Le Concert de la Loge

In January 2015, violinist Julien Chauvin founded an ensemble playing historical instruments, driven by the ambition to resurrect a vital link in French musical history, that is Le Concert de la Loge Olympique.

Founded in 1783 by the Count d’Ogny, the ensemble was considered one of the best in Europe at the time. It gained widespread recognition after commissioning The Paris Symphonies from Joseph Haydn, performed in the Salle des Cent-Suisses at the Tuileries Palace. Back in the day, musicians were mostly freemasons, and numerous concert societies had their links with Masonic lodges, including the Olympic Lodge (Loge Olympique de la Parfaite Estime). 

These days, the ensemble with a variable line-up plays chamber, symphonic and opera programmes conducted from the violin or from the conductor’s pulpit, showcasing a broad repertoire from the Baroque to the early 20th century. Revisiting the legacy of musical predecessors also involves exploring new concert formats, bringing back the spontaneity and customs of the late 18th century, when different genres and artists could be brought together during a single evening concert, thus bridging the gap between disparate genres. 

The ensemble has taken part in numerous opera productions, interpreting Haydn’s Armida directed by Mariame Clément; Sacchini’s Chimène, ou Le Cid directed by Sandrine Anglade; Lemoyne’s Phaedra and Isouard’s Cinderella staged by Palazzetto Bru Zane and Marc Paquien; Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail directed by Christophe Rulhes and Mozart’s Don Giovanni directed by Jean-Yves Ruf. The ensemble also regularly collaborates with renowned soloists, including Karina Gauvin, Sandrine Piau, Philippe Jaroussky, Marina Viotti, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Andreas Staier and Justin Taylor. 

Le Concert de la Loge performs in France’s most important concert halls, such as Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Théâtre du Châtelet, Auditorium de Radio France and the Metz Arsenal, as well as abroad, at the Teatro Real in Madrid, Wigmore Hall in London, BOZAR in Brussels, the Essen Philharmonic and at the Handel Festival in Halle. The ensemble has also made several tours of South America. 

Over the course of a decade, the ensemble has produced an extensive discography of some twenty albums, all of which were warmly welcomed by critics: Haydn’s complete Paris Symphonies (Aparté), two albums of violin concertos (Naïve), after which the ensemble signed with Alpha, recording orchestrated French songs, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Mozart’s Requiem, the Simply Mozart series featuring his final three symphonies and Gluck’s Iphigénie a Aulis, the world’s first recording performed on historical instruments. 

In June 2016, the French National Olympic and Sports Committee objected to the use of the adjective ‘Olympique’ in the name of the ensemble. As a result of this protest, the musicians had to remove the historical part of the name and became Le Concert de la Loge. 

The ensemble is supported by the Ministry of Culture, the Île-de-France region, the City of Paris, Abéo, the Françoise Kahn-Hamm Special Purpose Fund and Club Olympe patrons. It holds the artist-in-residence status in the Singer-Polignac Foundation and carries out a four-year cross-residency with Association pour le Développement des Activités Musicales dans l’Aisne (ADAMA) and the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles.