The Chambord hunting-horn school was founded in 2001 on the initiative of Xavier Patier, the then Commissioner for development of the National Estate of Chambord and Francis Forget, the then Director of the estate’s reserve, with the help and support of the “Amis de Chambord” Friends Society.
As Xavier Patier and Francis Forget were both knowledgeable admirers of the hunting horn, they could not imagine Chambord, the hunting lodge created by François I, without its hunting music.

They therefore called upon the services of Pierre Charpentier, French hunting-horn champion and French National Forest Office technician at the Boigny sur Bionne (45) research office, who came to Chambord as Director of the hunting-horn school and forester for Chambord’s grounds.

The first enrolments at the school were in early 2001. Since then, some fifty students a year come from September to June to learn the instrument.
Classes take place at the Ferme de la Hannetière, the school’s centre located in the north of the grounds, and, in winter, in a refitted barn at the Ferme de la Gabillière.
Every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evening, short-course classes are held for players by level. Participants get together to learn to play the traditional fanfares, basic music theory, the way in which the instrument is played, and the joy to be had in playing it.

The school’s students take part in such events as the great hunting-horn concerts given at Chambord in early and late summer, 1 May at la grande brocante (the Great Secondhand Fair) and 21 June at the Music Festival where they kick off the occasion.