About the Festival
The upcoming Festival de la Gente features exceptional emerging classical musicians from France, the United Kingdom and beyond. The inaugural festival will take place across 25-28th August 2023 and includes concerts featuring young professional performers at the beginning of their careers.
The Festival will have at its heart the local culture and essence of La Gente and its surrounding villages. It will showcase local culture and cuisine, and a range of beautiful indoor and outdoor venues. It will provide fantastic opportunities for musicians to perform to appreciative public audiences,
In The Future
Over the coming years we would like to attract visitors with an interest in chamber and solo music from throughout and beyond the region.
With a large English speaking population in Central and Southern France, we also hope for the festival to develop into a bilingual event.
Who We Are
Bertille Cascio
Originally from Paris, Bertille Cascio is at the end of her studies for a Master of Performance degree at the Royal College of Music, studying French Horn with John Thurgood, Kira Doherty and Nigel Black. Previously she studied at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Paris with Vladimir Dubois.
Bertille currently works as a Freelance Horn player in London. Here she has worked with a wide range of orchestras, including the Orchestra of the English National Opera, Bath Festival Orchestra and the Urban Soul Orchestra. In France she has worked with ensembles such as Ensemble le Balcon and Orchestre Pas-de-loup.
As well as this, she has received training as a member of Orchestre de la Francophonie, the Transsiberian Festival Youth Orchestra, Orchestre des Jeunes d’Ile-de-France, and Orchestre des Cuivres de Paris.
Bertille also has extensive experience in music education, such as with the Royal College of Music Sparks programme and through the Bath Festival Orchestra education programme.
Nick Walker
Originally from Leeds, United Kingdom, Nick Walker was a scholar at the Royal College of Music, London, graduating in 2020 with both Bachelors and Masters degrees, with 1st Class Honours and Distinction respectively. Here he studied trumpet with David Elton, Jason Evans, Alistair Mackie and Kate Moore, as well as natural trumpet with Paul Sharp and Neil Brough.
Nick has worked with a variety of orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (including a Principal Trumpet trial), Philharmonia Orchestra, RTE Symphony Orchestra and London Sinfonietta as well as period instruments ensembles including Dunedin Consort and the Orchestra of the Sixteen. From 2020-22 he was the trumpet player on the Foyle Future First development scheme with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and also was an academist with the London Sinfonietta in 2017. He is currently a member of Sinfonia Cymru, the Britten-Shostakovich Festival Orchestra and the Bath Festival Orchestra.
As a student, Nick won the Royal College of Music trumpet prize and was a finalist in the Royal College of Music Concerto Competition, as well as being the recipient of awards/scholarships from Help Musicians UK, Craxton Memorial Trust, ABRSM and the Royal College of Music.
Nick also studied piano with Julian Jacobson at the Royal College of Music and was twice the recipient of the Lloyd Hartley Memorial Prize for Pianoforte in Leeds before beginning his studies at the RCM.