- Welcome Ambassador Laurent Bili
- Music to our Ears
- Next Solidarity Dinner at Dirty Habit
- Spotlight on a Sponsor: Savencia
- Expression Française: Réglé comme du papier à musique
Welcome Ambassador Bili
The Comité Tricolore extends a warm welcome to Ambassador Laurent Bili.
You can listen to Ambassador Bili’s address to the Washington area’s French community on our Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/Comite.Tricolore.org
Music to our Ears
The Washington musical scene is so diverse and packed for the next two months, we thought we would give you an....extensive... review of the many genres on offer.
So keep on scrolling!
Rococo Now and Then
Opera Lafayette
15 March 2023 6:00 PM
Online
The second of the Salon Series in preparation for the performance of Opéra-ballet: Rameau’s Io and de La Garde’s Léandre et Héro, coming to Washington, DC May 2nd & 3rd, 2023, focuses on a discussion of the Rococo and its afterlives in the twenty-first century,
Each session costs $10.
Click here to register.
La Nuit des Choeurs Francophones
Amicale des Musiciens Francophones de Washington D.C.
17 March 2023 7:00 PM
This event is sold out!
Our Agenda, at the end of this newsletter and online is the best way to ensure that you will not miss any event.
"La Nuit des Choeurs Francophones", is an unique concert of choirs organized by the Embassy of France in partnership with the Embassy of Belgium and the Embassy of Madagascar.
Bennewitz Quartet
23 March 2023 7:30 PM
La Maison Française
Experience the greatness and virtuosity of one of the finest quartets in the world through their emotional renditions of Haydn, Dvorak and Martinu.
Founded in 1998 in Prague, it is named after the famous Czech violinist and teacher Antonin Bennewitz (1833-1926), and established its reputation by winning the Osaka prize (2005) and the Premio Paolo Borciani (2008).
Click here to register.
La Grande Fête à la Maison Française
24 March 2023 7:00 PM
La Maison Française
This spectacular party with a French accent spotlights the music, art, literature, film, cuisine, and customs of French-speaking countries and regions from across the globe. One of the celebration’s highlights, La Grande Fête is always ’magnifique’, and this year’s bash will be no exception.
Click here to register
Spring Concert
25 March 2023 7:00 PM
The French Protestant Church of Washington DC
4500 Massachusetts Ave NW
Come for an evening of music, a free recital concert featuring two stunning opera singers : Victoria McGrath and Michael Butler, and two outstanding French choirs as well as pianist Simon Charette.
Click here to register.
Dance and Pantomime in Mid-18th-Century French Opera
Opera Lafayette
29 March 2023 6:00 PM
Online
The third and last presentation of the Salon Series in preparation for the Opéra-ballet: Rameau’s Io and de La Garde’s Léandre et Héro on May 2nd and 3rd.
This series will present ’Dance and Pantomime in Mid-18th-Century French Opera’. Dance was an essential part of all French operas of the 18th century, and the discussion will be about the multiple ways in which it functioned within a primarily vocal environment.
Click here to register.
Chamber Music Concert- Leclair, Faure and Ravel
30 March 2023 7:30 PM
Maison Française
Pianist Ruti Abramovitch is joined by Chicago colleagues, John Sharp, principal cellist of the Chicago Symphony, and violinist Liba Shacht, of the Lyric Opera of Chicago, performing an all-French program which includes the beautiful piano trio by Ravel as well as sonatas by Leclair and Fauré.
Click here to register
Heidi Tsai performs "A Transgender Tale"
6 April 2023 7:30 PM
La Maison Française
A glance into 17th-century French literature, history, politics, music, and gender studies, this solo lecture recital is based on music inspired by and/or related to the intriguing Abbé de Choisy; a prolific author who was also a close confidant of King Louis XIV.
Heidi Tsai"s versatile musicality brings life to different genres of repertoire from 17th to 21st centuries.
Click here to register
Piano and violin with Michael Sheppard and Jessica Tong
20 April 2023 7:30 PM
La Maison Française
This program explores opposing pairs of French and German composers of the romantic 19th and early impressionistic 20th centuries.
Canadian violinist Jessica Tong has garnered international acclaim as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician, having been described as an "outstanding talent" by Performing Arts in Canada.
Pianist Michael Sheppard was a winner of the prestigious American Pianists Association Classical Fellow Award, a designation that led to the release of a critically acclaimed solo recording by Harmonia Mundi.
Click here to register
Cello concert with Dominique de Williencourt
1 May 2023 7:00 PM
La Maison Française
Join us for a cello concert at the Embassy of France in DC, with the French artist Dominique de Williencourt.
"My journey as a cellist has led me to meet forgotten or often sidelined populations. By listening to the Tuaregs (Algeria), the Tibetans in the foothills of the Himalayas (India), the American natives in Nevada (USA) and the Armenians around Lake Sevan (Armenia), particularly in this piece based on the Armenian mode, I wanted to reproduce these fleeting impressions and these timbres imbued with nostalgia." - Dominique de Williencourt on Etchmiadzine et le Mont Ararat.
Click here to register
Opéra-ballet: Rameau’s Io and de La Garde’s Léandre et Héro
AN HISTORIC WORLD PREMIERE
Opera Lafayette
2 May 2023 7:00 PM
3 May 2023 7:00 PM
Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater
This double bill comprises two fully staged one-act opéra-ballets, including the debut of a never-before performed Rameau comedy entitled Io. This unfinished opéra-ballet was recently completed with music from Rameau’s Platée by Doctor of Musicology, scholar and editor of Rameau Opera Omnia, Sylvie Bouissou.
The other work, a modern premiere of Pierre de La Garde’s Léandre et Héro, is a lyric drama in which Mme. de Pompadour herself performed. It recently came to light through efforts of Opera Lafayette and the French Bibliothèque Nationale.
Click here for tickets
Solidarity Dinners from Last to Next
Our last Dinner at 2941 was a great success, lots of fun...and exceptional food. Go to our Photo Album webpage and get tempted to join us for the next dinner on April 18, at Dirty Habit inside the Hotel Monaco.
Dirty Habit is a guilt-free restaurant and bar and the one habit you need to keep!
This film noir-inspired venue is a contrast to the classic architecture of the Hotel Monaco, the iconic 1841 General Post Office.
25 tickets are available at the price of $ 100 per person, which consists of $75 for your meal (tax and tip included, drinks excluded) and $25 as a tax-deductible donation to the Comité Tricolore which goes entirely to our beneficiaries.
Click here to check out the amazing Menu!
If you are coming with friends, please let us know so that we can seat you together at the same table.
Savencia is a family owned group that was inspired to open in the U.S. in 2020, when grocery store supplies dwindled and every outing seemed monumental. Back then, specialty cheeses felt like a luxurious afterthought once you snagged the last bottle of hand sanitizer off the shelf!
Savencia’s Cheese Lover Shop delivers cheeses to customers who choose among specialty cheeses crafted around the globe—from the foothills of France to the heart of the Midwest. under brands Alouette, Chavrie, Dorothy’s and Smithfield to name a few. Savencia Cheese USA also imports St Andre, St Agur, Etorki, Le Montagnard and Maroilles Fauquet.
In addition, Salencia proposes a subscription to receive a variety of products every month, for yourself or to gift to a loved one and Chef Greg Gable offers original recipes .
Expression Française
"Réglé comme du papier à musique"
As regular as clockwork.
If you do not want to miss any of the above mentioned events, you must be “Réglé comme du papier à musique”!
Music paper is a precise arrangement of lines that allows the musician to record sounds. It is a regular, universal transcription that must be used scrupulously and meticulously.