Les Arènes Lyriques: Montmartre’s Secret Garden Comes Alive with Opera Under the Stars

Tucked a few steps below the Sacré-Cœur, hidden behind railings on the sloping Rue Chappe, lies a garden most Parisians never see. For much of the year the Arènes de Montmartre stay firmly shut. But for four weeks each summer, the gates swing open, fairy lights are strung between the trees, and this little amphitheatre of stone and greenery becomes one of the loveliest concert venues in the city.

From 22 July to 15 August 2026, the garden of Les Arènes de Montmartre hosts sixteen open-air concerts, at nightfall. Now in its sixth season, the festival known as Les Arènes Lyriques has quietly become one of the more magical fixtures of the Parisian summer, and this year’s programme carries the evocative title E Fra le nubi d’or, or “Among the Golden Clouds”.

An orchestra assembled for a single summer

What makes Les Arènes Lyriques distinctive is its spirit of gathering. Each year, the festival invites eight soloists from different backgrounds to join the Orchestre des Arènes Lyriques, an ensemble of fifteen young musicians brought together solely for this occasion. Under the guiding hand of founder and artistic director Pierre Mollaret, this fleeting ensemble puts together a concert that crosses genres, centuries and borders, seeking lyricism wherever it is found: a summer rhapsody.

The result is anything but a stuffy recital. Across the four weeks, sopranos and tenors share the stage with soul voices and piano, and the great romantic repertoire rubs shoulders with jazz and soul interludes. The soloists change midway through the run, split into two casts: Clara Orif, Jean-François Marras, Louise Bianco and Kim Bernard perform from 22 July to 1 August, followed by Anara Khassenova, Jérémie Schütz, Laurine Moullet and Alexandre Lombard-Buffet from 5 to 15 August.

From Puccini to Nina Simone

The season takes its name from the closing words of Ebben? Ne andrò lontana, the celebrated aria from Alfredo Catalani’s opera La Wally, which brings each evening to a hushed, suspended close. Around it, the programme roams widely: Puccini’s soaring Nessun dorma from Turandot, the exuberant Danzón No. 2 by Mexican composer Arturo Márquez, and, for a change of register entirely, Nina Simone’s My Baby Just Cares for Me.

Only these headline works are announced in advance. The rest of the programme is deliberately kept under wraps, revealed only as the evening unfolds, an approach that lends each concert a sense of discovery and keeps a little of the venue’s mystery intact.

It is a fitting tribute to the neighbourhood. Montmartre has been a land of artists since the nineteenth century, from the cabarets of the Belle Époque to the studios where Erik Satie composed. Les Arènes Lyriques continues that bohemian, open-hearted tradition, bringing lyric song back to the Butte in the most convivial way imaginable.

Free concerts for children who stay in the city

There is a generous side to the festival, too. This year sees the return of Les Arènes Lyriques des Enfants, a strand of free concerts for children who cannot get away over the summer, run in partnership with leisure centres and children’s hospitals across the Paris region.

The 2026 offering is La Butte aux bêtes, a musical tale written and composed by Garance Paule and inspired by the folklore of old Montmartre. It follows Aliboron, a little donkey searching for his own way of expressing the world, through a neighbourhood peopled by the likes of Picasso, Aristide Bruant and La Goulue. The children’s concerts run from 23 July to 7 August, with free admission by reservation for eligible groups and families.

When you go

The concerts take place in the Jardin des Arènes de Montmartre, 25 Rue Chappe, in the 18th arrondissement, a short walk from Abbesses or Anvers Métro. The concert begins at 9pm and lasts an hour and a half; it is advisable to arrive fifteen minutes early, though you may come up to an hour before to enjoy the garden. Doors and the bar open at 8pm.

Tickets are €45, or €34 for under-26s on proof of age, available at areneslyriques.com. Should the weather turn, the concert moves to the nearby Saint-Jean de Montmartre church, a five-minute walk away, with ticket holders notified by email at least two hours beforehand.

For one summer evening, far from the crowds pressing up towards the basilica, it is about as close to enchantment as Paris gets.