During the last week of the summer, the VI International Music Festival known as Annecy Classic is being held in France.

For the sixth time, this international music festival will take place on the shores of Lake Annecy in one of the most picturesque corners of south-eastern France (August 24th-30th). The French musician, Pascal Escande, and our compatriot, the pianist Denis Matsuev, have initiated and inspired this celebration of classical music.

The festival already has a rich history. Decades ago, summer music festivals were organized on the shores of Lake Annecy by the French pianist, Eliane Richepin, who devoted a good deal of time and attention to working with young people, so as to widen and encourage the musical tastes of the up-and-coming generation. In 1970 Eliane Richepin founded an international centre — Annecy Academy — at which musical tuition was to be provided for talented young musicians by well-known pianists and outstanding teachers of the times. These traditions are being rekindled today.

Over the last few years, the festival at Annecy has become one of France’s major musical forums as regards both its scale and the universal character of its programs. Each successive year the festival enables the public to encounter celebrated musicians and other figures from the stage of world culture. Not only the residents of Annecy and other parts of the Haute Savoie region can attend the numerous concerts and other events of the forum, but music-lovers from all over France.

Fourteen concerts are planned for the VI Annecy Classic festival, at which symphonic, chamber and operatic works will be performed.

The renowned Philharmonic Orchestra of St. Petersburg conducted by Yuri Temirkanov will once again be the orchestra in residence. Some of the concerts will be under the baton of the Venezuelan conductor Domingo Hindoyan and also Fayçal Karoui, who has devoted a great deal of time to the education project for young orchestral players — Campus Annecy.

The invited soloists include the piano duo of the Naughton Sisters, the guitar-players Dimitri Illarionov and Emmanuel Rossfelder, the French pianists Bertrand Chamayou, Alexandre Tarot and stars from the world’s opera stage — Dinara Alieva (soprano) and René Barbera (tenor).

Performances by the celebrated baroque orchestra known as the Matheus Ensemble, the Melisma Chamber choir and soloists headed by Jean-Christophe Spinosi are expected to be among the highlights of this musical occasion. Audiences will also have the chance to hear Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis.

Guests attracted by the widely popular project Denis Matsuev and Friends will this time include Valeriy Sokolov (violin), Boris Brovtsyn (violin), Yulia Deineka (viola), Boris Andrianov (cello) and Philipp Kopachevsky (piano). Together with Denis Matsuev they will perform works of chamber music by Tchaikovsky and Sergei Taneyev.

Denis Matsuev will also present to Annecy audiences two young virtuosi and winners of international competitions — Alexander Malofeyev and Ilia Lomtatidze.

The Greek violinist, Leonidas Kavakos, and Denis Matsuev (piano) will be performing in the two final concerts given by the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic, conducted by Yuri Temirkanov.

2015 will be bringing the public many surprises! A priceless gift for them all will be the opening of a new venue — the concert hall in Annecy’s theatre. In the future it will provide the main stage for the festival.

In addition some of the concerts for the Annecy Classic festival will take place in St. Bernadette’s Church, Saint Peter’s Cathedral and also in the town’s Castle Museum.

Interviews with musicians and lists of the events in special Festival Diaries can be found on the website of the AVC Charity Foundation throughout the festival.

Victor Alexandrov, the AVC Charity Foundation music reviewer