Flanders Festival International Ghent (Festival van Vlaanderen Gent)

All images courtesy of Internationaal Festival van Vlaanderen Gent (see credits below)
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Festival Story:

The Story so far—In 1958, Jan Briers Sr. decided to set up “The Ghent Music Festival”. At the time, Briers Sr. was the head of the Flemish broadcasting corporation “BRT” as well as a communication science professor at the universities of Ghent and Brussels. His brand-new festival presented eight concerts that attracted a 4000-strong audience. In 1959, the initiative was rebranded as “Flanders Festival”, and six more chapters were added to the original Ghent region.

For its fiftieth edition, in 2007, the Festival invited a whopping 790 artists to Ghent and East Flanders province, who performed almost 140 concerts to a combined audience of about 44,000 art aficionados — in less than a month’s time.

Not Just in Downtown Ghent!—The choice of Ghent, with its impressive architectural heritage, as the Festival’s heart was no accident. Yet, each year, countless villages and communes in the surrounding East Flanders province are firmly involved in this celebration of music, now universally known as “Flanders Festival International Ghent”.

Artistic Direction—Flanders Festival has become a household name both in Belgium and abroad, with a strong following that keeps growing year after year. This growth is in large part due to the inspiring leadership of Messrs. Jan Briers (father and son) and the oftentimes prophetic vision of artistic directors like Gerard Mortier, Dirk Struys, Serge Dorny and Bert Schreurs. In 1972, for instance, the Festival staged its first large-scale happening in all of St. Peter’s Abbey’s available halls. The current success of “OdeGand”, the grand opening event on and along Ghent’s canals, and “Festival Avanti!”, a musical cycling tour along East Flanders province’s most idyllic tracks, can therefore rightfully be considered the continuation of a long-standing tradition. Pop and world music were quickly added to Flanders Festival’s programme to provide an inspiring contrast and confrontation with western classical music, which has been the staple until this very day.

Not just Flemish composers from the polyphonic era were unearthed to general acclaim — Flanders Festival also spawned an impressive number of now world-famous Belgian musicians like Philippe Herreweghe, Sigiswald KuijkenPaul Van Nevel and Jos Van Immerseel. Obviously, the Festival also invited all major international stars to perform in Ghent: Sir Simon Rattle, Claudio Abbado, Valery Gergiev,….

Practical Info:

Venues:

• Various venues in Ghent and the province East-Flanders (Belgium)

Tickets:

• Ticket sale starts on April 30, 2008
• Online at http://www.festivalgent.be
• In person, or by mail
  Uitbureau Gent
  Kammerstraat 19
  9000 Gent
• By phone at +32 70 77 00 00
• Hours
  Monday-Friday, 10:00am – 12:30 and 13.30 - 17:30pm
  Saturday, 10:00 am – 12.30 and 13.30 – 17:30 pm

Photograph Credits of Slideshow:

• All images courtesy of Internationaal Festival van Vlaanderen Gent
  
  • Ode Gandvuurwerk © Martin Hinion
  • Igudesman and Joo © Julia Wesely
  • G Eersteklasconcert © Clem Willems
  • Les Ballets C de la © Clem Willems
  • La Petite Bande Sint Baafskathedraal © Charles Strijd
  • Avanti Mediva Doornhammeke © Clem Willems
  • Bell © Chris Lee

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