Church concerts in Paris
 

Is it better to buy tickets ahead of time for concerts at Sainte Chapelle, St Julien du Pauvre or St Severin? Is the day of the concert time enough? Where are tickets purchased...at the church? (We are in Paris mid May for 2 weeks)

Thank you.

Tickets are for sale at the Church.

I bought tickets the same day as the concert without a problem.

Perhaps I don't need to say this, but be sure that you don't make an evening concert your only visit to St. Chappelle, the interior of which needs to be seen in the sunlight.

There is no need to buy tickets in advance for the numerous minor concerts in the many churches of Paris (like St Julien le Pauvre, etc.). I've never been to one that was completely full. You can sometimes buy them at various ticket agencies, but buying them at the door is easiest.

It's really not necessary to purchase tickets in advance, but you'd want to arrive at least 1/2 early without tickets, especially at Saint Chapelle, where everyone must go through security.

At some venues, tickets vary slightly in price and it really is worth a bit extra to sit closer to the front.

You can find a schedule at http://www.ampconcerts.com where you can also reserve. You'll receive an e-mail confirmation with directions for picking up your tickets. You pay when you pick them up.

We bought tickets in advance for one of the concerts we attended in September at Sainte Chapelle. I was glad that we did because we were at Versailles all day and didn't really want to have to rush back to queue, it was very crowded when we go there but with tickets in hand we moved quickly and were able to sit very close to the musicians. Obviously you do not need to sit close to hear, but I really wanted to SEE. We did buy the slightly more expensive tickets to sit in the front half of the venue, well worth the few extra euro.

Dress warmly for a concert at St. Chappelle. It is not heated. The acoustics are fine for all seats.

Does anyone know about concerts at St. Germain des Pres??? I did not see that mentioned on the website offered...

I went to a lovely concert at St Germain des Pres on the 14th of this month.I picked up a flyer in the church during the first week of Feb.I bought tickets in advance at Bon Marche ticket office, you could also get them at Virgin music or Galleries Layfayette. The church wasn't full at all so we didn't really need to do it in advance but this was in Feb and you might not be so lucky in May. The concert was great. Vivaldi, Mozart and Pachibel performed by 2 violins, a viola, cello, bass and harpsicord! gorgeous music and setting...lynda

Lynda,

Thank you for the information..do you have any idea how often they hold the concerts?? We will be there in October for a week, so not much time..wanted to have an advance schedule...

They have concerts in St Germain des Pres fairly frequently, but not always every week. Church concerts are not usually organized and run by the church (with a few exceptions, like the organ recitals at ND and St Sulpice), it is just a venue which groups or booking agents or organizations rent or get permission to use.

You don't see St Germain in that URL because that isn't a URL for general church concerts in Paris, it is just a private booking company (AMP) that represents a particular group or two and where they have booked them. That organization tends to play often in Ste Chapelle and one or two other churches, but not in St Germain des Pres.

There are concerts in St Germain des Pres almost every week, it seems to me, but if there aren't there, there will be elsewhere. There are many church concerts in Paris every week--there are somewhat fewer in July-August, when things are slower. There is no reason to go to St Germain church in particular, without even knowing who will play there or the program. They have a lot in there, St Julien le Pauvre, St Severin, St Roch, the Madeleine, St Louis, and St Merri, but also many other churches, as well as the regular tourist concerts in Sainte Chapelle. You can be sure that during the week you are there, you will have several to choose from that will be good. They have them virtually every day, but the beginning of the week often has fewer possibilities (Mon-Wed).

I don't have a recent Pariscope or other schedule at my desk, but I do have a copy of Zurban from this November, and it has these church concerts during that particular week:

Wed: St Louis des Invalides (7e)
Notre Dame des Blancs Manteaux (4e)
St Roch (1e)

Thurs: St Louis des Invalides (7e)
Madeleine (8e)

Fri: St Augustin (8e)
St Roch (1e)
Madeleine (8e)
Eglise des Billettes (4e)
St Ignace (6e)

Sat: St Emphrem le Syriaque (5e)
Madeleine (8e)
Eglise des Billettes (4e)
St Julien le Pauvre (5e)
St Vicent de Paul (10e)

Sun: Notre Dame d'Esperance (11e)
St Marcel (13e)
Notre Dame de Compassion (17e)
St Antoine (12e)
Ste Croix des Armeniens (3e)
Notre Dame du Val de Grace (5e)
St Ephrem le Syriaque (5e)

Mon: none

Tues: St Roch (1e)
Notre Dame de Paris (4e)
St Louis des Invalides (7e)

That was the very end of Nov/beg of Dec, so not sure how that would compare to Sept/Oct. But those were just the ones in churches, there were also a lot of others in museums or some other venues.

Christina,

Thank you SO much.!!!..Your information is more than I could have hoped for and is already printed and in my files...it will make things so much easier for me..greatly appreciated!!

Traviata, at the bottom of the flyer I picked up for the St G des P concert there is a web site listed as www.archetspf.asso.fr....that may give you more info. have a great time in Paris. lynda

Lynda,

I found your post and the web site a few minutes ago..it is 6:30 am here and the music alone was a beautiful way to begin the day...this is perfect information for me...thank you so much!!

PS. For others trying to open the site, the word "that" is included and prevented me from using it as is, so just re-enter without it..and..ENJOY!

Thanks I'm listening to it now, lovely. I've got Law & Order on TV, I'm in the Fodor's forum and now the music, ahh.

Are the seats to these church concerts assigned? Or it's first come first serve? So should one go early in order to be seated in the front?

Thanks!

the seats in our St Germain des Pres concert were not and I don't see how seats in any church concert could be. there aren't any numbers on seats/pews in a church! Get there early ...lynda

I see a Saite Chapelle concert I want to see--it seems that different ticket sites offer different prices. Two questions to anytone who has done this: It is more than 7 days until the concert but I don't want tickets sent--I want to pick them up. Is that an option? ALso, there is a student price listed on the concert site but not offered at the Virgin (or other) "purchasing" sites--how do we get the student price? Thank you!

Ours weren't assigned per seat, but the church was divided into front/back with the seats in the front half at a SLIGHTLY higher price.

how much do these church concert tickets normally cost? is it chamber music orchestra? i've been to a few church/museum concert in vienna but not in paris. are they comparable?

I saw 25 euros/seat. Slightly higher by booking with an agent. Didn't see a different price for sitting closer.No student price seemed to be offered with an agent, but was on the site (16 euros).