Has anyone been to a concert at Eglise St Julien le Pauvre? We were trying to decide between a concert there and one at Sainte Chapelle. Also, do we need to book ahead online. We will be in Paris for a week on April 18.

No, but you know, all you have to do is walk down the street in St. Germain de Pres, and you will see flyers up on the walls for great church, organ concerts all over Paris.

I highly recommend Ste. Chappelle-because of its beautiful stained glass windows, which you want to see when the sun is setting, if possible-I have always enjoyed this setting for a concert. You don't generally need to book ahead-you can go to the box office there by the Palais du Justice (Ste. Chappelle is located within the grounds of the law courts) and they will show you the seating chart, and you can pay for your ticket the day of or before.

The ancient church of St. Germain de Pres often has interesting concerts-you might want to check that out as well.

However, I highly recommend the Sunday evening, free organ concert at St. Eustache, which starts at 7pm. This is a very atmospheric church, it is where many French historical figures have been baptized, married, or had their funerals here, since the 1500's. The organ is world-famous. You don't need to book ahead, just get there an hour or so before.

Many thanks, Girlspytravel, I will look into all these options.

I went to a beautiful concert at St Julien le Pauvre in September. We saw posters up and picked one that sounded interesting. I can't remember exactly but I think we stopped by a couple hours early and bought the tickets,then ate dinner and went back for the concert. Or we just went to the church early to buy tickets and wait. The setting was beautiful for an evening concert in the candlelight. You'll see the signs for the concerts all over, the hard part will be to pick one.

I went to St. Julien for a concert too. We just purchased the ticket about an hour before the show at the door. I think I wrote in my report that we purchased the less expensive seats on the side and as soon as the lights went out all the people on the side aisles ran to the middle...except us. At intermission the usher motioned for us to do the same. Amusing.

bkm

Does anyone know a way to find out on-line when and where church concerts will be performed?

for concert schedules, you might try:
http://www.timeout.com/paris/

http://www.parisinfo.com/

You could try the site http://www.ampconcerts.com. It has a listing of the dates and times for church concerts by the month. The site is in French. You can reserve your ticket online but I have not tried this.

At the church of St. Sulpice there is a free 30-minute organ concert after the Sunday morning Mass, as well as other concerts at various times. For the schedule see:
http://www.stsulpice.com/