Cathedral Choir sets off on tour of Paris and Normandy

As the summer break begins, Norwich Cathedral Choir are embarking on an exciting tour to France, travelling to first to Paris and then through Normandy.

This is the choir’s first overseas tour since the Covid-19 pandemic, the previous trip having been to Germany in 2019.

Sixteen boy and girl choristers are travelling to France, along with 12 Lay Clerks and Choral Scholars and accompanying staff.

In Paris, the choir will sing for Mass on two consecutive days at L’Église de la Madeleine, where Gabriel Fauré and Camille Saint-Saëns both held the post of Organist.

The choir will also give concerts in at Notre-Dame d’Auteuil, as well as at the Cathedral in Meaux, to the East of Paris.

Afterwards, the choir will travel to Normandy, stopping first in Rouen, twinned with Norwich, for a lunchtime concert at L’Église St Maclou. From here they continue to Caen, for a service of Choral Evensong in L’Église St Pierre.

A particular highlight of the trip will be the choir’s appearance at the British Normandy Memorial in Ver-sur-Mer, where they will give two short outdoor performances of music remembering the 22,442 servicemen and women who fell during the Battle of Normandy in 1944 and whose names are inscribed on the new memorial, which was opened by HM The King (then HRH The Prince of Wales) on D-Day in 2021.

The final concert of the tour will be in the Basilica at Lisieux, dedicated to St Theresa of Lisieux, an enormous church which can accommodate 4,000 people and is the second-most visited site of pilgrimage in France after Lourdes, attracting some two million visitors each year.

The choir’s itinerary is listed below. Tickets are not required for any of the concerts or services.

You can follow the choir’s progress through the tour on the Norwich Cathedral Facebook and Instagram pages as well as on X.

Norwich Cathedral Choir Tour to Paris and Normandy

8 – 12 July 2025

Tuesday 8 July: 12.30pm Mass, Église de la Madeleine, Paris

Tuesday 8 July: 6.30pm Concert, Cathédrale St Etiénne, Meaux

Wednesday 9 July: 12.30pm Mass, Église de la Madeleine, Paris

Wednesday 9 July: 7.30pm Concert, Église Notre-Dame d’Auteuil, Paris

Friday 11 July: 12.00 noon Concert, Église St Maclou, Rouen

Friday 11 July: 6.30pm Evensong, Église St Pierre, Caen

Saturday 12 July: 12 noon and 1.15pm, Music for Remembrance, British Normandy Memorial

Saturday 12 July: 5.30pm Concert, Sanctuaire Sainte Thérèse de Lisieux