This lovely little theater is tucked away at the end of a courtyard on the Île Saint-Louis, the smaller of the two islands in the Seine in the center of Paris.

One of my bicycle maps claimed that there was a Vélib’ station on the Île Saint-Louis near Pont Marie, but there wasn’t, so I had to go looking for some other place to dock my Vélib’ bike, which wasn’t easy because Paris Plages was in full swing and most of the docking stands were full.

Paris Plages = Paris Beaches, 2008

I finally arrived at the theater only about a quarter of an hour before the flute and piano recital Promenade à la française and asked if I could still get a ticket. The man said no problem, and he sold me one.

Most of the 42 seats in the Théâtre de l’Île Saint-Louis

I had a quick look around the neighborhood and came back for the recital at 18:30, when it turned out that I was the only person who had bought a ticket. I told them I wouldn’t be offended if they decided to cancel the recital under these circumstances, but they said no, that would be unprofessional, the show must go on. (Also it turned out that they were recording the concert for possible use on a CD.)

After a while the man who had sold me the ticket also came in to listen, so there were two of us in the audience.

Pianist Virginie Jungblut and Flutist Eric Poyrault

The concert consisted of compositions for flute and piano by the French composers Fauré, Ibert, Satie, Ravel, Boulanger, Bolling and Poulenc. It was really fine, and I had a nice chat with the musicians afterwards. I told them about the Poulenc concert I had seen two years before at the House of Radio France, and about the recitals of French flute music that are sometimes given in Frankfurt by flutists of the Frankfurt Opera Orchestra.

Théâtre de l’Île Saint-Louis, 39 Quai d’Anjou, 75004 Paris
GPS  48°51’8.45″ North;  2°21’26.15″ East
http://www.theatre-ilesaintlouis.com/

My photos in this post are from 2008. I revised the text in 2018.

See also: Concert at Radio France.