Festival CHOIR Summer 2023 in FRANCE again!

MUSIQUE CORDIALE SUMMER 2023:

Come to Provence and sing!

Graham Ross with Rebecca Taylor invite you to SING with them and our Festival Choir and orchestra in the south of France this summer:
it’s challenging, convivial and fun!

Musique-Cordiale Festival Choir & Choral Academy

Pays de Fayence, Provence, FRANCE, 4-13 August

 

Choir enrolment information
***enrolment for the 2023 summer Festival choir has now almost CLOSED***
Choir enrolment and Choral Academy applications remained open until early April –
or until spaces for all voices are taken. This often happens early. Please CONTACT US here to join a waiting list or if you are interested in singing in the Autumn or in future years.
The best accommodation goes first!

  • Hello to our long-standing choir members and to NEW SINGERS who are interested in joining us this year!
  • See “What to do NEXT?” below
  • Please contact us if you’re interested in joining the choir

  • Choir enrolment form is here,(GBP/Eng version) now closed for summer 2023: (Pay later on invoice)

Here is some preliminary information (January 2023) about the
Musique-Cordiale International Festival CHOIR & CHORAL ACADEMY, 2023 – back in France after 3 pandemic years only in Kent GB.
PLEASE HELP US MAKE THE CHOIR & ORCHESTRA TRULY PAN-EUROPEAN AGAIN!

Summer 2023 Programme & Choir Repertoire
The festival will begin on 3 August (here is the PROVISIONAL CONCERT PROGRAMME) but we invite choir-singers to join us in Seillans & the Pays de Fayence from Friday 4 August, departing on the morning of Sunday 13 August. There will be lunch-time and evening concerts from then until 12 August.  final (oratorio) concert, followed by a final dinner for choir, players and volunteers will take place on Saturday evening 12 August.

Now we can provide you some information (also being email to previous choir members) about REPERTOIRE. Graham Ross, director of music at Clare College, Cambridge, will again conduct the choir, assisted by Rebecca Taylor. Everyone finds it stimulating and enjoyable to MAKE MUSIC TOGETHER in the lovely ambiance of the medieval hill towns of the Pays de Fayence, working with Graham and the creative team and then eating and drinking and sharing pools and accommodation with the friendly hard-working team of players and organisers. After a few days of rehearsals, the choir and orchestra perform in beautiful acoustic churches, chapels and outdoor spaces, bringing pleasure to our appreciative international and local music-loving audiences.

Graham has put together a ‘nice Coronation-themed programme’ for 2023. We are thrilled by this as it consists of beautiful music both to sing and to listen to. It will be accompanied by our wonderful players, many of whom you will know – from France or Kent – and who are all longing to get back to Seillans & the Pays de Fayence – as we know many of you are!

· Handel: 4 Coronation Anthems (sung in English)
o Zadok the Priest
o Let Thy Hand be Strengthened
o The King Shall Rejoice
o My Heart is Inditing
· Handel’s Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne, which starts with the beautiful ‘Eternal Source of Light Divine’
· Mozart’s Coronation Mass

· There will also be an a cappella programme to include:
Purcell – I was Glad
Elgar – O hearken thou
Schubert – Psalm 23
Walton – Set me as a seal
Harris – Holy is the True Light
Rutter – This is the day
Mozart – Vesperae solennes de confessore

There will, as ever, be a full programme of evening and lunchtime concerts throughout the week (the choir is integral to only 3 of these concerts but is encouraged to join the audiences), plus our memorably-convivial communal evening meals.

The first rehearsal will be on Saturday morning August 5th.

For information about the choir and what is involved, please contact Rebecca Taylor or Pippa Pawlik or Jonathan Barker
INVITATION TO GOOD & EXPERIENCED SINGERS
We look forward to seeing everyone in August 2023 and want to encourage past good singers to rejoin PLUS, we hope that other new choir-members (from all over Europe once again) will join too. There will be no String Academy this year but we will soon announce arrangements for the 2023 Choral Academy, including our offer of a limited number of studentships to promising young singers.


NOTE  In the past singers came by invitation or by recommendation and, if necessary, they were asked to do an informal audition in order to join. For our singers, both loyal and new, participation in Musique Cordiale is both an investment and an opportunity to sing at a high level with a wonderful music director. To retain a high standard of choral singing, this kind of practice is something that we would like to reintroduce. This is not meant to deter singers. Rather it is to encourage more experienced singers to join and to assure those who do of a rewarding and challenging experience. We do not necessarily expect people to sight-read but we do ask that the works are learned before you arrive.
Enrolment forms with full details, schedule & prices are now available HERE (and will also emailed to past choir-singers and anyone who has expressed interest – or been recommended – already!)

ACCOMMODATION, SUMMER 2023

We ARE also organising choir accommodation again this year (contrary to previous announcements). We will try to match needs and prices to your needs and priorities. But there are almost no standard hotel rooms in the Pays de Fayence; so we ask you for your assistance and understanding. We have booked as much of the kind of accommodation as we think we will need. However, there is only a VERY LIMITED supply of single-person/bed accommodation. We will ask you for a deposit on booking to secure your accommodation well in advance.
For all accommodation information and arrangements, please contact jonathan@musique-cordiale.com  (+44 7970 185910)

WHAT TO DO NEXT?

***PLEASE CONTACT US INITIALLY BY PHONE or EMAIL to let us know and review your requirements. Then please complete the choir enrolment form (see button below). This year, please do not pay until we say! We will take payment separately after sending you an invoice***  

CHOIR PRICES 2023
(for details & conditions, see the Choir Enrolment Form. PAY AFTER ENROLING!)
We have some discounted prices for good singers aged 26 and under or if you apply for or are invited to join our 2023 Choral Academy. Any other singers are invited to talk to us if you are having difficulty with the level of fees or with payment.

  • Currency: All items here are priced in GBPounds but we will ask you to pay on receipt of our invoice which can be denominated in GBPounds or in Euros to suit you. Currency values fluctuate and we bill you at the current rate.
  • Membership: (valid for one year from date of payment): £30
    optional variations that include membership. The non-membership element counts as a Gift under the GiftAid scheme for UK tax-payers and is a valuable benefit for Musique-Cordiale:
    Friend of the Festival £150
    Couple/joint Friend of the Festival: £275
  • Choir participation (includes a ticket to all the many non-choir concerts throughout your stay): £400
    (accompanying non-singing participants pay no fee but need to pay for all concert tickets or a season pass + meals, refreshments, accommodation and any transport)
  • Dinners with wine (available on 8 of the 9 evenings, one evening off)
    dinner package of 8 dinners: £220 per person
    individual dinners booked in advance: £35
  • Accommodation (prices vary with specification and availability, per person for double-occupancy – mainly double or king-size beds).
    WE WILL DISCUSS OPTIONS WITH YOU when you book and will invoice you according to what you request and agree.
    An initial accommodation deposit* is payable on booking to secure the accommodation, usually £500 per person
    Prices for double occupancy in most nearby locations range upwards from £500 – £650 per person. for your 9-night stay (more, often double, for single-person occupancy)
    In addition, there is a local tax of 1.66% payable locally in Euros but which we can add to your invoice in GBPounds
  • See the enrolment form for our conditions, including payment and the requirement that you have health, travel & cancellation insurance

SCHEDULE & DEADLINES

(Sorry!  No special Early Bird offers this year: early birds just have the best chance of access to the best we have on offer!)
 Choir enrolment and Choral Academy applications remain open throughout the Spring until spaces for all voices are taken. This often happens early. The best accommodation goes first!
  Enrolment opens: 1 January 2023 (Enrol EARLY, choose your options for meals & accommodation on the booking form; we will then send you an invoice).
 We ask for only an initial minimum payment on enrolment (+ any accommodation deposit*) – and the  rest before the Balance payment deadline (see enrolment form for details)
 Booking deadline: Easter (weekend of 9 April 2023) but the best accommodation will go first and we may close enrolment when all voices are deemed to be sufficient for the choir
 Conditions & Cancellations: please read the enrolment form carefully for details that you  and Musique-Cordiale agree to including re cancellation conditions and deadlines and our requirements health & travel insurance
 Balance of payment deadline; 31 May 2023 (thereafter we may add a late payment fee)
 Booking for individual meals: by 10AM on the day

Privacy

Musique Cordiale respects your confidentiality and guards your personal information. We never retain details of your bank debit or credit cards after we have received payments from our members, donors, customers or supporters. We do not sell your name, email, address or phone details. Only Musique Cordiale has access to this information to communicate with you and we share it only with our agents and then only for the purposes of contacting our supporters, customers, donors, staff or suppliers on our behalf. We are trying to be EU GDPR compliant and we retain data only for compliance purposes or to maintain our current lists of and communications with members, singers, players, supporters & Friends. We do not retain any information on visitors to our website.