Rencontres Polyphoniques de Calvi 2026

There is a moment that every first-time visitor to the Rencontres de Chants Polyphoniques de Calvi describes in almost identical terms. You are seated inside the Cathedral Saint-Jean-Baptiste, the 14th-century citadel church that overlooks the Ligurian Sea from the clifftop ramparts of Calvi. The lights dim. A group of singers walks to the center of the nave. They open their mouths and what comes out is not quite like anything you have heard before. Three voices locked in harmonics that belong to a modal tradition older than Western classical music, filling a stone cathedral that has been absorbing voices since the medieval period, in a town that Christopher Columbus may have been born in, on a Mediterranean island that has been guarding this particular way of singing for centuries. The 38th Rencontres de Chants Polyphoniques de Calvi runs from Sunday, September 14 to Saturday, September 20, 2026, with the main programme from September 15 to 20, and it is one of the most concentrated and genuinely moving music festival experiences in all of Europe.

"Thirty-eight years of September evenings in the Calvi citadel. Thirty-eight years of A Filetta's three voices rising in the Cathedral Saint-Jean-Baptiste. Thirty-eight years of Georgian choirs, Bulgarian women, Sardinian tenors, and Amazonian singers bringing their own ancient harmonics into dialogue with the Corsican mountains and the Ligurian Sea."

Thirty-Eight Years of Polyphony by the Sea

The History

The Rencontres de Chants Polyphoniques de Calvi was founded in 1989 by two institutions that together represent the living heart of Corsican polyphonic culture: the association U Svegliu Calvese and the polyphonic ensemble A Filetta, which remains the festival's resident ensemble and the cultural anchor of every edition. The founding vision was simultaneously local and global: to celebrate and protect the Corsican Paghjella tradition by placing it in dialogue with polyphonic traditions from across the world, so that Corsican voices could hear themselves reflected in the vocal traditions of Georgia, Bulgaria, Sardinia, West Africa, Amazonia, Tibet, and beyond.

"The UNESCO inscription of the Corsican Paghjella in 2009 as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity validated what the Rencontres had been demonstrating for two decades: that Corsican polyphony belongs in the same conversation as the world's great vocal traditions."

A Filetta, the Bastia-based polyphonic ensemble that co-founded the festival and has served as its resident group across all 38 editions, is the most internationally recognized Corsican vocal ensemble in the world. Their concert schedule in 2026 alone spans Hyères, Lisbon, and beyond before they return to Calvi in September to welcome the invited international groups, as they have done every year since 1989.

The 2026 Programme

Six Days of World Polyphony

The confirmed 2026 programme runs from the pre-opening evening on Sunday, September 14 through the closing concert on Saturday, September 20, with concerts at three daily time slots across the festival's three primary venues in and around the Calvi citadel:

• Sunday, September 14 – Pre-Opening Evening: Lucibela, a Cape Verdean singer, opens the festival with a soirée de pré-ouverture.
• Tuesday, September 16 – Cathedral: Enza Pagliara, Alessia Tondo, Dario Muci, and Davide Ambrogio bring the ancient vocal traditions of Puglia and Salento to life.
• Thursday, September 18, 21h30 – Cathedral: The full programme was not yet announced, but this slot traditionally hosts significant international ensembles.
• Friday, September 19, 11h00 – Salon de Musique: Les Femmes et les Musiques du Monde, a conversation led by Frank Tenaille at the Salle de Spectacles.
• Friday, September 19 – Trio Nóta (Salle de Spectacle): Another international vocal ensemble enriches the programme.
• Saturday, September 20, 18h00 – Calus Giule à l'Ultimu: Final concert with participants from the festival's workshops.
• Saturday, September 20, 21h30 – Closing Concert: The grand finale closes the 38th edition.

A Filetta: The Soul of the Festival

The Resident Ensemble

A Filetta is not simply the festival's resident ensemble. They are, in a meaningful sense, the reason the festival exists and the artistic standard against which every invited international group is measured.

"Every evening of the Rencontres Polyphoniques de Calvi, A Filetta will welcome the invited groups, meaning the festival's structure is built around A Filetta's presence as the constant element into which all the other voices of the world are welcomed and woven."

Formed in Bastia in 1978, A Filetta has spent nearly fifty years perfecting the Corsican Paghjella in its most sacred and most searching form. Their recordings have been released on ECM Records, and they have performed at major European concert halls, collaborated with the Ensemble Constantinople, appeared at the Cité de la Musique in Paris, and toured internationally with a consistency that reflects genuine international demand for what they do.

The International Dimension

World Polyphony at Calvi

Since its founding in 1989, the Rencontres Polyphoniques de Calvi has hosted polyphonic ensembles from an extraordinary range of vocal traditions that share with Corsican Paghjella the fundamental quality of multi-voice singing rooted in community, faith, and the human need to harmonize. Past invited ensembles have come from:

• Georgia: The ancient Georgian polyphonic tradition, inscribed by UNESCO alongside the Corsican Paghjella.
• Bulgaria: The Bulgarian women's choir tradition, with its dissonant harmonics.
• Sardinia: The cantu a tenore tradition, a close Mediterranean relative of the Corsican Paghjella.
• West Africa: Griot vocal traditions from Mali, Senegal, and Guinea.
• Amazonia: Indigenous vocal traditions with unique cosmological relationships to the human voice.
• Tibet: Overtone chanting traditions.
• New Caledonia and Réunion: French overseas territory traditions.
• Syria and Morocco: Sacred vocal traditions of the Arab Mediterranean world.

The 2026 edition's confirmed Italian guests, Enza Pagliara and the Pugliese tradition they represent, continue this philosophy of finding vocal traditions that illuminate the Corsican Paghjella.

The Venues

Singing Inside the Calvi Citadel

The Rencontres Polyphoniques uses three venues across its programme, each contributing a different acoustic and architectural dimension to the festival experience:

Cathédrale Saint-Jean-Baptiste

The 14th-century cathedral at the highest point of the Calvi citadel is the festival's most sacred and most acoustically extraordinary venue. Built in 1570 after the original was destroyed by a Genoese bombardment, the cathedral's stone nave provides the natural resonance chamber that polyphonic singing was literally designed for. Voices inside this building do not just project outward. They inhabit the space, reflecting off the walls and vaulting in ways that add harmonics and sustain to every note that no electronic amplification can reproduce. The 21h30 Cathedral concerts are the festival's most emotionally intense and most frequently cited as life-changing by returning visitors.

Salle de Spectacles, Avenue Christophe Colomb

The town's main performance hall on Avenue Christophe Colomb serves as the festival's primary ticketed venue for the 18h00 concerts and provides a more conventionally theatrical setting than the cathedral. The Salon de Musique morning sessions and the closing Saturday concerts also take place here.

Église Sainte Marie Majeure

The 11h00 morning concerts are held at the Église Sainte Marie Majeure, the 18th-century baroque church in the lower town of Calvi, providing a third acoustic environment that is more intimate than the cathedral and more historically layered than the Salle de Spectacles.

Calvi: The Town That Was Born for This Festival

The Perfect Setting

Calvi sits on the northwestern coast of Corsica in the Balagne region, its Genoese citadel rising dramatically from a rocky headland above the Gulf of Calvi with the snow-capped peaks of the Monte Cinto massif visible across the bay on clear September days. The town's claim to be the birthplace of Christopher Columbus is contested but persistently maintained, and the streets of the lower town carry the particular atmosphere of a Mediterranean port that has been receiving travelers and traders and now musicians for centuries.

In September, after the peak summer tourist season has subsided, Calvi enters what many regular visitors consider its most genuinely beautiful period. The beaches are quieter, the restaurants are less crowded, the light has the particular golden quality of early Mediterranean autumn, and the temperature, typically 22 to 26 degrees Celsius, is ideal for the outdoor evening walks between concert venues that are as much a part of the festival experience as the performances themselves.

The combination of the citadel architecture, the Ligurian Sea backdrop, the Balagne hills behind the town, and the sound of polyphonic voices drifting from the cathedral at 9:30 p.m. creates a sensory totality that makes the Rencontres Polyphoniques de Calvi specifically and irreducibly a Calvi experience. The same festival in any other location would be a different and lesser thing.

Tickets and Pricing

The 2026 Structure

The Rencontres Polyphoniques operates a tiered pricing structure that makes the festival accessible across multiple budgets while rewarding commitment with the best rates:

• Individual concert tickets: €10 to €25 per concert
• Standard concert tickets: €20 per concert
• Full season pass (18h and 21h30 concerts): €135
• Complete pass (11h + 18h + 21h30 concerts): €150
• Student reduced rate: Available on all ticket categories

Important booking rules:

• Purchasing a ticket for an evening 21h30 concert entitles the holder to a reduced rate for the 18h00 concert on the same day, subject to availability
• Reservations not collected by 16h00 on the day of the concert are automatically cancelled
• Late arrivals are only admitted at a moment chosen by the front of house team in agreement with the organizers, not on demand

Where to buy tickets:

• Online at rencontrespolyphoniques.com
• At the Calvi-Balagne Tourist Office
• At La Poudrière in Calvi
• At the venue on the day, subject to availability

For the full season pass at €150, the Rencontres Polyphoniques represents one of the most generously priced serious music festivals in France for the quality and international stature of the programming it delivers.

The Broader Corsican Polyphonic Calendar

Around September 2026

The Rencontres Polyphoniques de Calvi sits within a rich autumn Corsican polyphonic calendar that makes September and October the peak season for serious vocal music on the island:

• A Santa di u Niolu: September 8, Casamaccioli (sacred Paghjella at A Granitula, 196th edition)
• Rencontres Polyphoniques de Calvi: September 14 to 20, Calvi (38th edition)
• A Filetta touring concerts: Year-round European touring including Hyères (May 7), Lisbon (May 9), and multiple autumn dates
• Calendrier des Polyphonies Corses: Regular polyphonic concerts across the island through the Corsican cultural association network

A visitor arriving in Corsica on September 6 could experience A Santa di u Niolu's sacred Paghjella at Casamaccioli on September 8, spend the intervening week exploring the island, and be in Calvi for the pre-opening of the Rencontres Polyphoniques on September 14 for a two-week immersion in Corsican vocal culture that no other journey in Europe could replicate.

Practical Information

Getting to Calvi for September 2026

Calvi is accessible by air, rail, and road, and its position on Corsica's northwestern coast makes it reachable from both of the island's main airports:

By Air

• Calvi Sainte-Catherine Airport (CLY): Located 7km from Calvi town center, receiving direct seasonal flights from Paris Orly, Paris CDG, Lyon, Marseille, Nice, and several other French and European cities in summer. September flights operate but frequency reduces from the August peak so booking early is essential
• Bastia Poretta Airport (BIA): 90km from Calvi via the Balagne coast road (approximately 2 hours by car or the scenic Corsican railway)

By Train

The Tramways de la Balagne, Corsica's narrow-gauge railway system, connects Calvi to Île-Rousse and Bastia with one of the most scenic rail journeys in France, running along the Balagne coastline with views across the Ligurian Sea throughout.

By Ferry

Calvi's ferry terminal receives crossings from Nice and Marseille on mainland France, operated by Corsica Ferries and La Méridionale, making a sailing arrival one of the most atmospheric ways to begin a Rencontres Polyphoniques visit.

Accommodation in Calvi

Where to Stay

Calvi has a well-developed accommodation stock ranging from boutique hotels in the lower town to larger resort properties along the sandy beach bay. For the festival window, the most convenient properties are in the lower town within walking distance of all three concert venues. Book well in advance as the Rencontres Polyphoniques has a loyal returning audience that fills Calvi's hotel stock across the festival week.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Things People Always Want to Know

When is the Rencontres Polyphoniques de Calvi 2026?

The 38th edition runs from the pre-opening evening on Sunday, September 14 to Saturday, September 20, 2026. The main programme runs September 15 to 20.

What is the ticket price for the 2026 festival?

Individual concerts from €10 to €25. Full season pass (18h and 21h30 concerts) €135. Complete pass including 11h morning sessions €150. Student rates available.

Where do the concerts take place?

At three venues in and around the Calvi citadel: Cathédrale Saint-Jean-Baptiste (21h30 concerts), Salle de Spectacles, Avenue Christophe Colomb (18h concerts and Salon de Musique), and Église Sainte Marie Majeure (11h morning concerts).

Who founded the Rencontres Polyphoniques de Calvi?

The festival was founded in 1989 by the association U Svegliu Calvese and the Corsican polyphonic ensemble A Filetta.

Who is A Filetta?

A Filetta is the Bastia-based Corsican polyphonic ensemble and co-founder of the festival, considered the most internationally recognized Corsican vocal ensemble in the world. They serve as the resident ensemble of every edition, welcoming each invited international group with their own performances every evening of the festival.

What international groups have performed at Calvi?

Since 1989, the festival has hosted ensembles from Georgia, Bulgaria, Sardinia, Mali, Senegal, Guinea, Amazonia, Tibet, New Caledonia, Réunion, Syria, Morocco, and many more. The 2026 edition welcomes Italian artists from the Pugliese tradition of southern Italy among others.

How do I book tickets?

Online at rencontrespolyphoniques.com, at the Calvi-Balagne Tourist Office, at La Poudrière in Calvi, or at the venue. Reservations not collected by 16h00 on the day of the concert are cancelled.

What is the contact for reservations?

Phone: +33 4 95 65 16 67 or email: resa.rpcalvi@gmail.com.

Verified Information at a Glance

• Event Name: 38th Rencontres de Chants Polyphoniques de Calvi
• Category: International Polyphonic Music Festival / World Vocal Traditions
• Dates: Pre-opening Sunday, September 14, main programme September 15 to 20, 2026
• Location: Calvi, Haute-Corse, Corsica, France
• Founded: 1989 by U Svegliu Calvese and A Filetta
• Resident Ensemble: A Filetta
• Venues: Cathédrale Saint-Jean-Baptiste (21h30 concerts), Salle de Spectacles, Avenue Christophe Colomb (18h concerts), Église Sainte Marie Majeure (11h morning concerts)
• Confirmed 2026 Artists: Lucibela (pre-opening), Enza Pagliara, Alessia Tondo, Dario Muci, and Davide Ambrogio (Italy), Trio Nóta, Calus Giule
• Daily Schedule: 11h00 morning sessions, 18h00 afternoon concerts, 21h30 evening concerts
• Salon de Musique: Frank Tenaille on Women and World Music, Friday, September 19 at 11h00
• Ticket Prices: €10 to €25 per concert; season pass €135 (18h + 21h30); full pass €150 (all concerts); student rates available
• Bookings: rencontrespolyphoniques.com
• Phone: +33 4 95 65 16 67
• Email: resa.rpcalvi@gmail.com
• Nearest Airport: Calvi Sainte-Catherine (CLY), 7km from town center
• Also Accessible From: Bastia Poretta (BIA), 90km via Balagne coast road or scenic narrow-gauge railway
• Best For: World music lovers, vocal music specialists, cultural travelers, French heritage tourism, Corsica enthusiasts, polyphony and UNESCO intangible heritage visitors