The Young Singers of Saint-Charles – Versailles, France
One day all the world’s children will sing the peace of God. – Mgr Maillet –
All those who are devoted to the sacred music exert a true apostolate and will be entitled to the reward of the apostle. – Pie XII –
Introduction
The children’s choir Les Petits Chanteurs de Saint-Charles was founded in 1983 by Father Roger Morandi. Their mission is to sing the Lord and his wonders and to radiate faith and Christian joy. Our young singers receive both a musical and a spiritual education for without a living faith, sacred music is reduced to a purely artistic gesture and loses its meaning.
Pueri Cantores
Our choir is part of the International Pueri Cantores Federation, a grouping of children’s choirs whose purpose is to praise the Lord through sacred music. Together with other young singers of the world, Les Petits Chanteurs de Saint-Charles sing the peace of God so that, on Earth, all men of good will live in peace.
Repertoire
Les petits chanteurs de Saint-Charles perform Renaissance motets (Palestrina, Viadana) and Sacred Masterpieces from the world’s great composers such as Vivaldi (Gloria), Bach (Magnificat, St. John Passion, Cantatas), Haendel (Messiah), F.J.Haydn (St. Nicolas Mass, Missa in tempore belli), Mozart (Requiem, Kronungsmesse,Vesperae solennes de confessore) and Rossini (Solemn Little Mass). They also sing French repertoire from Charpentier (Midnight Mass For Christmas), Gounod (St. Cecilia Mass), Fauré (Requiem) or Duruflé (Requiem).
Recordings
Les petits chanteurs de Saint-Charles have recorded a dozen music CDs. You can listen to audios extracts on our soundcloud page.
Activities
Our singers have rehearsals every week. Once a month they sing Sunday service in Versailles.
They give several concerts a year, mostly in December with traditional a capella Christmas songs and in June at the end of the school year. Late August during summer vacation about 50 young singers spend a fortnight together in France or abroad for a concert tour. This gives the children an opportunity to learn community life and to discover many foreign countries : Italy, Austria, Germany or Poland in the past years