FESTIVAL 2003

The year 2003 saw the creation of Beaulieu’s international music festival, Festival de Musique de Beaulieu-sur-Mer, which was set up to commemorate several important anniversaries in the town: the centenaries of the Catholic and Anglican churches in the town; the centenary of the death of the 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, Queen Victoria’s last Prime Minister and an important benefactor of Beaulieu-sur-Mer; and the bi-centenary of the birth of Berlioz, who had visited Beaulieu-sur-Mer on a number of occasions.

The festival proved a huge success, drawing audiences from all over the neighbouring region and from abroad, and gaining the commendation of national and local press.   It also brought together and unified the community of the town in an act of joyful celebration.  As a result, the Mayor and Town Hall of Beaulieu-sur-Mer, together with the departmental government of the Alpes-Maritimes, decided to encourage and support the festival as an annual international music festival.

In response to this decision, the Association Festival de Musique de Beaulieu-sur-Mer was set up, to organize and promote an annual music festival.

The Association aimed to offer the town and its neighbouring region an annual international festival of classical music concerts and lectures in early autumn - a period in the cultural calendar of the Côte d’Azur when  there was a dearth of cultural events.

FESTIVAL 2004

2004 saw the centenary of the signing of the Declaration of Entente Cordiale between France and Great Britain.  The governments of France and Great Britain, in wishing to commemorate this important historical event, had devised a wide range of initiatives to mark the occasion and to highlight the close ties between the two countries.

Festival de Musique de Beaulieu-sur-Mer, under the patronage of the British Ambassador to France, was invited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London to be part of the official calendar of events, under the official logo of the Entente Cordiale Centennial Commemoration, and to participate in an exchange of cultural events between the two countries.  An exciting and varied programme of concerts, exhibitions and cultural lectures was offered, presenting artists of outstanding quality.  All events were sold out and drew audiences of varying age groups.  A broad range of quality outdoor and indoor venues in the town was used for events.  The local hotels and restaurants benefited from the flood of visitors to the festival.  The Festival developed good relations with the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office, the British Embassy in Paris, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the French Ministry of Culture, Buckingham Palace and the Elysée Palace, as well as making an important contribution to the overall national commemoration of Entente Cordiale, and to Franco-British relations in the region.

At the same time, the Festival commemorated the sixtieth anniversary of the liberation of the town by Allied Forces, for which it welcomed French and British military marching bands, as well as a French warship. 

The 2003 Festival was the biggest Entente Cordiale commemorative event in south-eastern France, and the only music festival in France and Great Britain devoting its entire artistic programme to that theme.

FESTIVAL 2005

The Mayor of Beaulieu-sur-Mer and the Town Council, together with the Association of the Festival de Musique de Beaulieu-sur-Mer, decided to keep a Franco-British axis in the Festival in order to pay tribute to the historic presence of the British in the town and their important contribution to the development of the Côte d'Azur over the past century.  They decided also that, in subsequent years, the Festival would pay homage to other nationalities that have participated in this development, notably the Russians, Italians, Germans, Scandinavians and Americans.

The theme of the 2005 Festival will be France, England and Scotland in Russia, and will consider the cultural influence of France and Great Britain on Russia before the nineteenth century, the influence of Russia on France and Great Britain in the twentieth century, and the cultural exchange between the three nationalities on the Côte d’Azur over the past 150 years.  The Festival concerts will present French, Russian and British works and artists of outstanding quality, and will be complemented by a thematic programme of lectures, films and exhibitions.