On March 4, Bizet’s “Les Pêcheurs de perles” in concert version, created a surprise with the extraordinary performances of American tenor Jonah Hoskins as Nadir, baritone Joshua Hopkins as Zurga and the beauty of soprano Sandra Hamaoui as Leïla. She is engaged to be married to Benjamin Bernheim, the wonderful Franco Swiss tenor who will be singing “Werther” with her, … Read More
Societies of friends are the new (social) power…
Now that everyone spends their time sending text messages and posting on Instagram, physical social life has virtually disappeared from our lives. I find myself enjoying talking to my baker more and more while buying a baguette! But little by little, “the Friends of…” and “Cercle des Mécènes” have developed and created cultural salons focused on specific themes. In music, … Read More
A spectacular evening with Les Amis du Louvre
It was an exceptional evening Tuesday night at the Louvre organized for the patrons of Les Amis du Louvre. At the suggestion of Sylvain Bellenger, the former director of Museo Capodimonte in Naples, and organiser of the superb show “Naples in Paris”, a musical evening was organized with Giovanni Panebianco, President of the Paganini Prize created in 1954. It is … Read More
I look forward to… in January 2024!
I know you like to see in advance what is going to happen next year on the cultural front. So besides the Olympics which are going to cramm Paris from July 26 to August 11, there are many fun events starting in January. If you are a generous Friend of the Louvre, the gala concert featuring the laureate of Premio … Read More
A spectacular exhibition in Chantilly … in 2025
The rain was drizzling on Maison de Sylvie in Chantilly but the atmosphere was electrical when Mathieu Deldicque, director of Musée Condé, and Marie Pierre Dion in charge of the rare books, announced that the “Mona Lisa of Manuscripts” Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, would be (partly) exhibited for three months in June-October 2025. The last time … Read More
And more to look forward to in music and paintings.
The “rentrée” in Paris is always super exciting with all the new books being published for the prizes, the new season at Opéra de Paris and Théâtre des Champs Elysées but also at Athénée and the openings in galleries. I will start with an extraordinary and promising show at Louvre Lens (90 mns north of Paris by train), which features … Read More
In Aix en Provence, museums compete with opera
The Opera festival in Aix en Provence was founded 75 years ago by Gabriel Dussurget and Lily Pastré, his mécène. It is now run by Pierre Audi, an opera director who ran the Almeida theater in London in the 1980’s, and Julien Benhamou its artistic director. Like for the first edition in 1948, a Cosi fan Tutte was programmed this … Read More
Here and there, fun moments of the week
I could not be at musée d’Orsay to see the only representation of “Une femme peut en cacher une autre” ( a woman can hide another) but numerous friends told me how charming it was and I therefore read the text “Manet, Degas, Une femme peut en cacher une autre” published by Samsa/UPT, which is of great interest. The authors, … Read More