Join the Festival Choir this summer

Join the choir for the summer Festival 2025: make music together in the warm ambience of the hills behind the Mediterranean with the sights and smells of Provence & the conviviality of a lively classical music festival set in vineyards , the churches, chapels and squares of medieval hill villages and an amphitheatre where you can enjoy superlative playing as the sun goes down.

New Year is here!
Summer Festival dates:
29 July – 9 August 2025

The ‘CHOIR WEEK‘, forming the final week of the festival, has been an integral part of the festival since its inception in 2005. For the choir-singers it features challenging rehearsals with a much-lauded conductor and accompanists culminating in concerts with the Musique Cordial Festival Orchestra – and, in-between, there’s the chance each day to enjoy great music from a cast of amazing players, singers – and a little opera too + delicious dinners together under the stars.

Last year, the Choir week started for our choir-singers on Sunday 3 August 2024 and ended with the final choral & orchestral concert, Verdi’s REQUIEM (with departure the following morning, Sunday 10 August).

In 2025, the CHOIR WEEK is 3-10 August 2025. Numerous, mainly orchestral and instrumental, performances also take place at lunch time and evening concerts during this period but the festival will again end with 3 performances featuring the choir, including an a cappella concert and 2 performances of Haydn’s CREATION

• First rehearsal: Monday 4 August 2025
• First choir performances: Thursday 7 August
• Final Performance: Haydn THE CREATION,
  Saturday 9 August, 7PM, probably in the the much-loved medieval church in the ‘ville perchée’ (historic hill town) of Seillans (followed by final dinner)

2025 Enrolment information can be found on the choir enrolment form
key points:

Schedule:
how to enrol and when to pay?

a week of rehearsals and singing, including 2 performances in concert with the orchestra and soloists + an a cappella concert in lovely medieval acoustic settings

• Annual membership still £30 (35€) each – required for anyone who sings or buys our accommodation or meals.
• Choir participation fee: £420 or Euro equivalent (less £25 GBP – about 30€ – discount if you live or work the Departement du Var, France, or the English county of Kent).
  (no choir charge for accompanying friends or partners)
• Comfortable range of nearby accommodation options at various price levels – or book your own! We are not asking you to pay in full for accommodation now: just pay the suggested initial deposit and we will try to match what there nis to what you want. Eventual full payment later!
• Free entry to festival concerts for choir singers during the ‘Choir Week’ (Tickets available from Easter for online purchase by guests, accompanying persons and the public).
• a friendly, convivial atmosphere where singers and players often develop long-term friendships. Many new singers each year (from Britain, France, Switzerland, Germany, Holland and elsewhere) but also several who keep coming back!
• Communal dinners (optional) – delicious affordable Evening Meals with wine, usually after concerts: 6 of 7 evenings (with one evening off):
  £225 (or equivalent in euros) for all six 2-course dinners or £40 each if booked individually
• Early Bird discounts (see enrolment form):
  SAVE £50 per booking for all fully-paid qualifying bookings received before 31 January 2025
• Enrolment deadline: 31 March 2025 but book early for the best accommodation – and for any discounts! (You can book till 31 May if your booking does not include any accommodation).
• Enrol early but think first about your accommodation requirements:
• If you expect to need accommodation, please talk to us and /or consider finding your own and try to link with a group of other singers if you know any or ask us for suggestions, try to find shared in or near Seillans e.g try Airbnb or Booking.com. Think about the climate and whether you may want to find a place with a pool and shade plus protective shutters, awnings and thick walls – or, in newer buildings, perhaps some air-conditioning. Think of communal spaces for lunch or basking by a pool… Look for somewhere within walking distance in or near Seillans or accessible by car a little further afield in the Pays de Fayence… and then follow the schedule on the right:

1. EITHER try to find your own accommodation (alone or with friends)…
2. OR,
   we have booked a limited number of places for singers to stay locally. So, if you would like to have priority access to this or want our help with finding, sharing or allocating accommodation, please pay only our suggested an initial ‘accommodation deposit’ to Musique-Cordiale – along with the other items that you want on your enrolment form NOW – (accommodation deposits refundable until deadlines stated in enrolment form) : suggested deposit £300, double-occupancy or £500 single occupancy – or euro equivalent – per person, depending on level/type of accommodation required (see form for details & options);
3. Complete enrolment form online, individually or as a group: it will reveal the likely costs and choices as you go through it, page by page. You can also save it and complete it later as you go along;
4. Submit the form as soon as possible, preferably well before the deadlines. You have choices about what, when and how to pay. You can pay for all the items on the form immediately after submitting it – see the instructions below the form OR you can pay some or most of it later. We will send you an invoice in any case;
5. Payment dates: deposits and initial payments (e.g. membership) are due when you enrol or on receipt of invoice. Try to enrol by 31 March if possible. Other items can be paid later (e.g. normally by Easter – 20 April 2025 – or pay any balance by the final payment deadline of 31 May 2025 or per invoice). We can discuss arrangements and a schedule (e.g. once we have allocated accommodation and you have agreed to something that suits you). You can cancel but there are some limits listed in the enrolment form;
6. See the enrolment form for all details, including terms & conditions that you and we agree to.
7. Remember to get health, cancellation and travel insurance as soon as you book.
8. Updates, details of schedules, dress codes etc will be posted on the choir pages as they become available.

The enrolment form – with all details, prices, dates, venues, accommodation and meals arrangements is available if you click the button below.
Accommodation is scarce: book early! (You can change your mind later).

Book before Easter, pay just a deposit now! Final payment due (on invoice) by 31 May 2024.