Since 1948 Aix is known throughout the world for its international festival of music. In the space of a few short years the city acquired a renown unprecedented in its history of over two millennia. Mozart in an eighteenth century setting and the warm magic of its midsummer's nights attracted singers and musicians from all over the world, and audiences in whom Provence lay, like a dreamland.

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The European Academy is dedicated to choral music. Its young singers participate in major operatic productions of the Aix-en-Provence International Music Festival (in 2001, le Nozze di Figaro and Falstaff), and benefit from the helpful presence and advice of a number of its eminent visitors who figure among the operatic performers. Thirty nine young voices, auditioned and chosen from among prestigious music schools world-wide, are enrolled in "Academy 2001". The Academy fulfills a dual vocation, providing thorough vocal training for young talent, and proposing to the public a "Passport" permitting access to a number of of the concerts, rehearsals, masterclasses, films, and lectures that constitute its program.

With a choir of thirty members created in 1986, "l'Ensemble Les Festes d'Orphée" interprets the sounds of European Baroque music. The performances are set up in the beautiful setting of the Chapelle de la Visitation - Sainte-Catherine, in the rue Mignet. (see map)

Provence is a movable feast of summer festivals, each unique by its program, scheduling, and setting. Situated some 25 kilometers from Aix-en-Provence, the "Roque" receives each year a rich selection of musicians from the world over. As the curtains are drawn in Aix, the Provençal nights spring to life with the magic distilled by great musicians interpreting great music In churches, abbeys, châteaux, parks, and nature's own theaters. For the past twenty years the Roque d'Anthéron has delighted audiences by the quality, variety, and superb taste of its offerings. Its ever increasing success tells its own story.