On August 31 in 1775, the composer François de Fossa was born in the French-Catalonian city of Perpignan. In 2017 this was feted on his birthday with concerts, lectures, and visits to the places where he was active, among them the house where he was born and lived. The day was organized by the president of the François de Fossa society, Pierre Coureux, and was attended by lovers of the guitar as well as by the guest of honor, discoverer and publisher of most of his music, Matanya Ophee. Divertimenti from François de Fossa’s Opus 6 were played by Francisco Ortiz as illustrations to a lecture by author Nicole Yrle. She wrote a romanticized biography of the composer. Then the musicologist Bruno Marlat gave a well illustrated history of the guitar and how it went from 5 course double string to 6 string as we know it today. Musical illustration during the day was by the duo Timothée Vinour-Motta and Rémy Patel. They played on period instruments, solo works and duets, primarily the arrangements that de Fossa made of Haydn music. These young players finished their evening performance with Sor’s l’Encouragement, brilliantly performed. The more recent publications of Editions Orphée of de Fossa’s music are five duos based on opera overtures which I presented. The original composers are Nicolas Dalayrac, Henri Berton, Gaspare Spontini, Niccolò Piccinni, and Antonio Sacchini – all composers that were active in Paris before or during the period that de Fossa lived there. Jan de Kloe