The Lanaudière Festival begins Saturday with a concert by Nicolas Ellis and the Orchestre de l’Agora, joined by scientist Farah Alibay, in a program combining Orion by Claude Vivier and The planets Holst, to close on the afternoon of August 4 with a concert presentation ofAida by Verdi under the direction of Yannick Nézet-Séguin. The duty discusses this edition and the positioning of the Festival with its artistic director, Renaud Loranger.
“We have arrived more or less where we imagined we would be 4 or 5 years ago. If you take the 2024 season, but also the last two, the arrival of international ensembles, the presence of important artists, who have never come to us or who are returning, the alignment of the festival with Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s lyrical projects in New York, all this is falling into place”, summarizes Renaud Loranger, satisfied with the turn of events.
Heavy trend
In Lanaudière, it seems that the bet on quality is paying off, which is something we don’t see everywhere else. “In terms of ticket sales, we’ve noticed a significant rebound ahead of the festival compared to the previous two years. So, we’re thinking that this may be a key moment and we’re looking with more serenity at what the present or future of the Festival has in store for us,” analyzes Renaud Loranger.
The festival administration confirms this feeling. Ten days before the Festival, the latter recorded 11% of tickets sold and 16% of additional revenue compared to 2023, a figure up 71% on both counts compared to 2022. Compared to the last pre-pandemic year, 2019, this is +48% and +51% respectively. General Manager Xavier Roy acknowledges: “Since last year, we have been announcing the entire season earlier, which helps us sell more and earlier.” But he adds in the same breath: “The trend still seems heavy and positive.” “If the weather turns out to be better this year than last summer, we should achieve exceptional results this year,” concludes the General Manager.
Renaud Loranger nevertheless calls for caution: “The Festival is in a very good position after the pandemic. Nevertheless, we must remain very cautious, because all this seems very fragile to me. I hope that we are not faced with a more serious problem: the revision of public support, regardless of the level of government. I continue to advocate for a sustained and increased presence of public funding in a festival like ours.”
Old habits
As with Mathieu Lussier, interviewed last week, we did this little exercise in 2023 with Renaud Loranger and Xavier Roy. The big surprise of this interview was what the artistic director then called “the constantly diminished value of the handshake”, that is to say promises of coming to the festival from artists, which, at the last minute, did not materialize.
As for the reliability of the artists’ word, “things are clearer, easier and we find a little more predictability. We are able to be immersed in 2025 and 2026, to take steps with more anticipation to obtain the presence of the artists we wish to have. The general dynamic will become much more reliable”, Renaud Loranger tells us this year.
In fact, it is the profession that is returning to its old habits and its planning rhythm. “In practice, we are very advanced on 2025, which will be finalized this summer, and the thinking is advanced on 2026 and 2027, which, let’s not forget, will be the year of the 50e edition of the festival.
But, here too, in the context of this anticipation, the artistic director does not lose sight of the questioning that is nagging at him, that of “the general fragility – or not – of the ecosystem in which we are evolving today”. “I am careful not to be too optimistic, because the markers that we are observing have been moving for several months.”
Great departure
Even before the start of this 2024 edition, Xavier Roy announced that he would be leaving the general management at the end of the festival. This very brilliant cultural manager will reorient his career. In a text entitled “Un pas de côté”, published on the Festival website, Xavier Roy indicates: “circumstances in my personal life lead me to leave the region to be closer to my family”. He warns: “If my departure from the Festival de Lanaudière will surprise some, I am sure that the upcoming announcement of my new challenge, outside the cultural sector, will raise other questions. Why take this “step to the side”, outside the arts and culture sector, especially at a time when the stakes are so fundamental? […] I wanted to take this opportunity to explore other sectors, particularly to find inspiration for arts and culture. […] I feel the need to take, once and for all, this “step aside” to discover new industries, ways of working and organizational cultures.”
For Renaud Loranger, the loss is heavy. “Xavier Roy was a first-class partner. It is certainly news that saddens me first and foremost, because we worked very well together.” But he understands the decision: “After all, this is normal and part of a personal and professional life cycle.” In his eyes, “Xavier Roy got the Festival out of the pandemic in terms of logistics, presence on the ground. He reconnected with partners and made sure that things were moving in the right direction. Xavier’s work was major; he allowed the Festival not only to continue, but to evolve in very difficult circumstances.” “I am confident that we will find someone who will be able to continue the work alongside me in the spirit and mission that are ours,” adds the artistic director.
“The replacement of Xavier Roy is a process that I will support for the second time in my Lanaudière mandate,” adds the artistic director. Indeed, Renaud Loranger had arrived before the general director, at the end of 2018. “François Bédard was still general director and it was he himself who convinced me to accept the Festival’s invitation. My appointment was his last major gesture before his retirement.”
Important dates
The spectacular project of the 2024 edition is obviously Aida in concert version under the direction of Yannick Nézet-Séguin on August 4. This concert meets the festival’s ambition to offer a prestigious poster while allowing the conductor to test a work that he will present later at the Metropolitan Opera, in this case at the turn of the next year.
” Aida was supposed to be scheduled in 2020. That was the subject of my very first discussion with Yannick Nézet-Séguin as artistic director of the Festival in October 2018! We had laid the foundations for this, it didn’t happen.” Seeing the project come to fruition in August 2024 demonstrates in Renaud Loranger’s eyes “to what extent the pandemic has derailed things and how long it takes to get back to the foundations we had before.” The challenge now lies once again in terms of “artists’ availability, so as not to make concessions on distributions.” It is also about “aligning with New York to find the right moment in the planning by Yannick Nézet-Séguin”.
The Canadian debut of pianist Yoav Levanon, in recital on July 17 and in concerto on the 19th with Rafael Payare, will also be highly anticipated. “I met him in Berlin before the pandemic, with Daniel Barenboim, when he was very young,” Renaud Loranger tells us. “He is Barenboim’s last disciple. I heard him in Berlin several times after the pandemic and I consider him to be a very interesting person.”
The 2024 Festival will also feature William Christie on July 13 and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra on July 12 and 14. Anne Sofie von Otter will present Sweet Franke at the Amphitheatre on July 27. As for the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, it will be in concert on July 19 and 20 and August 2 and 3, while the Orchestre Métropolitain will perform on July 28 and August 4.