In the smallest town in France, a hundred kilometers north of Paris, music invites itself for a weekend. In Gerberoy, a town of 80 inhabitants nicknamed the “City of Roses”, the pianist and founder of the festival, Philippe Cassard, takes over the reins of the 20th edition of Moments musicales. Concerts in the gardens and in the medieval church: the festival brings together flautists, guitarists and pianists, mixing jazz and classical music, and features both young talents and a living legend, the pianist Elisabeth Leonskaja, 80 years old, and the actress Julie Depardieu.
With its stone, brick and half-timbered houses covered in roses, Gerberoy seems frozen in a postcard. Ranked among the most beautiful villages in France, this town in the Oise, which became a town in 1202 under Philippe Auguste, has seen kings and conquerors pass through. Today, it also attracts artists – starting with the pianist Philippe Cassard.
Love at first sight turned into a festival
« Love at first sight dates back almost 30 years“, says the musician. And yet, it was in November, in a gray and bare setting, that he discovered Gerberoy for the first time. But it was neither the roses nor the summer that immediately seduced him… rather the soul of the place: its old houses and especially the village collegiate church.As soon as I walked in, I snapped my fingers and I knew : the acoustics are sensational“, he recalls.
From this meeting a first festival was born,The Gerberoy Summer Festivalswhere classical music and popular traditions intersect. Alongside a violinist friend passionate about Yiddish and Gypsy music, Philippe Cassard imagines a meeting open to the world. Over the years, artists from Argentina, Romania, Catalonia and Tyrol perform there, in places as varied as the church, the market hall or the village gardens.
A decor inspired by history and art
Gerberoy also owes its charm to the influence of the impressionist painter Henri Le Sidaner, who settled here at the beginning of the 20th century. He created sumptuous terraced gardens there, which became a perfect setting for music.
It is in one of these spaces, the white garden, that a special evening will come to life: the actress Julie Depardieu, surrounded by the flautist Juliette Hurel and the guitarist Gaëlle Solal, will bring music and reading into dialogue around Schubert.
Schubert au cœur du programme
The Austrian composer, a major figure of romanticism, is at the center of the program. Notably through his famous lieder –“Âsongs for voice and piano“, as Philippe Cassard recalls, who highlights its richness: Schubert composed more than 600 during his short life.
A bountiful work that inspires all explorations. The festival thus offers a commission “in the manner of” from a young Franco-American composer, but also contrasting interpretations: Schubert’s last sonata, carried by the piano legend Elisabeth Leonskaja, or even a jazz rereading by Paul Lay, who claims the importance of “keep the theme while adding swing and groove ”.
A timeless parenthesis
At Gerberoy, music is not just played: it is experienced in a landscape and an atmosphere.
« We cannot organize a festival in a garage or a municipal hall“, insists Philippe Cassard. Here, everything contributes to the experience: “These millions of rose bushes, these century-old trees. We are immersed in another spirit, another idea of time. »
In the heart of this village steeped in history, the Gerberoy Musical Moments offer a timeless interlude where heritage, nature and artistic excellence meet in harmony.
