On Saturday, April 18, 2026, the historic Saint-Martin Church in Vertus will host a unique musical collaboration between traditional hunting horn players and a pipe organ. The event features Les Sonneurs du point du jour de Soissons, a renowned ensemble specializing in French hunting horn repertoire, performing alongside the church’s organ in a program designed to highlight the complementary timbres of these instruments.
The concert is part of Vertus’ cultural programming for mid-April 2026, offering residents and visitors a rare opportunity to experience a fusion of ceremonial wind music with sacred organ repertoire. According to local event listings, the performance will take place at the Église Saint-Martin, a central landmark in the Champagne-Ardenne region known for its acoustics and architectural significance.
Les Sonneurs du point du jour de Soissons are based in Soissons, approximately 100 kilometers west of Vertus, and have maintained an active performance schedule throughout 2025 and early 2026, focusing on preserving and promoting the tradition of trompes de chasse—hunting horns historically used in French royal hunts and later adapted for concert performance. Their participation in this event underscores ongoing efforts to integrate historical instrumentation into contemporary sacred and secular music contexts.
The pipe organ at Église Saint-Martin, while not detailed in current public specifications, is understood to be a traditional instrument suitable for accompanying brass ensembles, capable of providing harmonic and textural support to the bright, penetrating tones of the hunting horns. Organs in rural French churches of this period often feature stops designed to blend with wind instruments, suggesting a natural affinity for this collaboration.
This concert reflects a broader trend in France of reviving and recontextualizing historical musical forms within community and religious settings. Similar events have occurred in recent years at venues such as the Basilica of Saint-Denis and the Cathedral of Reims, where hunting horn ensembles have partnered with organists to explore repertoire spanning Baroque fanfares to modern compositions written for the combination.
Attendees can expect a program that may include traditional chasse fanfares, transcriptions of Baroque works, and possibly original arrangements created specifically for this collaboration. The hunting horn, typically played in ensembles of varying sizes, produces a distinctive open harmonic series sound that, when paired with the organ’s sustained tones, creates a resonant and spatially rich auditory experience.
Local authorities in Vertus have not issued specific traffic or attendance advisories for the event, but given the town’s size and the cultural draw of such performances, visitors are advised to arrive early. Parking is generally available near the town center, and the church is accessible via main routes including the D980 and D9801 roads.
The concert aligns with Vertus’ seasonal cultural calendar, which in April 2026 includes other events such as art exhibitions at Champagne Chapuy and preparatory activities for the annual Les Estivales summer festival series. These concurrent offerings position the horn and organ concert as part of a broader springtime engagement with local heritage and the arts.
As of April 16, 2026, no official recording or live stream of the event has been announced. Attendance will be limited to in-person participation, consistent with the intimate scale of community-based performances in the region. Admission details, including any potential fees or reservation requirements, were not specified in publicly available sources as of the date of this report.
For those interested in similar cultural events in the Champagne-Ardenne area, regional cultural agencies maintain updated calendars through platforms such as Alentoor and municipal websites, which list forthcoming performances, exhibitions, and seasonal traditions across Marne and neighboring departments.
This performance represents a continuation of efforts to sustain France’s intangible musical heritage, particularly the art of trompe de chasse, which was inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2020. While the Vertus concert itself is not formally designated as a UNESCO-linked event, it contributes to the living practice and transmission of this tradition.
Further details about the ensemble’s repertoire, the organist performing, or any potential future collaborations between Les Sonneurs du point du jour de Soissons and ecclesiastical venues remain unavailable through verified channels at this time. Updates, if any, would likely be communicated through the group’s official channels or local cultural announcements in the weeks following the performance.
To stay informed about upcoming cultural events in Vertus and the wider Champagne-Ardenne region, readers are encouraged to consult regularly updated local event listings and municipal cultural office communications.