Music in the Châteaux de la Loire

Famous places and monuments all have a musical history whose richness and variety we do not always realise. For centuries their beauties have nourished the imagination of composers and performers who, in return, have often dedicated to them some of their finest works. Music is an immaterial heritage that the eye cannot see; it still resounds over the centuries in these musical centres and in the collective imagination. To share this patrimony and to bring it back to life in the surroundings that witnessed its birth - that is the object of this new series.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, the Royal court resided from time to time in the Loire Valley. Its châteaux were the showcase for an intense musical life. These palaces which have since become the emblems of the French Renaissance resounded to music that today's artists have rediscovered in concert and on record. Drawing widely on that repertoire, this programme is an evocation of the round of pleasures, festivities, hunts and dances that regulated the days and nights of the court of France, and of the 'joyous life' that reigned there for decades.