics of the six festivals that make up the Festival de Wallonie. But every one of them is given the same opportunity to reveal to you its own facets. Namur Music Festival 2010 Celebrating one's heritage has nothing to do with any dubious nationalist campaign; it is, rather, about the need to see one's history, talents, essence, and deepest cultural roots in perspective. A link with the past that nurtures the future and gives it the distinctive foundation of a fine balance between local knowledge and a spirit of openness to the world. Our programme for 2010 aims to reflect a diverse reality. The past, naturally, has its place here, as so many of our musicians have flourished all over Europe down the centuries. The distant echoes of those astonishing careers deserve to be revived: of Roland de Lassus, for example, still cited by numerous composers of instrumental music over a century after his death. We can follow Henry Du Mont, who established musical standards at Versailles that would serve as precedents for French composers over several generations. Or experience the encounter between the Franco-Flemish school and Spanish music with Matheo Romero, a Liège-born composer who became treasurer of the Order of the Golden Fleece in Madrid. Or revel in the success of André-Modeste Grétry, star of Parisian opera in the late 18th century... The work of these imposing figures is, of course, entrusted to fine local musicians of our own time, whether established figures (such as the Choeur de Chambre de Namur, the Ricercar Consort, Les Agrémens, and Guy Van Waas) or the stars of tomorrow (including Caroline Weynants, Benoît Laurent, Lorenzo Gatto, and Fabien Moulaert). And that is not all: we will also have a slightly over-the-top vision of Bizet's celebrated Carmen, a mysterious evening involving a secret itinerary at once musical and literary, an explosive mix of classical music, jazz, and break-dance, some echoes from the Alps and the Pyrenees, a special evening for children and families, and, finally, a delightful closing ball. The mood will be festive! (Source: www.festivaldewallonie.be)