Festival Fanfares !

Brass instruments make Brest and Ouessant vibrate

The Festival Fanfares ! is a festive and popular event that transforms Brest and the island of Ouessant into a huge open-air concert every year. Since 2005, during the Ascension weekend, about ten fanfares from all over France gather to make their brass instruments resonate in the streets, on the quays, in the ports, and on the squares of both cities.

A traveling festival between island and continent

The originality of the Festival Fanfares ! lies in its traveling format between Brest and Ouessant. The fanfares board the ferry to reach the island, where they parade along the paths and through the villages before returning to liven up the streets of Brest. This musical journey between sea and land gives the festival a unique dimension, blending the urban energy of Brest with the island magic of Ouessant.

Improvised concerts and festive parades

The festival favors street music forms: improvised concerts on street corners, festive parades through the city, fanfare aperitifs on terraces, and friendly jousts between groups. The fanfares, with their varied styles — brass band, street fanfare, funk fanfare, Balkan fanfare — draw the public into a permanent and communicative celebration. The spirit of conviviality and improvisation makes each edition a unique and unpredictable moment.

The Fanfare Zébaliz, creator of the festival

The Festival Fanfares ! was born from the initiative of the Fanfare Zébaliz, a Brest-based fanfare created over 40 years ago. Driven by passionate musicians and inexhaustible energy, Zébaliz imagined this festival to bring together fanfares from France and elsewhere in a spirit of celebration, sharing, and musical fraternity. The festival is supported by Le Quartz, the City of Brest, the municipality of Ouessant, and the association Ouessant Sports Loisirs.

An unmissable event of the Breton summer

In twenty years of existence, the Festival Fanfares ! has become an unmissable event of the Breton summer. Each edition attracts a loyal and enthusiastic audience, seduced by the unique atmosphere of this street festival where music is everywhere, for everyone, and at all hours. The festival helps to keep the fanfare tradition alive while renewing it through contemporary and festive forms.