The 8th edition of the Flute Days took place over 4 days, from April 17 to 20, thanks to the initiative of the Orphée Music Institute in Roquecourbe.
They began allegro vivo, starting on Friday afternoon at the Rond-Point de Labruguière Theatre with a dedicated teaching session for the 30 flute students from the 6 orchestral classes at the Barral Colleges in Castres and Saint Dominique de Labruguière, led by Hervé Hotier, a concert artist and flute professor at the CRR in Clermont-Ferrand.
An edition focused on transmission Cédric Lenoir and Jean-Louis Soulet, music teachers, emphasize the importance of this ensemble work for these flute students who are already familiar with playing in a Harmony Orchestra. Hervé Hotier addressed numerous pedagogical points with them regarding posture, gaining precision, and breath control.
The evening concert featured Hervé Hotier interpreting pieces from the flute repertoire accompanied by the Flûte Aeria ensemble. They played well-known tunes (Flight of the Bumblebee, Badinerie by Jean-Sébastien Bach, Pavane by Fauré, Game of Thrones) and in the second part, the 50 second-year orchestral students from the school presented a high-quality final concert with brilliance!
On Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, over 15 flute students from the Conservatoire du Tarn, the Orphée Music Institute, and the Municipal School of Music in Labruguière had the pleasure of benefiting from Hervé Hotier’s teaching, accompanied on the piano by Isabelle Pourkat.
Varied concerts and a dazzling finale Each day ended with high-quality concerts, starting on Saturday evening with the Occi’flûtes ensemble of 15 flutists with Hervé Hotier as the soloist. The varied chosen repertoire highlighted the different existing flutes.
The next day, a “Flute and Piano Recital” brought together Hervé Hotier and Isabelle Pourkat. This close-knit duo reinvents itself every year to our great delight. Guy Bardot and Florence Jaud also performed a duet with Hervé Hotier.
The brilliant finale, open to all participating flutists, concluded with an animato performance of Joachim Johow’s “Dance of Fire.”
In order to continually improve the quality and technique of the flute players, on Saturday afternoon, the phoniatrist doctor, Dr. Benoît Amy de La Bretêque, presented the mechanisms related to breath and flute playing. His presentation allowed for a better understanding of the importance of body work and sound production.
The work in duos, trios, and quartets led to a rich performance on Monday evening from the students: each one was able to express themselves in front of the audience to the best of their abilities and show the progress made during these days.
The organizers would like to thank all the partners for this 8th edition: “La Traversière” French Flute Association, Miyazawa Flutes, Société Dôme-France, Octavent store in Toulouse, not forgetting to express gratitude to the municipalities of Labruguière and Roquecourbe, as well as the students for their trust, and Hervé Hotier and Isabelle Pourkat who, once again, shared their talent with passionate and enthusiastic flutists.
