Organ concerts at the Grandes-Orgues Cavaillé-Coll

Spectacle, festival (concert, danse, théâtre)

See you at the concert in the Cathedral Basilica of Saint-Denis!

Dates and times

30 March, 13 April, 6 July, 21 September, 5 October and 2 November 2025 from 5 pm to 6 pm
Price

Free for all without reservation
Audience
All audiences
Information
basilique@monuments-nationaux.fr or 01 48 09 83 54

Concert programme

30 March: Lucile Dollat, organist in residence at the Radio France auditorium
13 April: Quentin Guérillot, titular organist of the Great Organs of the Cathedral Basilica of Saint-Denis
6 July: Michael Bottenhorn, titular organist of St Joseph's Church in Bonn-Beuel (Germany)
21 September: Martin Gregorius, titular organist of the Saint-Jacques basilica in Straubing (Germany)
5 October: Nicolas Bucher, titular organist at Saint-Gervais church in Paris
2 November: Pierre Grandmaison, titular organist of the Basilica of Montreal (Quebec)

Artistic director: Quentin Guérillot, titular organist of the Great Organs of the Cathedral Basilica of Saint-Denis.

During the concerts, the programme is commented on and the image of the performer is shown on a screen.

Who is Quentin Guérillot?

Born in Mulhouse, Quentin Guérillot studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris with great masters such as Michel Bouvard and Olivier Latry for organ, Olivier Baumont for harpsichord, Thierry Escaich and Pierre Pincemaille for writing and improvisation, and won 7 first prizes. A pupil of Vincent Warnier, he has also taken numerous master classes with Louis Robillard, Bernhard Haas, Andreas Staier and Christophe Rousset, and has worked on the Italian organ repertoire with the renowned organist and musicologist Andrea Macinanti.

Passionate about musicological sources and ancient treatises, he specialised as a conductor-continuist with Leonardo Garcia Alarcon at the HEM in Geneva.

In May 2018, aged just 25, he was appointed titular organist of the Grandes orgues Cavaillé-Coll at the Cathédrale-Basilique de Saint-Denis, succeeding his mentor Pierre Pincemaille. Since then, he has been artistic director of the Cathedral's organ concert season, and regularly performs as a soloist at the Saint-Denis Festival, notably with Khrystyna Sarksyan and David Guerrier. He also plays regularly under the direction of prestigious conductors such as Matthias Pintscher, Marko Letonja and Jukka-Pekka Saraste at the Philharmonie de Paris and the Théatre Antique d'Orange.

A concert performer renowned throughout Europe, he has dedicated his first CD, "L'orgue chambriste, du salon à la salle de concert", to the Initiale label, to unanimous critical acclaim (Choc de Classica).

In video

The organ of the Cathedral Basilica of Saint-Denis

The neo-Gothic organ case was designed by the architect François Debret, who was responsible for restoring the abbey church in 1813. Cavaillé-Coll created this unprecedented instrument, inventing the pneumatic lever, the Machine Baker, which took the strain off the organist by avoiding the hardness of the keyboards. He is the most emblematic organ builder of the 19th century. He revolutionised the profession and had over 500 organs built in Paris, the provinces and abroad. The instrument has 69 stops, 3 manuals and around 4,200 pipes.

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