This year’s Ambronay Festival includes no fewer than a dozen indispensable concerts because of either the novelty of the programme or the star quality of the performers.

They are as follows: Marco Marazolli’s opera La Vita Humana performed by Vincent Dumestre and his ensemble Le Poème Harmonique (15 September); works by Rameau and Zelenka in a concert offered by Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques (17 September); a performance of Haydn’s The Creation by Paul McCreesh’s Gabrielli Consort with the soloists Piau, Joshua, Padmore and Davies (21 September); Michael Haydn’s Missa Sancta Hieronymi performed by the Ensemble Zefiro and the Arsys Bourgogne Choir directed by Pierre Cao (22 September); Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and the Berlin Chamber Choir conducted by René Jacobs (23 September); "Judith", a creation of the Ensemble Dialogos and Katarina Livljanic based on 16th century texts (24 September); Cavalli’s opera Ercole amante, a production of the Ambronay Baroque Academy under the direction of Gabriel Garrido (26 and 28 September); Grande Messe à la Chapelle de l’Empereur Rudolph II with Ensemble Doulce Mémoire directed by Denis Raisin-Dadre (29 September); the programme "The Golden Age of Polish Baroque" with the Ensemble William Byrd directed by Graham O’Reilly (30 September); a programme consisting of Mozart’s Requiem and a Mass by Salieri, performed by the Ensemble Stradivaria and the Arsys Bourgogne Choir conducted by Pierre Cao (4 October); a programme entitled "The Prague Mozart" devoted to the Czech composer Josef Myslivicek, in which Christoph Spering conducts his La Passione (7 October). To bring the festival to a close, Franz Brüggen’s Orchestra of the 18th Century give a programme devoted to Mozart.

Without a shadow of a doubt, it all adds up to a magnificent musical feast! 15 September to 10 October.