A Concert to Help Save a French Château

A stunning castle in the Val d’Oise department, outside Paris, will host an exceptional classical music concert in September to raise funds for its vital restoration.

The 16th-century Château de Vigny, located approximately 45km from Paris, is in dire need of help to restore it to its former glory. Once belonging to France’s most illustrious noble families, it has been abandoned for the last 15 years and is plagued by a devastating dry rot fungus infestation. While its façade looks in relative good state, the interior of the castle is in total disrepair and the numerous outbuildings, which include a beautiful green house, are in ruins.

The castle and its 20-hectare park are listed since the 1980s and were selected as a priority site for the Mission Bern – a huge effort to save France’s historical heritage sites launched in 2017. Various calls for donations are ongoing and urgent works to stabilise the structure have already began but it is estimated that €6,8M will be needed to restore it fully.

To help reach that goal, an exceptional concert will take place in the castle grounds on September 6. Two violinists – the norwegian Mari Samuelsen and Soyoung Yoon, from South Korea – will be accompanied by the Orchestre National d’Île-de-France for some of Samuelsen’s own compositions as well as for Max Richter’s masterful reinterpretaton of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. With the illuminated castle as the backdrop to the twilight concert, the evening promises to be beyond magical and will serve a good cause: all proceeds will be directed to the restoration funds of the château.

Book your tickets here: www.chateauvigny.com

GETTING THERE

From Paris, take the L train from Saint-Lazare station to Cergy-le-Haut and then hop onto bus number 95-23 that will take you to the Vigny town hall stop.