Laurie

My family will be visiting Paris in June and my son would like to go to the St. Sulpice church to hear the organ.

Would we need to attend the entire Mass at 10:30 or could we join in for the 25min recital at 11:40? Would we appear rude if we came in late? Thanks for your help. Laurie

Ursula

Laurie, you come and go the way you like. No, you don't need to attend the mass at all, if you don't want.
There are always people wandering around visiting the church. So, in fact, you can't be late. Don't worry. You'll love it.

Ursula

Forgot to tell you:
Some of the June concerts are already listed on the Saint-Sulpice's web site:
www.stsulpice.com/

jsmith

It may be possible to come and go as you like during a service at St. Sulpice but it certainly wouldn't be endearing. The churches in the UK that I've visited when there were services, Westminster Abbey and Winchester Cathedral, don't allow it.

grandmere

When attending a concert at Ste. Chapelle last May, we bought tix in advance at FNAC; this May I'd like to go to the concert at St. Sulpice. Is it probably necessary to buy tix ahead for it, also?

Christina

I just have a couple thoughts on this, as I've been to a concert there, but not that short recital. First, they have plenty of regular organ recitals/concerts at St Sulpice not related to a Mass. They are often on Sunday afternoons at 4 or Tues-Wed evening, it seems. Their web site gives schedules. If you don't really want to attend a full-length recital, though (and those should have an intermission during which you could leave if you wanted, although they aren't excessively long to begin with), I imagine you could go to the recital between Masses because they are published as an "event" and I'll bet lots of other tourists want to do the same thing. There is a mass directly before and after that recital, though, and generally churches don't allow people to sightsee during services, but I defer to Ursula on that one as I haven't been to a service at St-Sulpice to observe that. I know they don't allow people to wander around during services at Notre Dame.

However, I know how famous those recitals are (not to mention publicized by Rick Steves) and so I imagine if you don't attend mass you may find it difficult to get a seat and perhaps not even get in. It was extremely crowded when I was there with no extra seats, and that was a recital during a slow period which wasn't even publicized that well.

If your son is interested in their particular organist, Daniel Roth (whom I heard and is very well-known), be aware that he does not always play that between-mass recital. YOu can check their schedules on that. There are organ recitals at Notre Dame, also, if you are interested, they are at 5 pm, I believe.

Given how much Rick Steves has publicized that event, I imagine someone on Fodors has been to it and will comment here. From what I've seen, they can start earlier than 11:40, though, so if you go, I'd be sure to get there in plenty of time.

Ursula

First, I was speaking about the St. Sulpice recitals that start at around 11.30h. It's a come and go. I've attended them numerous times.

During mass service, you can wander around in a restricted area, just like at Notre Dame. We attended an Easter Mass a couple of years ago, and plenty of tourists visted.
The other year, same holiday, we attended a Greek Orthodox Mass at Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre. Same procedure. Come and go, but in silence.
Of course, you won't talk or be noisy.

Now, the afternoon or evening concerts, where you need to pay an entrance fee, is a different story. Then, you aren't allowed to enter at all.

Laurie

Thank you for the information, Ursula and Christina. I checked the website and there is a concert on the Sunday afternoon when we are in Paris. Do I need to buy tickets in advance for this? Where do I do this and how much are they.

My son is very interested in hearing Daniel Roth play and would also like to stay after the 11:30 concert to take the tour and see the organ and talk to Daniel Roth. Is this very difficult to do? Thanks again for your help!
Laurie

Laurie

ttt

Ursula

Laurie,
The Saint-Sulpice Church is pretty large. You will be able to buy tickets at the entrance just before the concert starts. Usually, there are two categories of prices. Prices depend a little from concert to concert and from church to church. If I remember well, they are between 20 and 30 Euro.
The seats are in general not numbered.
If you have time and are in that area, I'd quickly drop in a day before to check out re. the tour. There must be some written information around on a table near the entrance. I don't think, it's a difficult thing to do. The church isn't among the big sites and I've never seen hords of tourists there.
Sorry, I have no idea how difficult it would be to talk to Daniel Roth.
As for concerts in other churches such as La Madeleine, St. Germain-des-Pres, etc. you will usually find those small flyers giving you all necessary information in most churches.
For some concerts, you can purchase tickets at theTourist Office on the Champs-Elysees, the FNAC bookstores, but also in the large department stores. They all have tickets offices and the extra fee is small.
If you want to see for other church concerts, I highly recommend this site: www.ampconcerts.com
I haven't checked though, wether they have already listed concerts in June. Just check before you leave.
Once back, please let us know how everything turned out.

Laurie

Thank you, Ursula! That was alot of great information. My 17 year old son is very interested in music, so this was important to us. Thanks again! Laurie

Christina

I have attended a concert at St-Sulpice (Sunday afternoon), and I did just buy the ticket at the door without any problem. However, I got there well in advance in order to get a good seat. This was in summer. I think anyone probably could have ended up with a ticket, but it was very full, most seats were taken, so if you came late, you would not get a good seat, that's all.

I did not try to talk to Daniel Roth myself, and don't know anyone who has, so I don't know how difficult that would be. If your son is very interested in music, some of the better organs are in Notre Dame, Saint Eustache, Saint Roch, and St-Sulpice. La Madeleine has a good organ but not very good acoustics.

I think you can easily find the best concerts that suit you by buying an entertainment guide such as Pariscope when you get to Paris, they will list all of them under classical. Or, go to the classical music events section at www.paris-touristoffice.com If you son knows classical music very well, or listens to it much, I wouldn't recommend the concerts you'll see on the www.ampconcerts.com web site myself due to the repertoire.

Laurie

Thank you Christina for your suggestions! We will be sure to pick up a copy of Pariscope when we arrive. And we will check those websites as our dates get closer.
My son read in my Rick Steve's guide to Paris about a small unmarked door near the entrance. This door is supposed to open at noon on Sundays and some people can go up and see the pipes of the organ and watch Daniel Roth play. He thought this sounded pretty cool! So, we will try to do this with him. I really appreciate your advice. Thanks! Laurie

Ursula

Christina,
I agree with you about the choice of the ampconcerts. Their repertoire isn't all that great.
Anyway, I would be most interested to know where exactly on the Paris Tourist Office site you find a list of the classical concerts.
When I click on 'concerts', it leads me to the site of 'Ticketnet' and that's not what I really want.
I really miss Pariscope online, I tell you.

And Laurie, I agree with again with Christina about getting Pariscope. The classical concerts are all listed by the dates of the current week (it's somewhere around page 60 ff.). The guide runs from Wed-Tue and costs 0.40 Euro and you will find a lot of useful information, esp. about opening hours of the museums, etc. It's in French, of course, but you should be able to manage it. It has also a small section in English (Time Out) with some suggestions about what's on.