Cancelled, maintained or postponed: the calendar of festivals in the time of Covid-19

A year after the huge wave of cancellation of French festivals and several months of uncertainty, the President of the Republic finally lifted the veil on Thursday April 29 on the deconfinement calendar for the world of culture. As a result, the festivals should be able to be held from June 9, still within the limit of 5,000 people as announced by the Minister of Culture Roselyne Bachelot last February. New however, the health pass will be compulsory to access the events, Emmanuel Macron considering that it would be “absurd not to use it”.

Read alsoDeconfinement: theaters, cinemas, museums will be able to reopen on May 19

Chaumont Garden Festival

Postponed – Initially scheduled for April 22 to November 7 in Chaumont-sur-Loire. From May 7 to November 7.

The Chaumont International Garden Festival, which takes place in the middle of a 32-hectare park, had managed to save its 2020 edition by postponing it from mid-April to mid-May. One-way traffic, differentiated entry and exit and hydroalcoholic gel allowed visitors to explore in complete safety.

Read alsoIn Chaumont, the absolute garden on the banks of the Loire

The estate has decided to repeat the experience this year by offering a new edition centered on the theme of “biomimicry in the garden”. Originally scheduled to open on April 22, the festival finally opened on May 7.

Cannes film festival

Postponed - From July 6 to July 17, 2021. Originally scheduled for May 11 to May 22

Postponed and then canceled in 2020, the Cannes Film Festival hopes to be able to take place this year for its 74th edition. Spike Lee, the American director of Malcolm X and BlacKkKlansman, has confirmed his presence as president of the jury. A role he was supposed to hold last year. The organizers of the festival specified: “Faithful to his commitments, the American director had promised to support the Festival for its return to the Croisette. Prevented last year due to the health context, the Cannes Film Festival inaugurates this new decade with an exceptional jury president, one of the greatest directors of his generation – also a screenwriter, actor, editor and producer”.

Leos Carax's dramatic musical Annette will open, while Paul Verhoeven's Benedetta has been confirmed in the films in competition. The full line-up is due to be revealed on June 3.

Read alsoThe Cannes Film Festival will unveil its official selection on June 3

The Spring of the Barn

Canceled - Initially scheduled for May 14 to 16, 2021 in Évian-les-Bains (Haute-Savoie)

This event dedicated to the piano, in the sumptuous wooden hall of the Grange au Lac designed by Patrick Bouchain for the cellist Mstislav Rostropovitch, will not be back this year.

Everything had however been done by the organizers in order to be able to celebrate the 4th spring of the festival, ^and the program had already been announced, with in particular Renaud Capuçon, Nicholas Angelich or even Sélim Mazari. A filmed version of the concerts was planned, in the same way as for Jazz à la Grange in February, but ultimately did not take place.

The Nights of Fourvière

Postponed – From June 1 to July 30, 2021. Initially scheduled for May 27 to July 31, 2021 in Lyon

The management intends to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the interdisciplinary festival in good and due form after the cancellation of last year. This event mixing concerts, shows and other performances brought together nearly 200,000 spectators in 2019.

An edition postponed by a few days compared to the original date, which will serve as “a transition, adapted to the famous health rules”, underlined the president of the Nights, Jérôme Bub. On the program, 35 shows around music, dance and circus. Will be present artists of the French song such as Pomme, Alain Souchon or Asaf Avidan, but also references of jazz like Albert Marcoeur, or even musicians specializing in African instruments. Several events will also be in partnership with the Biennale de la Danse, normally scheduled for September but finally brought forward to June.

Read alsoBirkin, Souchon, Katerine at the Nuits de Fourvière: the ticket office taken by storm

Full Reel

Maintained - From June 8 to 13 in Issoire and from June 12 to 18 in La Bourboule

The 19th edition of the International Film Festival for Young Audiences, known as Plein la Bobine and dedicated to the education of students, from kindergarten to college, to image and animation work, will be held as agreed on the dates planned but “in a hybrid form”, warn the organizers.

“Due to the health measures put in place as part of the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic, it will however take a particular form and the conditions of which may be modified according to the evolution of the context. During this period, schools will either have access to a traveling version or an online version of the festival. The general public, meanwhile, will be able to enjoy screenings, exhibitions and other in situ events, ”supports the press release.

A return to theaters is however to be expected for the public, who will have access from the end of the afternoon to the films of young people who have taken part in the filmmaking workshops during the past year.

The Spring of the Comedians

Postponed – From June 10 to 26, 2021. Initially scheduled for May 28 to June 27, 2021 in Montpellier

"There will be theatre, there will be circus, there will be words, music, emotions, laughter, surprises, evenings under the pines and heads in the stars... In a word, there will be a Spring. After the lost edition of 2020, here is again, intact, we hope, the magic of a festival which does not resemble any other”, announced with emotion the organizers of the Spring of the actors, the festival of theater and performing arts.

Jean Varela, the director of the festival, has already announced the presence of artists such as Christian Lupa or Cyril Teste. The organizers however explained on May 4 that if the festival does take place, it will be “in a light version”

Saint-Denis Festival

Postponed – June 10 to June 29, 2021. Originally scheduled for June ¹ to June 29, 2021

Canceled last year despite attempts to postpone, the 2021 edition of the festival for classical music enthusiasts should resume place as every year in the basilica of the kings of France as well as at the Legion of Honor for small forms. The opening with Sir John Eliot Gardiner conducting The St. John Passion, scheduled for June 1, has been cancelled. It is finally Roberto Alagna accompanied by the National Orchestra of France who will do the opening. Spectators will also be able to listen to pieces by Wagner, Strauss as well as Brahms conducted by Karina Canellakis with the Orchester national de France, Handel's Messiah by Valentin Tournet or the pianists Beatrice Rana and David Fray.

We Love Green

Postponed - From September 10 to 12, 2021. Initially scheduled for Thursday June 3, Saturday June 5 and Sunday June 6, 2021 at Paris-Vincennes

The festival committed to the planet, with 80,000 spectators in 2019, is committed to celebrating its 10th anniversary and making a strong comeback with artists such as Angèle, Pomme, Massive Attack and Catherine Ringer.

In order to ensure the presence of their public, the organizers have launched a survey on their website, asking in particular festival-goers if they would be ready to take a Covid test before the event. Over 80% of respondents responded positively. If the event is maintained for the moment, it has however been postponed from June to September, “the idea of ​​​​a seated festival in June not being possible” according to the organizers in a press release.

Nohant Festival

Maintained - From June 5 to July 15, 2021

The Festival de Nohant, also called Nohant Festival Chopin, is an event devoted for more than 50 years to the romantic period. A festival attached to Chopin, since it is in Nohant, at George Sand's, that the pianist will compose many pieces. For this 2021 edition, musicians such as Gaspard Dehaene, Gautier Capuçon and Nicholas Angelich are on the bill, but also actress Julie Depardieu and linguist Claude Hagège.

Festival of Saint-Michel in Thiérache

Maintained - From June 6 to July 4, 2021 in Saint-Michel (Aisne)

Gathering 6,000 spectators each year, the Baroque Music Festival returns after a blank year for a new edition still in preparation. In 2020, Les Talents lyriques, Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien and the young ensemble I Gemelli were expected.

Meslay Barn Festival

Maintained – From June 8 to June 18, 2021 in Parçay-Meslay (Indre-et-Loire)

The pianist Sviatoslav Richter fell in love with this old tithe barn, near Tours, in 1964. Although the acoustics of the place have since been improved, the barn has not lost its charm and continues to welcome one of the first major piano festivals.

The organizers have promised "a grandiose program" to make people forget the cancellation of the 2020 edition, with artists such as Salim Mazari, Adam Laloum, Benjamin Grosvenor and violinists Renaud Capuçon and Liya Petrova. The ticket office opens on May 20 online.

The crossings of Noirlac

Maintained – From June 12 to July 10, 2021 at Bruère-Allichamps (Cher)

It is within the abbey of Noirlac, 40 kilometers from Bourges, that the Traversées are held each year, which will travel in music through genres and countries. For this year 2021, the festival offers an opening concert, Canticum Novum, on June 11, followed by three concerts every Saturday until July 10.

Marseille Festival

Maintained – From June 17 to July 11, 2021 then from August 24 to 27.

The Marseille festival, which mixes dance performances, theatre, concerts, cinema and people, is back this summer with a first highlight in June and July, followed by a week of events at the end of August as part of L'été marseillais . On the program this year, 35 artistic proposals, 52 performances, 10 screenings and more than 20 meetings. Maputo, Tunis, Cairo and Kinshasa will be particularly honoured.

Solidays

Canceled – Initially scheduled for June 18 to 20, 2021 in Paris

Already canceled in 2020, the music festival created in 1999 at the call of Solidarité sida has once again thrown in the towel.

“It's a difficult decision, but it's our responsibility to take it, explained Luc Barruet, the boss of Solidays, also founding director of the Solidarité Sida association. "A formula in small gauge was not viable, because this festival serves above all to raise funds for our international aid programs to fight against HIV". A cancellation which represents a shortfall of 3.5 million euros for AIDS patients.

Read alsoA second year without Solidays, the festival cancels its 2021 edition

Hellfest

Canceled – Initially scheduled for June 18 to 20, 2021, in Clisson

In February, the organizers of Hellfest announced that they were forced to cancel their festival once again: “There is no doubt that it will be possible for many classical music, dance, theater and other events to adapt. But concerning us, these criteria make it impossible to organize our event in 2021, thus forcing us to once again postpone our anniversary edition”, referring to the announcements of Roselyne Bachelot and the gauge of 5000 people seated.

According to them, “a festival must be a space of freedom, where social interactions and the festive spirit cannot be sacrificed on the altar of an epidemic. What is proposed is to organize sanitized and lifeless festivals to say that this is allowed.

Hellfest fans can however be reassured, the date of 2022 has already been given: the festival will be held from June 17 to 19 next year.

Chorégies d'Orange

Maintained – From June 18 to July 31, 2021 in Orange

The oldest festival in France should be present this summer, with a well-stocked program: "2021 will see the resumption of some of the shows planned for 2020 and it is with great impatience that we are waiting to find Roberto Alagna and Marie-Nicole Lemieux in Samson et Dalila, Cecilia Bartoli in a recital with the Musiciens du Prince-Monaco, the Béjart Ballet Lausanne, Maxim Vengerov and other musical pleasures as only Orange can offer them", explained the director of Chorégies. , Jean-Louis Grinda.

Read alsoThe Chorégies d'Orange hope to find music lovers and win over gamers, moviegoers and rockers

Spring of Bourges

Postponed - From June 22 to 27, 2021. Initially scheduled for May 4 to 9, 2021 in Bourges.

Founded in 1977, the Cher music festival had record attendance in 2018 with more than 250,000 festival-goers throughout the event. The Printemps de Bourges is coming back in 2021, in seven different rooms. The organizers specified that “all the shows will take place with limited reception capacity, in a seated configuration and with the wearing of a compulsory mask” in order to enjoy the concerts of Jean-Louis Aubert, Pomme and Alain Souchon in complete safety.

Read alsoJean-Louis Aubert, Apple, Alain Souchon: the Printemps de Bourges unveils its program

Montpellier Dance

Maintained – From June 23 to July 16, 2021 in Montpellier

One of the most important contemporary dance festivals in Europe, attracting between 50,000 and 60,000 visitors each year, should hold its 41st edition this summer.

An edition extended by one week compared to usual, which will take up part of the 2020 program, but also other creations. In all, 22 shows and 125 events are planned, with artists such as Ohad Naharin, Thomas Lebrun, Maud Le Pladec and Elsa Decaudin.

Jazz in Vienna

Maintained – From June 23 to July 10, 2021 in Vienne (Isère)

The major musical event in Isère announced on April 6 the holding of its 40th edition. Eighteen evenings will be offered during the festival, which should be held at the Roman Theater, outdoors: “Sanitary measures are a very strong concern. We should oscillate at the Roman Theater between 3,200 and 3,800 spectators. For the moment, the Municipal Theater will not present any show, nor, a priori, the free scene of Cybèle in the city center. The only manageable place at the moment is the Roman Theater,” the festival organizers told France Info. Marcus Miller, a regular at the festival, was forced to cancel his visit because of the pandemic.

Aix-en-Provence Opera Festival

Maintained – From June 30 to July 25, 2021

The Marriage of Figaro, Tristan and Yseult, Falstaff or even I Due Foscari are on the bill at the next opera festival in Aix this summer. “After the cancellation of the past edition, the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence is doubling its ambition for its 2021 edition, which it wishes to be exceptional in all respects. Because we all need to find ourselves around the most beautiful art, tasted together in the present moment - even if we cannot presume at the present time what it will really be. “, explained the director of the festival Pierre Audi in a press release.

"No less than eight new productions and an opera in concert version are thus offered, covering a wide range of eras and styles", he specified.

The Eurockeans

Canceled – Initially scheduled for July ¹ to 4, 2021 in Belfort

As early as mid-March, the director of the Eurockéennes de Belfort, Jean-Paul Roland, warned during a virtual round table organized by the Senate of an “impasse” in the face of the measures. “We had made a projection of a degraded version (of the festival). The result for a three-day edition shows 866,000 euros in losses, with for example a step at more than 100,000 euros. And this projection does not take into account structural costs, rents, salaries, insurance: there, you have to add between 600,000 and 700,000 euros. ”, lamented the director, forced to cancel this 2021 edition.

The organizers announced on Friday May 21 that the Muse concert normally scheduled for this year was postponed to Sunday July 3, 2022.

Read alsoAfter the cancellation of the festival this summer, the Eurockéennes postpone the Muse concert to 2022

Arles photographic encounters

Maintained – From July 4 to September 26, 2021

The Rencontres d'Arles, annual photography festival, will take place this year, from the beginning of July to the end of September. Founded in 1970 by Arles photographer Lucien Clerge, writer Michel Tournier and historian Jean-Maurice Rouquette, they brought together 145,000 spectators in 2019.

Days off at the Philharmonie de Paris

Maintained - From July 4 to 13, 2021.

The festival launched by the Cité de la Musique and the Philharmonie de Paris should return for a new edition of Days Off, after the cancellation of last year. The Days off have a usually eclectic programme, ranging from pop to rock via electro and minimalist music, like the institution which aims to be open to a wide audience. The program will be unveiled on May 26 at noon.

Avignon Festival

Maintained – July 5 to July 25, 2021

For its 75th edition, the Avignon festival offers 21 days of programming, 400 appointments, 46 theater, dance and circus performances, as well as two exhibitions, 40 readings, 70 debates and meetings. A busy program for this event which brings together nearly 150,000 visitors each year.

Last year, the festival reinvented itself as an “art week”, finally cut short by containment measures.

Read alsoNew dates in 2021 for the Avignon Festival

Old Plows

Maintained – From July 8 to 18, 2021 in Carhaix (Finistère)

The association festival created in 1992, encompassing a variety of musical styles, including pop, rock and hip-hop, will be back this year. Eagerly awaited in 2020, then anticipated for 2021, the singer Céline Dionne will not finally be present in Carhaix until 2023.

To console themselves for the absence of the Canadian star, spectators will still be able to enjoy a beautiful poster, with Vianney, Yseult, Benjamin Bioley, Apple or even Bon Entendeur. The ticket office opens on June 2 on the event site.

Read alsoLes Vieilles Charrues want to transform “health constraints into surprises”

The Francofolies of La Rochelle

Maintained – From July 10 to 14, 2021 in La Rochelle

If the headliners of the festival had already been announced last June, the organizers of the Francofolies unveiled their final program on May 11, with around fifty artists on seven different stages in the coastal city. Jean-Louis Aubert, Grand Corps Malade, Apple, Marc Lavoine and Vianney were present. On the other hand, PNL, Nekfeu, Dadju, Ninho, Matt Pokora, Vald, Roméo Elvis, Chilla, Perturbator and Izïa will ultimately not be there. To replace them, Vitaa & Slimane, Francis Cabrel, Benjamin Biolay and Daniel Auteuil join the program.

Read alsoVianney, Cabrel, Vitaa & Slimane… The Francofolies de la Rochelle adjust their programming

Festival Radio France Occitanie Montpellier

Maintained – July 10 to 30, 2021

155 concerts will be held in 70 different places, spread across Occitanie for this edition of the festival created in 1985 on the initiative of Georges Frêche to bring classical music to life in the south of France.

The opening evening will feature a concert-ball by the Umlaut Big Band, then a whole music cycle Leçons de Ténèbres will take place during the month of July, but also From the Earth to the Stars around music from around the world.

Vaison Dances

Maintained – From July 10 to July 28, 2021 in Vaison-la-Romaine

The Vaucluse dance festival had planned six shows in 2020, given the success of its 2018 edition and its 10,000 spectators. The event should be back this year for its 25th anniversary, with ticket sales scheduled for May 10. On the bill, Mourad Merzouki, David Coria & David Lagos, Aterbaletto, Gandini Juggling or the Ecole-Atelier Rudra Béjart Lausanne.

Lollapalooza Paris

Canceled - Originally scheduled for July 17-18, 2021

“Given the uncertainties that persist in the current context, Lolla Paris will not be able to take place this year. We miss the magic of Lolla Paris more than ever and we can't wait to come back next year, Saturday July 16 and Sunday July 17, 2022”, announced the organizers of the music festival.

In addition to the date of the next edition, the presence of Pearl Jam, the American hard-rock band, has already been confirmed for 2022.

La Roque d'Anthéron Piano Festival

Maintained – From July 23 to August 18, 2021

The piano festival, which welcomes nearly 75,000 visitors and soloists from all over the world each year, was one of the few to have been able to maintain the festivities in 2020, with 58 performances in the heart of the park of the Château de Florans. Only a third of the seats were then available for sale, and the artists had agreed to reduce their fees, allowing the festival to balance its accounts.

The organizers are retrying the bet for this year, but the programming is yet to come.

Read alsoRené Martin: "I couldn't leave classical music knocked out"

Bayonne festivals

Canceled – Originally scheduled for July 28 to August ¹ , 2021

The Bayonne festivals, which have brought together hundreds of thousands of people in the streets of the city every year since 1932, will ultimately not be held this year. The festivities “are impossible to organize” as long as “herd immunity is not guaranteed. People need to get out and we would have seen irrational behavior,” said Mayor Jean-René Etchegaray. Not really a surprise for the inhabitants of the region who had, by a large majority according to a poll by the Sud-Ouest newspaper, affirmed “not wanting to maintain the Bayonne Festival”, “the virus being too present to consider them in 2021” . The mayor, however, specified that other activities could be organized during the summer, depending on the evolution of sanitary conditions.

Lorient Interceltic Festival

Maintained – From August 6 to 15, 2021 in Lorient

The Breton festival, which brings together dozens of countries and regions of Celtic origin and more than 750,000 spectators each year, is to celebrate its 50th anniversary this year with Brittany in the spotlight.

"Since the start of the 2020 school year, our teams have worked on adapting our public reception areas with free access, and our concert halls have been analyzed to build, with anticipation, a project that should respect health and safety standards. guarantee the protection of artists, festival-goers and volunteers. This work has been accomplished,” explained the organizers on the site.

“We are currently doing everything we can to move forward with the construction of a definitive program that respects health constraints. We want to communicate it definitively on April 29,” said festival officials, who did not fail to react on social networks with the hashtag #DeboutLesFestivals, dissatisfied with the government rules imposed.

Berlioz-Festival

Maintained – From August 17 to 30, 2021 at La Côte Saint-André (Isère)

The symphonic music festival, named after the romantic composer from the Côte Saint-André, is due to return in August. The poster was unveiled with a message of hope: a quote from Hector Berlioz, “We have the right to conceive the most magnificent hopes!”. The lineup has also been announced. Renaud Capuçon, Bruno Rigutto or the writer Pascal Guignard will be there.

The Rock Road

Maintained – From August 18 to 21, 2021 in Saint-Malo

The event organized since 1991 in the corsair city is maintained, even if the boss of the festival confided "not being very optimistic about the holding of a classic event", baptized for the occasion "La Route du Rock Collection Covid 2021”. The reflections converge towards an edition "exploded" on two or three different places of the agglomeration of Saint-Malo.

The programming has not yet been broadcast, and the director confided that it would be “adapted if the obligation of the seated position is confirmed”.

Rock in the Seine

Canceled – Initially scheduled for August 27 to 29, 2021 in Paris

The Saint-Cloud park festival, in the heart of the gardens designed by Le Nôtre, will ultimately not take place this summer, the organizers announced on Wednesday May 26. “Even if today the health situation seems to be clearing up, there are still a lot of question marks around outdoor events,” said Arnaud Meersseman, director of programming for the event, at Parisien. “We lack too much information concerning the reception protocols for festival-goers, logistics, catering, it is impossible. We cannot even certify that foreign artists will be able to return to France, whereas the Anglo-Saxon scene is part of the festival's DNA”.

The director, however, clarified that the headliners for next year have already been confirmed, and promises that the 2022 edition will be “the biggest in the history of the festival”.

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