Concert Tourism at Versailles

An article (Versailles: la visite-concert, December 2) from France 2 Cultural News describes the latest effort to draw more visitors to the Château de Versailles with the allure of "concert visits":

Ever since the construction of the Château de Versailles, music has had an important role there, for entertainments, during hunts, and especially for the celebration of religious services around the chapel organ, which gave the idea of a cycle of thematic concert visits. [...] The Russian organist and musicologist Marina Tchebourkina, who gave us a double CD on Natives dedicated to Claude Balbastre, organist at Notre Dame de Paris (1724–1799), brings to life this cycle of concert visits on the theme of "Organists of the Royal Chapel, from the Sun-King to the Revolution."

Concerts are scheduled for today (music of Louis-Charles Daquin [1694–1772]), January 11 and February 13 (Claude Balbastre, who during the Revolution was charged with protecting the organs of Paris), and others (Louis Marchand and Francois Couperin). You can see some pictures of the Versailles chapel organ here.