3 Best Performing Arts in Provence, France

In late June and July, opera and music lovers descend on Aix to see world-class opera productions in the courtyard of the Palais de l'Archevêché and other of the city's most beautiful venues. The repertoire at this internationally acclaimed festival is varied and often offbeat, featuring works like Britten's Curlew River and Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle as well as the usual Mozart, Puccini, and Verdi. Most of the singers, however, are not celebrities, but rather an elite group of students who spend the summer with the Academie Européenne de Musique, training and performing under the tutelage of stars like Robert Tear and Yo-Yo Ma.

Every July, you can see world-class productions in the courtyard of the Palais de l'Archevêché during one of Europe's most important opera festivals. The repertoire is varied and often offbeat, featuring works like Britten's Curlew River and Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle as well as the usual Mozart, Puccini, and Verdi. Most of the singers are not celebrities but rather elite students who spend the summer with the Académie Européenne de Musique, training and performing under the tutelage of stars like Robert Tear and Yo-Yo Ma. Buy tickets online beginning in January.

To witness the torches of Nabucco or Aïda flickering against the 2,000-year-old Roman wall of the Théâtre Antique and to hear the extraordinary sound play around its semicircle of ancient seats is one of the great summer festival experiences in Europe. Every July, Les Chorégies d'Orange echo tradition and amass operatic and classical music spectacles under the summer stars in Orange. Be sure to book tickets well in advance; they go on sale in October.