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Classical music in the intimacy of private salons...

and perceptions to "take home"

"There is nothing more splendid than to play for a group of cultured guests with whom one can have an exchange. That is true civilization and a way to counter the violence of the world."

- G. L., young pianist

The painting is by Bram van Velde.

 

That sentiment explains why we suggest private salons for soirées of classical music. Their ambiance encourages the closeness of performers and public, and lends itself to the nobility of this art.

 

As well: Of the many excellent musicians who perform in Paris, we choose those who let guests "take  home" a deepened perception of music or of an epoch.

 

 

  • "Classical music for people who hate classical music "
Interview, "France Culture" (national public radio), April 8, 2008

"Six centuries of sixth sense – surprise in music from the 16th to the 21st century,  or why great composers are great"

  

"I play excerpts from the immense composers to show how they went beyond reliable, expected formulas. My starting point is Paul Klee's statement, "Genius is the error in the system." - J.G.

Even people who are bored by the classics and detest the contemporary may change their minds when they've heard this truculent Franco-American's choices and clear, energetic explanations.

 

Recent performances in Paris

 

• May 9, 2011, at l'Archipel

Concert hall, recording studio and movie theater

Improvisations, followed by the film "La Discrète" (1990) by Christian Vincent.

Jay did the sound track (works by Scarlatti, Schubert and Gottlieb).

 

 

• February 10, 2010

Six Jewish composers
at "l'Archipel" (described below)

For C. Aubin's opinion,

  "Contemporary music becomes accessible",

http://unexpectedparis.blogspot.com/

(February 17, 2010)

 

• October and November 2010

Concert and lecture series on composer Philip Glass,

at the Maison de la Musique of Nanterre

(A suburb just outside the city limits)


 

 

 

 

  • French music's British expert

 

 

Reading and talk, then concert, at the bookstore "Shakespeare & Company", December 2009
Book, 2009
At the British Embassy, 2005

One of the few foreign artists invited to teach French music in Paris conservatories and to play on French radio, this Scotsman is a specialist of Debussy.

 

 
  • Felix Mendelssohn's sister – and her epoch
CD and biography 1992, second edition 2007

 

Felix Mendelssohn's sister had the same training, teachers and perhaps the same talent as he. But, as a 19th-century woman, she was unable to publish most of her compositions or to perform them in public. She remains little-known.

 

• A woman pianist has written Fanny's biography and recorded her music.

 

She receives us in her Montparnasse home, tells Fanny's story and plays some of her works. She explains that her grandmother, who inspired this research and her choice of career, had Fanny's problems and more...

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Opera in a family home, under a portrait's gaze

     

    This young soloist has performed with orchestras at the Salles Gaveau and Pleyel and the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, given recitals in the churches of Notre-Dame, Saint-Germain-des-Prés and Saint-Sulpice, at the Senate and the Sorbonne. She has sung at festivals and at the operas of Cairo and Hanoi.

     

    Descendant of an Orientalist painter and granddaughter of a world-known pianist, she seems predestined for this career.  

     

    For an unusual prelude, please click on "Take home", above.

     

    Recent Paris concert: Adyar concert hall, January 31, 2010

     

     

    Our hostess can of course give other concerts. But the historical and personal side of this proposal provides an extra dimension.

     

    Paris concert: "Traditional music from central France," transposed by Chopin, Liszt, Chabrier, at the d'Orsay Museum, March 23, 2010.

     

     

     

    Her celebrated grandfather transmitted dignity and discipline. (The insurance company lets us give the name privately.)
    Recital, Sorbonne Chapel, 2006

     

     

    NB: We can produce soirées in most domains of classical music. 

     

     

    • Costs: please CLICK

     

     

    Credits: radio station / Karin Liebe; embassy / Sara White Wilson; reading / David Turner; other photos / Claude Abron