Crisscrossing France from Auvergne to Provence, Brittany to Paris and beyond, Tapestry Ensemble and friends will bring together a rich blend of impressionism, folk roots and a touch of jazz when they arrive in Maine to perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday, July 5, at the historic Boothbay Harbor Opera House. The performance will be primarily in French.
Tapestry has toured extensively in Europe and the U.S. and also appeared in Colombia and Moscow. The group has released six albums internationally.
This Opera House program, titled “Postcards from France,” is the result of years of musical friendships and travels. The concert will open in a 16th century Burgundian court with a lively dance, “Tourdion,” inviting all to a feast of delicious food and fine wine. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many French composers held a fascination with traditional and early modal music. This is true of Gabriel Fauré and César Franck. Joseph Canteloube devoted much of his career to preserving the ancient song tradition of his birthplace, Auvergne. Tapestry will share new arrangements of his most famous work, “Chants d’auvergne,” a suite of songs for mezzo-soprano and orchestra. The language of the songs is Occitan, a language that dates back to the troubadours of southern France.
The group will perform its own arrangement of Franck’s vocal duet “Les Danses de Lormont” mixed with Max Ahram’s “Chanson de Grand-Père” with lyrics by Victor Hugo. Following the death of his son, Victor Hugo took charge of his grandchildren Georges and Jeanne Hugo. His collection of poetry “The Art of Being a Grandfather” (1877) is mainly devoted to the two of them but more generally treats with great tenderness the charm and spontaneity of childhood. The lyrics to “Les Danses de Lormont” are by French novelist and poet Marceline Desbordes-Valmore who describes festive dances and stunning sunsets in the resort town of Lormont.
Advance discounted tickets are $30 at the Opera House box office at 86 Townsend Ave. or by calling (207) 633-5159. The box office is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday through Friday. Tickets are also available at boothbayoperahouse.com via instantseats.com, the only online authorized seller of Opera House tickets.
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