Comminges concert

I have known about Festival du Comminges for a long time. It is one of the main classical music festivals in France and is 'sous le haut patronage du president de la republique' like 'Grand Prix de Chartres'. (Under the high patronage of the president of the republic.) The town has been famous for this prestigous festival for the past 32 years.

St. Bertrand de Comminges is a small rural town in southwest of France, near Spain. I spent more than 14 hours in the train for the round trip from Paris.

When I looked at the name of artists who have already played for this festival, I felt so so honored. They include Marie-Claire Alain, Cecilia Bartoldi, Alfred Brendel, Aldo Ciccolini, Alicia de Larrocha, and Korean artists such as Somi Jo and Kun-woo Paik -- to name only a few.

Every year, they also feature M. Chapuis, professor emeritus at Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris. He is one of the figures who has rediscovered early music in the late 20th century.

Here is the festival's web site: www.festival-du-comminges.com

The organ I played was in Neo Baroque style and was very gorgeous. The console was covered by a wooden cover; therefore I could not hear the balance of the entire organ well without a headphone.

Since it is a popular tourist area, in the audience were people from Korea, Japan, America, Italy, Germany, Spain, France, and so on.