Hi,
If you've been to any of the classical church concerts other than Sainte-Chapelle, any particular recommendations? I'm sure they're all good but am curious as to atmosphere at different churches and whether some concerts are smaller/more intimate than others? The list I'm looking at is the one at classictics--and looks like euromusic has the same calendar of sales.
Thanks for your thoughts!
I have been to concerts at the Madeline church, featuring Les Violons de France, who are very good. I recommend them.
It's a big impressive church, not really an intimate setting.
St Eustache has organ concerts on Sunday afternoons--around 5 pm I think. The church is beautiful and concerts are well attended.
There are often free concerts at the Madeleine and at Trinite -- big but beautiful churches. The Madeleine is a frequent venue for touring church groups and similar amateur concert groups. We often use free church concerts as a way to see a new church and a new part of town. Often they are in unlovely basements or side rooms rather than in the sanctuary and so less charming. The little chapel in honor of the last crown prince of the French who was killed at 36 in a carriage accident (the chapel was built on the spot and later moved to a perch on the peripherique) thus ending the monarchy is hard to visit since it is rarely open. We went to an amateur saxaphone concert there which ended up being in the ugly basement, but we were able to visit the chapel beforehand which we had never before been able to see. This is the small Chapelle de la Compassion. You can see some of our free concerts and their venues here: https://janettravels.wordpress.com/2010/06/17/music-one-key-to-unlocking-paris/
It is also fun to just visit churches off the beaten path even if there isn't a concert involved; there are some interesting and different modern and classic churches in many corners of Paris.
The concert I attended at Notre Dame was wonderful, especially the solo by their master organist, heavenly. It was a small orchestra, an instrumental quintet, and then a vocal group plus the organ solo.
I also went to a concert at Notre Dame. It was Baroque music with brass and vocals. It was absolutely wonderful. We stumbled onto it when we went to Notre Dame on our first day in Paris and saw flyers. You can probably search the Internet or check out the local Time Out publication.
Pariscope the weekly magazine available at newsstands for 50 cents or so lists all the music event by day and indicates which ones are free.
These ideas sound great! Thank you for your replies!
St. Sulpice and the American Church in Paris also have various concerts. You'll probably have to visit each website to find out what is offered. You might go to tripadvisor.com, Paris forum and do a search in the Paris forum for church concerts. There are many and most are free.
I went to a wonderful concert at the Musee de Cluny - lovely acoustics too. It was not a church but it was quite atmospheric in a very old space. The Cluny was built on top of 2,000 year-old Roman ruins.
Highly recommend going.
Judy B
Here's a link to the tickets for concerts in the Eglise d'Ephrem on rue des Carmes in the 5th (on the hillside on the way up to the Pantheon). I used to pass this every week on my way to my Italian class and thought it looked like it could be fun, although I confess I've never actually gone. It says it's an 80-seat chapel.
It's a Syrian Catholic church, according to the city of Paris and Wikipedia.
http://www.billetreduc.com/lieu/paris/eglise-saint-ephrem/
https://www.classictic.com/fr/paris/eglise_saint-ephrem/578/
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89glise_Saint-%C3%89phrem-le-Syriaque
We went to a vocal concert years ago at St-Julien-le-Pauvre, a small church close to the river in the Latin Quarter. As I recall it was an attractive building next to a small cemetery or park, but not ornate or architecturally outstanding. But OK on the intimacy standard.
As you probably know, there's an organ concert after the main Sunday service at St-Sulpice, a big church worth seeing in its own right.
I've decided to give St Eustache a try. It has the proposed program that sounds most appealing to me.
Will let you know how it goes!
Another vote for St. Sulpice in the 6th.
We visited this ancient church (that was featured in the Tom Hanks movie 'The DaVinci Code') for Sunday Mass this last February. The service itself was moving & inspirational, but on most weeks after the Mass--around 11:45-12:00--Daniel Roth, only the fifteenth organist since 1601--plays a mini-concert of about 20 minutes on St. Sulpice's magnificent pipe organ, reportedly tops in Europe.
Unbelievable, and in the atmosphere in a barely-heated 400 year old church, it was positively Medieval. A highlight of our trip. Don't miss this if you get the chance!
Judy, that I suspect was amazing. The musee de Cluny is one of the most overlooked destinations.
Hey all,
Just reporting back that St. Eustache is a grand, tall (very tall!) church but the concert was intimate as Les Violons de France played in front of the church's crèche and center altar. The vocal soloist was fantastic. I'd recommend it. The concert lasted a little over 1.5 hours including an encore. There's a lot of construction in/around the Chatelet Metro right now so would recommend getting off at the Etienne Marcel stop instead and walking 2-3 blocks to church.
The organ concerts at St. Eustache are free and last about 30 minutes. This church has one of the largest, if not the largest, pipe organ in Europe and it is the second largest church in Paris. Mass follows the concert for those who want to stay.
And while we're talking churches...
I didn't attend a concert at St Severin but peeked in and it looks like a lovely smaller church for music.
If you're on Montmartre, step in St Pierre (around the corner from Sacre Coeur). It has a beautiful, unique modern glass altar.
So much history and architecture, too little time!
