Les Choralies ! - August 2010

The Choralies is a French choral festival  organized by A Coeur Joie, which  takes place every three years in the charming Provencal town of Vaison-la-Romaine, a town awarded the title of “European Choral City” in 1983. More than 3,000 singers and instrumentalists from all over the world come together for 8 days for an intensive choral singing event.

There are  around 40 workshops on the programme, led by renowned choral conductors, and in the afternoon a selection of concerts to attend. In the evenings, everybody goes to the “big” concerts in the Roman Amphitheatre, which always starts with the thousands of singers present, singing together in the Chant Commune.

ACU  were introduced to this remarkable experience originally  by our   French twin choir in St Germain-en-Laye,  and for some intrepid ACU members, the Choralies has become a habit.  Surviving the rigours of Ryanair , we lived with singing for two weeks,  with Rachmaninov Vespers and Estonian music being preferred workshop choices.  We hosted social gatherings for our old friends from the Pincerais,  with real live famous singing  young people present (Voces8).  We dressed up for the  Choralies “Seasons” parade with the message that a Scottish summer consists of rain, silly umbrellas, sheep and midges, and sang lustily “The day we went to Rothesay Oh”  in impenetrable  Glasgow accents to crowds of cheering French people .

We could always tell altos from sopranos at 500m. We had the odd glass of Cotes de Rhone.  We made  new friends.   We occasionally lounged by the pool to recover.  That’s what Choralies people do!  Only another three years to the next one……..

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