Nights of Champagne 2026: in Troyes, 900 singers revived Baloans

There are festivals where the public is not content to listen: he sings. In Troyes, the Nights of Champagne have made their signature since 1988, and their 39th edition, from October 17 to 24, 2026, has proved it again. The moment that the whole city was waiting for arrived on Friday, October 23rd at the Espace Argence: the Grand Choral, the festival's main event, gathered around 900 singers around Daniel Baloins' repertoire, under the title "Saving Love". Months of rehearsals with the association Contemporary Song, then a single evening where hundreds of amateur voices become, together, an instrument.

A week of French song

Around this event, the week has held a poster that looks like a story of the French song of yesterday and today: Lujipeka opened at the Cube on October 17, Charlie Winston on October 18, then Hubert-Félix Thiéfaine, Renan Luce and Laurent Voulzy on the 19, Tryo and Pink Martini on the 20, Suzane and Alain Chambort on the 21, Benjamin Biolay, Deluxe and Yves Jamait on the 22. The closing, on October 24, married Sinclair to an electro evening led by Vladimir Cauchemar, Étienne de Crécy and Synapson: from choirs to dance music, the festival takes on all the ages of the festival.

The audience, at the centre of the stage

What the Nights of Champagne tell us, an edition after edition, goes beyond the programming. It is a model: an entire city that makes amateur practice — singing together — the centre of its professional festival. For the organizers who read us, from Conakry to Quebec City, the lesson is worth gold: a festival is measured not only by its poster heads, but by the place it leaves to those who come to live it.

The 40th edition, in 2027, will be a symbol: 40 years of voice in Troyes. We are already looking forward to hearing what the Grand Choral has to offer us.

— Moïse 1er, the Festival Explorer

Source: All Festivals