Other programmes will allow the public to experience or renew its acquaintance with Durante, Zelenka, Caldara, Roman, Rigel, Rheinberger, Cererols, and Du Mont, among others. The romantic, modern and contemporary repertoire will receive a well-balanced hearing including a Beethoven cycle, performances of music by great Russian composers (Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky), and concerts of German works by Mahler, Liszt, Bruckner and Mendelssohn.

More than a dozen contemporary musical offerings will afford audiences the opportunity to hear compositions by Escaich (who will attend the Festival), Tanguy, Campo, Menut and Devreese. No fewer than six symphony orchestras will be present, and several ensembles representing the new generation of 18th-century music specialists have also been invited to take part for the first time.

La Chaise-Dieu continues to emphasise the areas it has highlighted for many years: performances of well-known works by renowned musicians, concerts in which forgotten music is brought to light, and the discovery of new talent. The organ of the Chaise-Dieu Abbey church, built for the most part in 1683, will also be fêted. This instrument, which contains 39 registers and a pedal board à la française, is particularly well suited to 17th- and 18th-century French repertoire.

Performances of Handel oratorios include Jephtha, performed by the Cappella Amsterdam and the Holland Baroque Society conducted by Daniel Reuss, and Messiah with Arsys Bourgogne conducted by Pierre Cao, and Les Folies Françoises, led by Patrick Cohen-Akenine. Contributions from English groups include an evening with Robert King’s King’s Consort, which will perform odes to Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of music by three different composers: Purcell (Welcome to all the pleasures), Britten (Hymn to St Cecilia) and Handel (From harmony, from heav’nly harmony). Details at www.chaise-dieu.com