XXXIVth Cello Meetings of Bélaye

Located about thirty kilometers west of Cahors, Bélaye is a medieval village of 220 inhabitants perched above a meander of the Lot and the vineyards of the valley.

A superb view, some old stones, a huge church; certainly a desired destination for a walk, but a closed school, shops that have disappeared; in short, a marginalized territory kept alive by a few farmers, increasingly retired or secondary residents and the passage of summer tourists.

It was in 1987 that Camille Fauchie, then mayor of Bélaye, asks Philippe Lagard to reflect on the possibilities of implementing a sustainable event likely to take the village out of Bélaye of predictable numbness. An idea is being developed: to create a cultural event of very high quality by taking into account the existing infrastructures, to associate the site of Bélaye and its surroundings to attractive long-term artistic activity. Music, relatively rare at the time in the Lot valley, is essential. The town of Bélaye will focus on one instrument: the cello. It was still necessary to find the animator of prestige likely to carry the project artistically. It was Pierre Bouteiller who directed Philippe Lagard to Roland Pidoux, one of the most brilliant representatives of the French cello school.