In Versailles, the CMBV recruits 60 amateur musicians to play Lully

In Versailles, the CMBV recruits 60 amateur musicians to play Lully

To mark its 40th anniversary, the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles (Centre for Baroque Music at Versailles) is launching a “Concert des Amateurs” (“Amateur Musicians’ Concert”) and recruiting 60 experienced amateur instrumentalists. After several rehearsal weekends devoted to Lully’s operas, they will perform on 11 June 2027 at the Manège de la Grande Écurie (riding hall of the Great Stables), under the direction of Fabien Armengaud.

The project revives the spirit of the Concert des Amateurs, a musical society founded in Paris by François-Joseph Gossec in 1769 and directed from 1773 by the Chevalier de Saint-Georges. For this contemporary version, the CMBV is inviting participants on a Voyage au cœur des opéras de Lully (Journey into the Heart of Lully’s Operas), focusing on the sound of the French orchestra, articulation, phrasing, dance and historically informed performance practices.

Rehearsals will take place between late May and 11 June 2027, with Mira Glodeanu coaching the strings and Lucile Tessier the winds. The final concert will bring the amateur musicians together with the singers and instrumentalists of the Studio baroque (Baroque Studio), the CMBV’s choir of Pages et Chantres (Pages and Singers), and students from the Section baroque de Maurepas (Maurepas Baroque Department).

Applications are open to amateur instrumentalists with at least an end-of-third-cycle conservatoire level. Flutes, oboes, bassoons, musettes, trumpets, percussion and strings are among the instruments sought; the project will use Baroque instruments at a pitch of A=415 Hz. Applications, accompanied by a musical recording, will be open from 6 November to 6 December 2026, with applicants notified before the end of the year.

Applications: 6 November to 6 December 2026
Concert: 11 June 2027, Manège de la Grande Écurie, Versailles
Official website: www.cmbv.fr