Students have returned year after year. Clearly this is one summer school that could become addictive

BBC Music Magazine

Last year was inspirational and my playing improved out of all proportion so I am hoping for the same miracle again

Julian Britton, retired surgeon

I have just stepped out of an enchanted experience in which, once again, magic was woven out of old stones, hard labour, high spirits and genius... Students go through genuine and profound change while they're there, and that opens them up to be bonded and elated and also protected from all the lowering grit of everyday life

Cynthia Kee, novelist

Venue


Ambialet, Gorge du Tarn, southwest France



AMBIALET is a tiny village in the Tarn Gorge, some 30 minutes by road east of Albi. This is the region of the Cathars, a heretical religious community of the 11th to 13th centuries who famously clashed with the Roman Catholic Church, and whose few remaining castles and settlements still draw visitors to the Southwest. Albi, a beautifully preserved medieval city built from brick, and with an ancient bridge over the Tarn, has one of the most magnificent cathedrals of southern France; the city is also the home of the Henri Toulouse Lautrec museum.

Comparable present-day architecture and engineering is close by at Millau. At the point where the Tarn Gorge widens, at the foot of the Massif Central, another bridge crosses the river, the towering Millau Viaduct. Designed by Norman Foster, and opened in 2004, it is the tallest road bridge in the world, with supporting pillars higher than the Eiffel tower.


The Priory

At Ambialet the Tarn river makes a loop around an outcrop of rock – creating a presqu’isle, almost an island – where in the 11th century a church and priory were built by the Benedictine order, and where a village was established between the encircling arms of the river below. From the courtyard of the priory there are magnificent views across the gorge and over to the far hills and fields behind. In 1860 the Franciscans rebuilt the Priory, preserving the Romanesque church.

Today the church is fully functioning and the priory buildings have again been restored, with a new dining room, a large highly efficient kitchen,
and accommodation for 30 people; there are plans for further restoration to include gardens and a small vineyard.

Download 2010 application form

Dates for 2010 at Ambialet

Ambialet Photo Gallery

The Venue - Ambialet

The magnificent Priory at Ambialet in the Tarn Gorge is the summer school's new home. Over the years it has maintained and developed the original vision of its founders: to nurture the highest standards of music-making in idyllic surroundings...