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 performed in the Tuileries Palaces Cents-Suisses room. At that time, a substantial majority of musicians were Freemasons, and many concert associations were linked to Masonic Lodges such as the Loge Olympique de la Parfaite Estime.
The modern, flexibly sized ensemble presents chamber, symphonic and vocal-operatic programs 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 program, or to establish links with other artistic disciplines.
The ensemble has toured many venues with operas including Haydn’s Armida directed by Mariame Clément, Sacchini’s Le Cid directed by Sandrine Anglade, Lemoyne’s Phèdre and Isouard’s Cendrillon staged by Marc Paquien for the Palazzetto Bru Zane, Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail staged by Christophe Rulhes, and Mozart’s Don Giovanni, directed by Jean-Yves Ruf.
The orchestra also enjoys regular collaborations with such renowned soloists as Karina Gauvin, Sandrine Piau, Philippe Jaroussky, Marina Viotti, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Andreas Staier and Justin Taylor. Le Concert de la Loge performs in major French concert halls such as the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Théâtre du Châtelet, the Auditorium de Radio France and the Arsenal de Metz, as well as in European venues such as the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Wigmore Hall in London, Bozar in Brussels, the Philharmonie in Essen and the Halle Festival, and on several international tours of South America.
In less than a decade, Le Concert de la Loge has built up an extensive discography with some twenty critically acclaimed recordings: Haydn’s complete Paris Symphonies (Aparté label), two albums of violin concerti (Naïve label), before joining the Alpha label for orchestrated French melodies, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Mozart’s Requiem, the Simply Mozart cycle around his last three symphonies and more recently a world premiere on historical instruments, Gluck’s opera Iphigénie en Aulide.
In June 2016, the French National Olympic Committee objected to the use of the adjective “Olympic” by the ensemble, which was forced to change its historic name to “Le Concert de la Loge”.
The ensemble is supported by the Ministère de la Culture, the Region Île-de-France, the Ville de Paris, Abéo, the Fonds de dotation Françoise Kahn-Hamm and the sponsors who are members of Club Olympe. He is in an associate artist in residence at the Fondation Singer-Polignac and conduct a four-year cross-residency with the Association pour le Développement des Activités Musicales dans l’Aisne (ADAMA) and the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles.
As of 2026
For any changes please contact Weigold & Böhm.
