Thanks & acknowledgements

We would like to extend our appreciation to everyone who  helped to make the 2014 Musique Cordiale Festival & Academy possible. This includes all who have contributed time, energy, advice, donations in kind (including food & entertainment, prizes, car-driving and use, free accommodation) or the funds that are vital to make this ambitious enterprise happen.

• The free lunch-time concerts in Seillans this year were sponsored by the Friends of Musique Cordiale.  All of you who enjoy our concerts or wish to become more involved are invited to become a Member, Friendor Patron: pay online using our PayPal buttons or complete a form available at all events or contact us.
• Special thanks must go to the town of Seillans and to other municipalities in the Pays de Fayence as well as to the city of Saint-Raphaël. This year we received much-appreciated support from the Communauté des Communes du Pays de Fayence and from the Syndicat Mixte pour le development de Saint-Raphael et du Pays de Fayence. The grant of funds by the festival’s main host town of Seillans, in particular, has been extraordinarily generous, combined with our use of its facilities and access to local resources and staff. The vision and support of the Mayor and Council in Seillans, as well as the mayors in our other venues, has been extraordinary: the festival would not be possible without it. We hope that concert-goers make full use of the range of shops, bars and excellent restaurants and patronize art galleries and businesses in Seillans and other towns where concerts are held.
• We are grateful to the local parishes, parish priests and towns for the use of the lovely churches that we use for many of the concerts in Seillans, Mons, Tanneron, Bagnols-en-Forêt, Claviers, Bargemon and Montauroux this year.
• This year, we are especially grateful to the sponsors of two of our evening concerts: – The Galamian Institute for Music, Netherlands, sponsored the Academy concert. This is the culmination of the week-long Academy which we run in parallel with the festival’s first week. Students play alongside professionals in the orchestra at this concert. – The Morris-Venables Charitable Foundation is sponsoring our concert in Claviers, the second time that we have been able to stage an event in this charming venue.
• We extend a special thanks to everyone who gives time: all work for the festival is voluntary. This ranges from the organizers and members of the committee of the Association, to musicians and Academy-tutors through to volunteers who move furniture and staging for concerts, manage the library of music, translate everything, record concerts, sell tickets at the door or usher you to your places in concerts. The association does buy such items as accommodation and food (and food preparation) for musicians and singers; but many other tasks (clearing up after concerts or meals, for example) are provided for free.
• Along with travel and food, accommodation for the musicians and singers who perform for free at our concerts is a huge weight on the festival budget. Special thanks go to those who have offered us free accommodation, in some cases saving us hundreds of euros per musician. We are also grateful to those householders who have rented accommodation to us this year for agreeing to the 10% discount which we requested so that the festival can survive in recessionary times.
• Advertising in the programme, which we provide free to ticket-holders, helps defray the costs of printing, web-site and promotion. This year we decided to save space and costs by printing the programme in just one language in the hope that most of you attending a concert in France can handle a programme that is mainly in French! Everything on the website appears in English AND French. We would like to thank Super-U supermarkets for printing and distributing our brochures for free and for sponsoring the festival’s car use and offering a special deal to us on food prices. We hope that the patrons of Musique Cordiale will also support Super-U with their shopping trollies! Generous donations from Seillans vineyards add to the the reasons why you should also visit them and taste their wines.
• Pledges to a newly-formed Musique-Cordiale Trust mean that this can be established as a charity in the UK. We hope that this will attract growing financial support for the goals of the Festival & Academy in future. Donors will have a chance to support particular activities and events and the trustees hope to attract further funds which can enable education and development of young musical talent and encourage international exchange of musical understanding and prowess of the kind that the Festival and Academy offer. The Trust is facilitating donations which have allowed sponsorship of 2013 concerts.
• Offers of help and support are always most welcome: please contact us!
• A list of our generous Friends, Sponsors and Supporters will be available here soon.
• The full annual report & accounts of the Association to 31 October 2014 will be available to members and on-line here in the run-up to the Annual General Meeting (open to all members). This takes place each year in early December.