Both times my husband and I traveled to Italy we were fortunate to stumble upon concerts given in churches. One time we found a universal orchestra practicing during the day in Rome and another time we paid to attend an evening concert in Venice. If you've ever been you know how wonderful the acoustics can be hearing an orchestra in a church.

I am taking my mother to Paris this Fall and was hoping to find a church concert to take her to. I have found some web sites regarding this but nothing very concrete. I was hoping my fellow Fodorites might have some handy information they could share with me.

As always, thank you in advance for your suggestions and advice.

Once you're in Paris you will find a number of church concerts; some of the best take place in the Ste-Chapelle, a beautiful venue for music.

Are you interested in buying tickets in advance, and when are you going to Paris?

Buy Pariscope or L'Officiel des Spectacles (about 35 cents) from any newsstand. If it's not in there, it pretty much isn't taking place.

WK

We found a Vivaldi Concert at Madeleine Church on ampconcerts.com. This was October 2005 and there wasn't a concert at St Chappelle on the date we could attend. Bought tickets at the door for $20 each and it was very enjoyable.

nini,

Thank you for that link..I just added it to my favorites list as I,too, will be looking for concerts in the fall..

try this link:

http://www.fr.lastminute.com/lmn/pso...1&SORTBY=2

altho I did not use the last minute ticket option (b/c I wasn't sure of plans and didn't have a printer in Paris), I used this site for info to figure out who was where and when.

One cool thing: I love Canon by Pachelbel and they were playing it at Ste. Chappelle our first evening there. Well, we were committed to a dinner with colleagues and couldn't see it. When we went the next evening and the line-up had changed, they played that as their encore. I was thrilled!

There are some who have used this site to purchase tickets -- you MUST have a printer to print them out and it is all in French, so if you aren't comfortable with those things, then don't risk the $$$ ... just accept the more expensive price as a cost of convenience.

check here for pictures:
www.pbase.com/jsemmer

There isn't a comprehensive list or website for church concerts...
They are very often held at St Chapelle.
I have seen listings for them to be held at St Eustache, St Julien-le-Pauvre and I know others but can't remember.
You can go into the basement at the Champs Virgin Megastore and see the little brochures on the wall (at least, they did this a few years ago).

Once again you have all come through with great answers. One question, the newspapers you suggested to purchase once in Paris....are they all in French? This was a problem with some of the web sites I found. I could not make out some of the info as my French is limited.

Thanks again for the info everyone.

Pariscope, which comes out every Wednesday and is available at most news kiosks, has an English section.

But, you will see posters (some of them small) all over for concerts in churches, and it's not necessary to purchase tickets in advance.

I've always found appealing concerts at ampconcerts.com

Thanks for the quick response djkbooks. I actually have the link to ampconcerts but they do not have anything listed for September as yet. I guess I will have to check back as the trip gets closer.

Even if the listings are not overtly in English, there's not much that could be misunderstood. Quoting from a recent issue of L'Officiel des Spectacles:

Mardi 30 Mai: Eglise St. Roch - 12h30: Maria Ciszewska (violon), Saori Kikuchi (harpe). Oeuvres de Biber, Reine, Penderecki, St. Saens... Ent. libre.

Eglise means church, Entree libre means free entrance.

Addresses are given in a list "Addresses des Salles" at the beginning of the "Concerts" section, before the first entry for that week (Wed.).

Morceau de gateau (piece of cake).

WK

Wally..Excellent. Thanks for the tips.