Callas Ancient Music Festival

33rd Callas Ancient Music Festival - 2025 Edition

The 33rd edition of the Callas Ancient Music Festival took place in July 2025, once again bringing together music lovers from the Var and the South-East of France in the Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption church for Baroque repertoire. Several concerts were offered throughout the July evenings, in the subdued light of the stone church, providing an incomparable sonic and emotional immersion.

The program for this 33rd edition highlighted the great figures of European Baroque: Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, Vivaldi's Four Seasons, sonatas by Handel, harpsichord pieces by Rameau, and cantatas by Telemann echoed under the church vaults. The invited ensembles, specializing in historically informed performance practices (HIP), played on period instruments or period copies: harpsichord, viola da gamba, lute, traverso, Baroque oboe, gut strings.

The remarkable acoustic quality of the Callas church, renowned among Baroque musicians in the South-East, once again magnified this music written for modest-sized spaces. The intimacy of the venue, with only a few hundred seats, created the closeness between musicians and listeners that is the hallmark of the festival's concerts. The audience, mostly long-time patrons, gave the artists a warm welcome.