2011-2012 SEASON
MAY 4 & 5, PRE & POST CONCERT EVENTS CONCERT PRELUDE: A Window into Parisian Salons with Mary E. Davis 6:45 pm, on stage The Parisian salon, a touchstone for French culture in the 18th and 19th centuries, continued to thrive in the 20th. Whether in the drawing room of a Right Bank mansion or the back room of a Left Bank bookstore, the city's artists and intellectuals – Debussy and Ravel among them – met to exchange ideas and make contacts with aristocratic patrons and influential members of the press. This talk explores the legacy of these interactions, which can be traced not only in artistic works and musical compositions, but also in institutions and initiatives ranging from Diaghilev's Ballets Russes to the American School at Fontainebleau.
CINEMATHEQUE: La Passion Boléro, Directed by Michel Follin, France, 2007 6:45 pm, Dorothy Porter Simmons Regency Rooms Considered exasperating or captivating, hummed the world over in any number of arrangements, the most performed piece of classical music, Maurice Ravel’s Boléro, is part of us — “in our genes,” as Jean Echenoz, the author of Ravel, puts it in this film. How did a work of such apparent simplicity become the biggest hit in the classical repertory? Perhaps one of the keys to its success can be found in the handful of pages that Claude Lévi-Strauss devoted to Boléro in his book, "The Naked Man." He explains the work’s universality in that he sees Ravel as a musician of a "message" that makes the listener "a negative creator, for whom the music emanating from the composer fills in the gaps." With the participation of Jean Echenoz, Marcel Marnat, Michel Sendrez, Kurt Masur and the Orchestre national de France, as well as Katia & Marielle Labèque.
POST-CONCERT: Fascinatin’ Rhythm: Gershwin Songs with the Budways Grand Lobby Stay after the concert to enjoy Gershwin classics in the Grand Lobby with Pittsburgh jazz legends Maureen and Dave Budway. Selections will include: S'Wonderful, I Got Rhythm, Our Love is Here to Stay, Fascinatin' Rhythm, and various songs about Paris...voilá! *DOORS OPEN ONE HOUR AND THIRTY MINUTES BEFORE ALL PARIS FESTIVAL PERFORMANCES AT HEINZ HALL. ALL PRE- AND POST-CONCERT EVENTS ARE FREE TO TICKETHOLDERS.
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