2026 Festival Ravel – Bertrand Chamayou’s editorial

Claude Debussy’s Iberia, Ravel’s Boléro, Alborada del gracioso and Rapsodie espagnole are all works that remind us that France and Spain share a long-standing and musically particularly fruitful relationship.

At the turning point of the 19^th century, Spanish music became a creative outlook for artists. From Isaac Albéniz to Manuel de Falla, through Enrique Granados, a whole generation of Spanish composers and performers were active at this period, spending a few productive years in Paris working on what would become ‘modern Spanish music’. Contemporaries of Ravel and Debussy, this new generation of Spanish composers ushered in a new golden age of Spanish music. The pianist Ricardo Viñes, acting as a bridge between Ravel and Falla, introduced the latter into the ‘Apaches’ group gathered around Ravel, fostering friendship and mutual artistic admiration. This ‘parisian’ Spanish school extended beyond music and distinguished also itself through painters such as Juan Gris, Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró.

To mark the 150^th birthday of Manuel de Falla in 2026, the Festival Ravel invites you on a journey between modern and dreamed Spain.

The Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse will launch this new edition with a program where Falla’s Spain meets Ravel’s. Another major orchestra, the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, will ring the bells of Toledo city with a group of young singers in one of Ravel’s only two operas: L’Heure espagnole.

Among the Festival’s highlights are piano recitals by the greatest contemporary masters of the keyboard. Among them, Nelson Goerner will perform Albéniz’s Iberia, while Javier Perianes will play a tribute to Manuel de Falla with his works for solo piano, joined for a second chamber music concert by violist Tabea Zimmermann and the Quiroga string Quartet. Jean-François Heisser will bring to life the light poetry of Federico Mompou’s music, while I will present a recital exploring Spain across all eras and styles, from Emmanuel Chabrier and Claude Debussy to Héctor Parra and Joaquín Nin.

This journey will also offer an opportunity to explore the works written by composers on the Iberian Peninsula soil. You will have the opportunity to hear—with the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées and the Ensemble Les Métaboles—works composed in Madrid by Boccherini and Scarlatti, as well as Chopin’s Preludes, written in Valldemossa and performed by pianist Yulianna Avdeeva.

Much later, it was the poems of Spanish artist Federico García Lorca that inspired a cycle by American composer George Crumb, which will be sung by soprano Barbara Hannigan. Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí will also be featured during a movie performed with live music by Martin Matalon and Ensemble 2e2m, led by young conductor Léo Margue.

Harpist Xavier de Maistre and flamenco and castanet legend Lucero Tena will be performing in a bold fusion of their two musical worlds, for the closing day of the festival.

Eventually, young soloists from the Académie Ravel will perform alongside their elders and mentors, including Benjamin Alard, Jean-François Heisser, Ramon Lazkano, Alphonse Cemin, and Yulianna Avdeeva, throughout the Festival.

We look forward to welcoming you all on this journey to Spain!

Bertrand Chamayou
Chairman and Artistic Director of the Festival Ravel