The secret of organ festival Toulouse-les-Orgues by Hans Fidom

Hans Fidom The secret of organ festival Toulouse-les-Orgues
Het ORGEL 101 (2005), nr. 1, 26-31 [summary]

In October 2004, the ninth international organ festival Toulouse-les-Orgues was held. In two weeks’ time sixty activities were presented, all of which were very well attended; the concerts in the weekend were sold out. Artistic manager Jan Willem Jansen mentions several conditions that can explain this success: the initiator, the late Xavier Darasse, prepared excellent contacts with the local government, which provides a smooth financial back-up; the city has many beautiful organs in impressive churches; the public relations and the relations with the press are organised by professionals; Toulouse has excellent weather, which enables the organisation to choose October for the festival, so that the city doesn’t have to compete with the many organ festivals that take place in the summer; the city is, with its vast number of fine restaurants, very welcoming. Furthermore, organs are not heard frequently in concerts, which enhances the attractiveness of the festival even more.