My boyfriend and I will be in Paris the end of May, and he is VERY excited about the possibility of going to an organ concert at a church/cathedral in Paris. We'd really like to know about any concerts at Notre Dame, but if there are concerts given at other churches in the city, we'd be thrilled to get to any for a wonderful concert.

Any suggestions will be very much appreciated!

The American Cathedral in Paris has organ performances. Look at their Web sit for the calendar.

http://americancathedral.org/en/musicart/musicart.html

They will have organ recitals at 3:30 on May 18th and May 25th.

Thank you! Do you know if concerts there are very well attended? If so, how early would you recommend getting there?

Copper, there are organ recitals on Sunday afternoons at Eglise St-Eustache in Les Halles. I went a couple of times two years ago, and I think they started at 5 pm.

Anselm

Oh, you were wondering about attendance and when to get there. In the case of St-Eustache, I had no trouble finding a vacant seat about 10 minutes before the recital started. The church gradually filled, though, as the recital is followed by a mass.

AA

Not sure of the schedule but there should be concerts at St. Sulpice. They have a fabulous pipe organ.

I second the previous responses, based on my experience this past Christmas. The venerable organist Jean Guillou is at St. Eustache. Another real treat is to be able to go to the organ loft at St. Sulpice at noon on Sundays and watch organist Daniel Roth perform on that massive organ. He is very personable. [Rick Steves gives a Web site for him: danielrothstsulpice.org] I believe that Notre Dame has an organ concert every Sunday afternoon. Check out Eglise Madeleine also. All of these churches probably have Web sites. Even if they don't, there will be signs posted about their entrances announcing upcoming events. ZZ

I forgot to mention that seating was not a problem at any of the concerts that I attended in these churches, even on Christmas. They are huge buildings. ZZ

For Saint Sulpice, see the organ here

http://www.stsulpice.com/

and the schedule here

http://www.stsulpice.com/Docs/concerts.html

Hi C,

St. Sulpice has a terrific organ.

Here is another site with concert listings:

www.ampconcerts.com

You speak specifically about organ concerts. If classical also interests you, there are concerts almost every night of the week at certain churches in central Paris, can't offhand say if they are all included in the link posted above. For information I usually browse the weekly Pariscope or Officiel des Spectacles magazines.

There is also a 'candlelit' concert at Ste Chappelle, a rather nice to go.

Thank you all for the suggestions!

Michael- I asked about the organ concerts because my boyfriend is an audio-visual enthusiast, and he is fascinated by the acoustics of cathedrals and the organs. However, I'm sure that classical concerts in the same setting will still be fantastic. I hadn't thought of it, but I'll be sure to look into it! Thanks again.

Notre Dame has a website that lists musical performances there
http://www.musique-sacree-notredamedeparis.fr/

If you are just wanting to hear the organ, that would be called a recital, not a concert. They won't be listed in the concert section of their calendar, as a concert has more than one performer. For ND, look in the area for auditions d'orgue in the calendar. On many Sundays, they have those beginning at 4:30