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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 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 seven more chapters were added to the original Ghent region.
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 “Ghent Festival of Flanders”.
Artistic direction
Ghent Festival of Flanders 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, Bert Schreurs and Jelle Dierickx.
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 - Ghent Festival of Flanders also spawned an impressive number of now world-famous Belgian musicians like Philippe Herreweghe, Sigiswald Kuijken, Paul 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, …
Ode to Joy
Richard Wagner was convinced that “joy is not in things—it is in us.” In difficult times there needs to be room for the occasional smile, a warm feeling, and the odd unforgettable moment. With its main “La Gioia” theme, Ghent Festival of Flanders Festival returned in 2009 to the very essence of music making: the cheerfulness and joy it brings. Good humour and music were combined in over 180 musical events between 12 September and 5 October, both in Ghent and East-Flanders province. As you have come to expect from Ghent Festival of Flanders, they invited the best and finest. There was a multitude of creative moments: concerts on and alongside the canals, wine tasting to music for connoisseurs, bicycling from one concert to the next, famous DJs that spinned classical music at the Festival café…
Ghent Festival of Flanders is under the high patronage of HM Queen Fabiola and is a member of the Flemish Music Festival Association (FMiV) and the European Festival Association (EFA).