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Are St. Chapelle concerts just for tourists?

Are St. Chapelle concerts just for tourists?

Old Dec 3rd, 2016, 04:59 PM
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Are St. Chapelle concerts just for tourists?

I love classical music, and I love churches, so the concerts in St. Chapelle, Paris, look like they're right up my alley!

Now, I understand that some churches don't have the best acoustics, (and some have the best!) so when you see a concert of this type, sometimes you have to go for the experience rather than the quality of the sound, or the music.

Yet...

Looking at the concert schedule, it looks like a bit of an assembly line, a show at 6, a show at 7:30... does anyone have experience with these concerts? Are they like the "Chinese Opera" shows in Beijing, only attended by tourists looking for an "authentic" experience and finding no such thing, (although they can be fun!).

I mean, it's Paris. I have SO many options for concerts and whatnot. So....recommend this? A good time? Or find something else.

While I'm on the topic: I see ballet that tickets aren't available to purchase until seven days prior to the performance. Is this typical? Any recommendations re buying tickets?

Thanks!
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Old Dec 3rd, 2016, 05:11 PM
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From what I heard, Vivaldi's The Four Seasons is frequently on the program. I suspect that it is mostly for tourists.
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Old Dec 3rd, 2016, 05:18 PM
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It's a concert in a church. Not the best acoustics or best musicians in all of Paris, but one of the city's most beautiful and unique venues. Only you can decide if you'd enjoy this more than another performance elsewhere.

"I see ballet that tickets aren't available to purchase until seven days prior to the performance." Which ballet? Where? For the Opera National de Paris 2017 season, I see you can buy advance tickets.

https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/ticketing
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Old Dec 3rd, 2016, 05:20 PM
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We thought it was quite a lovely way to spend part of an evening in Paris. We heard "The Four Seasons". We are tourists when we are in Paris. I guess you are too. The venue is stunning, the music was enjoyable. I wouldn't go again, but for the first time experience; it was worth it to us.
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Old Dec 3rd, 2016, 05:23 PM
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I have been twice at Christmas. I enjoyed it. The first year it ended with a song in English, the second year it didn't. Yep, I am a tourist but not sure how to determine that a classical music concert is for tourists or not. The majority of attendees both years appeared to be local. Yes, there were other tourists but I've did not make up the majority if the audience. The concerts I went to were not The Four Seasons but did include some Vivaldi.
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Old Dec 3rd, 2016, 06:10 PM
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As already noted, the acoustics of the Sainte-Chapelle are not the finest, but the setting is, IMO, absolutely glorious -- particularly if you can attend a performance at sunset, when the light streaming thought those magnificent stained glass panels changes with each passing moment. OMG!!!

The performance I attended was far from pro forma, and was, instead, a carefully considered set designed to feature the vocalist's incredible voice.

And BTW, while it can be difficult to find a true "Beijing Opera" in Beijing, it is not impossible -- one just has to do one's research to find which settings do and do not offer authentic performances.
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Old Dec 3rd, 2016, 06:59 PM
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I have the impression that it's mainly David Braccini's Classik Ensemble playing there and an awful lot of Vivaldi's Four Seasons. They seem to have a nice baroque program.
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Old Dec 3rd, 2016, 10:03 PM
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Ghastly.

The setting at Ste Chapelle is truly awful much of the year: the chapel's major feature (the stained glass) is invisible once it gets dark, the church itself is tucked away in a dull government building and, since the chapel's blacked out throughout the performance, you'd have a more profound (and far less uncomfortable) cultural experience listening to CDs in your car while driving.

The repertoire is pedestrian in the extreme: turn on any classical station when you're in your car and you'll hear more interesting stuff. In fairness, though, classical Hot Hundred material is like most European tourist honeyspots: all popular for a very good reason.

The acoustics at Ste Chapelle - as in practically every small or medium size medieval chapel on earth - are absolutely fine. It's later and bigger churches (especially the dreadful St Peter's in Rome) where it's tough to hear properly: as it is in Notre Dame. The 20,000 or so surviving smaller medieval churches in England and France were designed for performing music - and they work.

The one redeeming feature of this dull experience is the quality of performance. Technically skilled musicians performing both well and with zest. But still no better than most CDs.

The irony, though, is that even in a city as bereft of decent music as Paris is, most evenings see several truly interesting music performances in churches whose features aren't kept invisible. The streets round Notre Dame/Ile de la Cite have loads of flyers publicising them: last Christmas we attended outstanding evenings of Russian Orthodox liturgy, jazz, and Europe's 18th century castrato repertoire - concerts which more than made up for the dismal memory (and preposterous prices) of the cynical ripoff at Ste Chapelle.
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Old Dec 4th, 2016, 12:18 AM
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flanneruk, that ensemble is made up of orchestra musicians from Paris orchestras that are themselves not top notch. and david braccini is essentially a tutti violinist.
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Old Dec 4th, 2016, 01:00 AM
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I am not a classical music lover but since there is no hope AC/DC would go to Ste Chapelle I went nevertherless, not bothering to look at what was going to be sung and by whom.

Since I was with a friend and not my wife (she plays the piano since she is a child and is the one with a muscial ear) we didn't care.

I was fortunate or intelligent enough to go when the sun was 'on' and I spent the whole concert looking at the stained glass and the chapelle itself. The music was ok as far as I can judge (remember, I am not culturally developed on classical music)and I spent a great, no, gorgeous time.

It lasted about one hour, which was perfect for me.

A perfect moment for me, that I considered, strangely enough, a non touristy experience.
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Old Dec 4th, 2016, 01:51 AM
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@ Wo -- so glad that you, too, saw the sun set through those magnificent stained glass windows!
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Old Dec 4th, 2016, 04:41 AM
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I believe the program is usually designed for tourists and is played by a rotating set of local musicians. As an amateur musician myself, I thought the two performances I attended at Ste. Chapelle some years ago were fine, well performed, full of energy.

If you go when the weather is cold outside, it will be cold inside too, so dress appropriately.

There is lots of very good music in Paris, from visiting international musicians and orchestras to students at the Paris conservatories. But the concerts at Ste. Chapelle are easy to find and are played almost every night, so a tourist who does not want to research all the Paris venues and schedules for interesting programs can have a memorable evening in a beautiful, historic location at Ste. Chapelle.
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Old Dec 4th, 2016, 05:59 AM
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We went for the total experience. If you want "quality" music, I recommend
www.38riv.com

for some jazz.
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Old Dec 4th, 2016, 08:24 AM
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I must be the rare one here who really enjoyed the concerts in Saint Chapelle. Went there twice, all by myself. The first concert, some Bach and it was excellent. Maybe the chapelle is not the best for acoustic but it's good nonetheless, I was stunned the first moment the sound of the violin rose. I've been to several concert venues and I'm not usually stunned like that. It's not only about the acoustic but also the set-list of music (I didn't enjoy it as much the second time because of the set-list), the gothic ambiance, the exquisite stained glass.

If you go to a concert at 19pm on a sunny day, the stained glass would still be lit up and it'll make for a magnificent evening.

And I'm not a tourist
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Old Dec 4th, 2016, 08:40 AM
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I've been to concerts at Ste Chapelle twice - both times it was "The Four Seasons", both times the same orchestra. They played it too fast both times. If you can go during late Spring and Summer, when the sun is still out, you'll probably enjoy it. During Christmas, there might be more locals around, because not many tourists visit during the winter.

There are many, better concerts for those who enjoy music presented in venues with much better acoustics than wall-to-wall stained glass.

Here are websites which list most concerts, many with discount prices:
https://www.classictic.com/en/
http://www.billetreduc.com/
http://www.offi.fr/concerts/classique.html

Here's the website for ballet and opera:
https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/season-16-17/ballet
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Old Dec 4th, 2016, 09:40 AM
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Of course they are mainly for tourists because those are the people who are more interested in sitting in a pretty church with stained glass than the actual concert. Anyone can go, though, so you either want to hear Vivaldi's Four seasons in a church or don't. I would never pay for that, but I've been listening to classical music my entire life and play it myself (on an instrument) and that is one of the most hackneyed pieces in the repertoire (or the other chestnuts they may play), I've probably heard it 100s of times. I don't go to concerts so look at stained glass windows, I go for the repertoire and musicians. Also, I prefer to have a musical experience related to the place I am visiting -- Vivaldi has nothing to do with Paris, that music is just considered something that appeals to people who don't really know or listen to classical music much.

Just decide based on the repertoire and price and whether that is appealing to you or not, rather than caring about whether tourists go or not. I'm sure the musicians are competent.
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Old Dec 4th, 2016, 11:01 AM
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They played it too fast both times.

To play it slower would probably bore the orchestra; by now its just another pay day.
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Old Dec 4th, 2016, 11:14 AM
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I'm married to a classical musician and that's not how it works for musicians. I have the impression that their choice of tempo is aimed at preventing boredom in the audience.
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Old Dec 4th, 2016, 01:39 PM
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Christina: you don't need to sound so negative, it's not a bad thing to sit in a beautiful chapelle. To each his own. I for one really need a suiting ambience for a concert, and a Gothic chapelle as majestic as the Saint Chapelle is fit (for me) with classical music. When I watch opera in Paris, I go to the Palais Garnier and I don't go to Opera Bastille - the look of it put me off. It may be pretty itself but it just doesn't have the "opera" feel for me. Again, to each his own.

If you insist on acoustic then, well, classical music CDs are pointless because they can never be as good as real concerts. But people still listen to CDs, and I find nothing wrong with that.

Of course if a person is only interested in the sound and not interested at all in the ambience, there is no reason to go to Saint Chapelle. But the OP clearly said that he is interested in both classical music AND churches, and he is clearly interested in a concert IN a church (otherwise he wouldn't have asked), if the quality is okay. For that, absthegal, I say to you that the quality is okay and it's not only for tourists.
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Old Dec 4th, 2016, 01:53 PM
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Perhaps somebody on this thread can tell us if there is anything that is "for tourists" anywhere that is actually worth seeing or doing.

And after you answer that, please tell us exactly what a "tourist" in Paris actually looks like? Are you a "tourist" if you live outside the city? In France? Anywhere else?
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