Le Concert de la Loge

In January 2015, the violinist Julien Chauvin founded a new period-instrument orchestra with the ambition of reviving an essential component of French musical history: the Concert de la Loge Olympique. That orchestra, founded in 1783 by the Comte d’Ogny, was then considered one of the finest in Europe and has remained famous for commissioning the ‘Paris’ Symphonies of Joseph Haydn, which were premiered in the Salle des Cent-Suisses at the Tuileries Palace.

The modern, flexibly sized ensemble presents chamber, symphonic and vocal-operatic programmes directed from the violin or the baton and champions a wide repertory ranging from the Baroque era to the early twentieth century. The aim of this recreation project is also to explore new forms of concerts, harking back to the spontaneity of late-eighteenth practice, which intermingled different genres and artists in a single programme, and to establish links with other artistic disciplines.

Since it was founded, the ensemble has toured many venues with operas including Haydn’s Armida directed by Mariame Clément, Sacchini’s Le Cid directed by Sandrine Anglade, and Lemoyne’s Phèdre directed by Marc Paquien. It also enjoys regular collaborations with such renowned soloists as Karina Gauvin, Sandrine Piau, Philippe Jaroussky (with whom it has toured Europe and South America), Jakub Orlinski, Andreas Staier and Justin Taylor.

On disc, the orchestra has recorded six volumes of Haydn's complete ‘Paris’ Symphonies (Aparté label) with works from the same period performed at the Concert de la Loge Olympique. In addition, the ensemble has devoted itself to rediscovering other repertoires: the French melodies orchestrated in "Si j'ai aimé" with Sandrine Piau (Alpha label), the "Symphonies de Salons" (Aparté label), and violin concerti for the Naïve label with the release in 2020 of the 63rd volume of the Vivaldi Edition "Il Teatro".
In 2021, Le Concert de la Loge has begun a new collaboration with the Alpha label around Mozart’s three last symphonies.
Its recordings have received critical acclaim, earning such distinctions as the Diamant d’Opéra Magazine, Choc de Classica, Sélection Le Monde, ffff Télérama and the Grand Prix du Disque Charles Cros…

Since the French National Olympic and Sports Committee opposed the ensemble’s use of the adjective ‘Olympic’, it was forced to truncate its historical name and adopt the designation ‘Le Concert de la Loge’ in June 2016.