Lucien Durosoir Festival

Lucien Durosoir Festival: Chamber Music at the Heart of the Landes

The Lucien Durosoir Festival, also known as the Lucien Durosoir Musical May, celebrates the musical legacy of an extraordinary composer each year. Lucien Durosoir, born December 5, 1878, in Boulogne-sur-Seine, was an internationally renowned virtuoso violinist before World War I brutally interrupted his career. After five years at the front, he retired in 1924 to Bélus, a small village in the Pays d'Orthe in the Landes region, where he composed some forty deeply profound works in silence and solitude, many of which remained unpublished for a long time.

An Exceptional Heritage Setting

The festival takes place at the Château de Monbet, in Saint-Lon-les-Mines, in an intimate and historic setting that enhances the musical emotion and recalls Durosoir's deep connection to the Landes. This heritage site offers remarkable acoustics and an atmosphere conducive to contemplation, perfectly suited for chamber music.

A Tribute Carried by Family and Artists

Founded by Luc Durosoir, the composer's son and a doctor, the festival is artistically directed by baritone Mario Hacquard. It perpetuates the wish that Lucien Durosoir expressed on his deathbed to his mother: "Take care of the young musicians." Thus, the festival makes it a point of honor to invite talented young performers alongside recognized ensembles.

A Sensitive and Demanding Program

Each edition features themed evenings combining string quartets, readings of war correspondence, travelogues, and Durosoir's works juxtaposed with the great classics of Janáček, Ravel, Satie, or Debussy. The Quatuor Diotima, a reference ensemble, is regularly invited to bring the composer's scores to life.

Rediscovering a Forgotten Genius

Lucien Durosoir's work, long overshadowed, has been the subject of a complete discography since the 2000s and growing recognition from the musicological community. The festival actively contributes to this rediscovery by offering premieres and first performances. In May 2019, a monument was erected in his honor, marking the composer's memory in the landscape of the Landes.