Baroque Music in a refined French country estate

October 2026

As you know, the objective of Le Carnet de France is to inform you of the latest developments in the French cultural world with, obviously, an emphasis on subjects of interest to you, readers, and often with a Franco-American flair.

This month, we are delighted to write about a very much-admired American gentleman who has been in France for the last fifty years.

His passion for music, gardening and heritage have enhanced the French culture tremendously.

His name is William Lincoln Christie.

He graduated from Harvard College, where he studied art history, and he then went to Yale to study music.  He is a renowned harpsichord player. 

In 1970, he came to France and stayed! 

Nine years later, he created Les Arts Florissants, a musical ensemble named after an opera composed in 1685, by Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704).  In France, you cannot dissociate Les Arts Florissants and Baroque music anymore.

It is thankful to William Christie if Baroque music has been revived and is so appreciated today.  Les Arts Florissants performs works by Bach, Charpentier, Handel, Haydn, Lully, Monteverdi, Purcell, Rameau and many other composers.  

Since 2015, Les Arts Florissants has been in residence at the Philharmonie de Paris, the concert hall designed by the French architect Jean Nouvel and inaugurated that year.  It is located within the Parc of the Cité de la Musique at La Villette, on the northeastern edge of Paris. (The Cité de la Musique was inaugurated in 1995 with a concert conducted by Pierre Boulez and William Christie.) Les Arts Florissants also perform all over Europe, and in the United States (Lincoln Center and Brooklyn Academy of Music), South America, Asia, and Australia. 

Early on, while performing all over France, William Christie discovered the Vendée, a department in Le Pays de la Loire, south of Nantes, where he decided to find a home.  In 1985, he purchased a 16^th century abandoned building in the small village of Thiré, which needed lots of restauration. It had a large piece of land, and William Christie’s aim was to make a beautiful garden. His garden was awarded the distinction of “Jardin remarquable” in 2004. There are only four “Jardins remarquables” in Vendée. Initially, the property was about 4 hectares, and today it covers 12 hectares (about 30 acres). 

The main building called “Le Bâtiment” features typical Vendean attributes.  His restauration is so spectacular that it is registered among the Monuments Historiques (a regional heritage site).

A garden?  Well, within the large space you do not have one garden but several gardens, and as with music, the inspirations for William Christie were from France, England and Italy, and there is also an American corner. Mr. Christie loves cooking, so he does not have to go far to fetch delicious produce in his vast vegetable garden as well as in his fruit orchard.

Since 2012, Les Arts Florissants has been putting on the Festival des Jardins de William Christie during the last week in August. It lasts ten days, and if you like Baroque music and beautiful gardens, it is a Must.  In the morning, you are invited to discover the gardens with a tour-guide, or you can attend a dance or a singing class. 

During the afternoon, you can meander throughout the gardens for the Promenades Musicales. These are 20-minute performances: solos, singers, musicians, dancers, or short story tellers.

In the evening, an opera is performed on the Miroir d’eau, an artificial pond created by Mr. Christie, or you can attend a string quartet concert or a recital in the beautiful Gothic Church Saint-Pierre de Thiré, all lit up with candles and filled with beautiful bouquets of flowers.  After those performances, before retiring, you can attend a half-an-hour recital of sacred music in the church for meditation (silence, no applause). This is a beautiful and peaceful moment to end the day.

In 2002, William Christie and his co-director Paul Agnew, a renowned singer and conductor from England, created Le Jardin des Voix, an international academy for young singers. A collaboration with the Juilliard School in New York was established in 2007. Every year, eight to ten students are selected to come and perform in Thiré with professional musicians.  Thankful to William Christie and Paul Agnew, gifted young musicians and singers have had their international careers launched.

In April of each year, under the direction of Paul Agnew, the Festival du Printemps offers short concerts of sacred music, performed in different churches in Thiré and the surrounding area. 

In Thiré, there is a cultural center named Le Quartier des Artistes, a residence where young musicians as well as landscape designers can reside and enhance their talents. Each year a prize is also awarded to the best landscape designer of a Jardin Ephémère (temporary garden).

France has recognized the contribution of William L. Christie with his election to the very prestigious Académie Française in 2008. He is a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts. 

Next summer’s Festival des Jardins de William Christie in Thiré is scheduled to be held from August 21 to 28, 2027.