Avignon on the Leie

The Festival of Flanders comes home to its birthplace Ghent

The Carrington-Brown duo takes a few playful pot shots at its own genre

After rather straight-laced programmes in Antwerp and Brussels, the Flanders Festival hits Ghent and lets its hair down. It’s a homecoming of sorts: Ghent is where the mighty institution began when its visionary founder Jan Briers, Sr, launched the first handful of concerts over half a century ago. Today, the Ghent Festival (which, unlike other stopovers, hasn’t bothered to re-brand itself under a new name) is a genial, unpretentious affair that fills the city’s streets and venues with wonderful music and a party atmosphere.

The tone is set on day one with Ode Gand, a one-day extravaganza that sweeps over the city’s winding streets and waterways. It is as joyful a celebration of music as one could wish for, with tango jostling jazz and classical sounds, a giant bonfire and a bustling flotilla of boats to ferry you from one event to the next. The programme claims that on that day, the city on the Leie looks a little like Avignon. We think it looks like Ghent, which is every bit as glamorous.

The following days bring classical concerts that wouldn’t look out of place on the star-studded programme of Brussels’ Klara Festival: the Rotterdam Philharmonic in Bruckner’s eighth, the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Mahler’s fourth, the Hofkapelle und Kammerkor Stuttgart in Mozart’s Requiem. The one concert I wouldn’t miss for the world, though, is Swedish mezzosoprano Anne Sofie Von Otter’s poignant recital of songs by Viktor Ullmann, Pavel Haas and other composers from the Second World War. All were composed in the Terezín concentration camp near Prague, where many Jewish artists were sent and continued to create as one would cling to a lifebuoy.

Not everything on the programme is strictly classical: There’s a sizzling flamenco show featuring Sevillian dancer Isabel Bayón, music from Japan and Tibet as well as an upbeat minifestival for children. The more athletic among us, meanwhile, will enjoy pedalling around the lovely East Flanders countryside as part of Avanti!, an ever-popular cycling tour that rewards tired limbs and sweaty brows with delightful concerts in churches and country cafés.

The prize for wackiness, though, must go to Carrington-Brown, a double act by Rebecca Carrington, a British classically trained cellist turned stand-up comedian, and her singer partner Colin Brown. Carrington uses her 18th-century cello to ape a flamenco guitar and Scottish bagpipes and turns out uproarious impressions of Madonna and Jacqueline Dupré. Subtle she isn’t always, but the cheek and freedom she uses to mock the establishment of which she is part feels utterly refreshing. She looks to become a regular guest to the festival, and it couldn’t dream of a better mascot.