Notre Dame Pipe Organ?

Question

If you visit Paris and go on tour of the Notre Dame Cathedral will they let you play the pipe organ if you ask? Next year my Honors British LIterature class is taking a trip to Paris, London, and Madrid. One of the places we will be visiting is Notre Dame. More than anything I want to play their pipe organ when I am there since I am pipe organist at my church and love the organ. Will they let you play it?

Answer 1

No, they don't let any comer play on it. Write to them beforehand to ask if there is a possibility for you to play. I don't think you have much of a chance to play on the gallery organ, unless you are used to the huge pipe organs with five levels and come with a recommendation. There is a smaller chancel organ though. You might have a chance there.

http://www.uquebec.ca/musique/orgues/fra...

Answer 2

I'm sure you realized the answer would be no before you asked it.

But if this is really something you want "more than anything" and given that you have a considerable amount of time before you will be there and are, in fact, a qualified pipe organist how about trying to strike up a correspondence with Olivier Latry.

Its a bit of a long shot but he's the youngest of the organists of Notre Dame and a  professor at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris  ( http://www.cnsmdp.fr/interface/frame/fra... ) Stranger things have happened.