Festival Lyrique International de Belle-Île-en-Mer

Mission & Vision 

Founded in 1998 by American bass-baritone Richard Cowan, the Festival Lyrique International de Belle-Île-en-Mer (Lyrique en Mer) brings opera and choral singing to Belle-Île-en-Mer, the largest island off the coast of Brittany, France. Each summer, the festival gathers established artists, young professionals, amateur singers, and audiences to create and share opera and song on the island, and its cultural and educational work continues all year round. Led by Franco-American artistic director Jazmin Black Grollemund, who oversees that work, it runs creation and outreach projects with schools, professional artists, and local partners. 

The festival is dedicated to keeping the vocal arts thriving on the island and to passing them on to the next generation through creating opera, gathering the island around choral singing, and opening the door to music education and professional training for local children and young singers. 

Lyrique en Mer envisions Belle-Île as a living musical island, where opera and vocal arts play an active role in nurturing both the local community and international vocal talent, bringing audiences from around the world together through song. 

Actions Led 

Year-round, Lyrique en Mer’s projects on Belle-Île-en-Mer include: 

• The summer festival: Each summer, over about two weeks from late July into August, Belle-Île-en-Mer becomes a stage for opera. Opera productions, sacred music concerts, recitals, chamber music, and children’s concerts fill the salle Arletty in Le Palais, the island’s churches and chapels, and the ramparts of Le Palais, bringing together established artists, young professionals, and audiences. More than 30 opera productions have been created since 1998. 

• Schools and young audiences: Interventions in the island’s elementary schools and the Michel Lotte middle school, choral singing courses for children and teenagers, and educational concerts and young-audience formats help children and young students discover the vocal arts. 

• Choral singing for everyone: The Belle-Île choir gathers more than 60 singers. Since 2018, the participatory day Venez Chanter (“Come Sing”) has invited amateurs to sing alongside the choir, soloists, and orchestra, welcoming around 150 choristers each summer. 

• Launching young artists: The Young Artist Program, now Lyrique en Mer Opéra Studio, welcomes emerging singers at the threshold of their professional lives, with stage roles, coaching, and masterclasses alongside seasoned professionals. More than 350 young singers from France, the United States, and Europe have trained on Belle-Île, and alumni have gone on to stages from the Paris Opera to the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago. 

Projects That U.S. Donors Can Support 

Opera and vocal arts thrive when voices have room to grow, and when choral projects and access to vocal arts training are within reach of the next generation of singers on Belle-Île-en-Mer and beyond. 

With Friends of Fondation de France, U.S. donors can make a tax-deductible donation to support the festival in working with local elementary and middle schools around choir singing activities and during the annual festival, and welcoming young artists to help them in beginning their career. 

Your support helps keep the vocal arts vibrant and alive on Belle-Île-en-Mer, nurturing a haven for artistic creation, growth, and exchange, helping the next generation find their voice. 

Photo © David Giard