"The King’s Mistress" will be at the French Embassy Wednesday, November 12, so if you go for baroque, be there. The concert will echo the era of the Marquise de Pompadour, the favorite of Louis XV.
La Pompadour was so enamored of music and playacting that the king let her create a little theater at court, where she devised entertainments fit for her king.
You will hear the same music he heard when Les Paladins, an internationally known ensemble, perform compositions by a number of baroque composers, including Lully, Rameau and Mouret. Director is Jérôme Correas, with soprano Isabelle Poulenard (photo) and tenor Jean-François Lombard.
This rarely heard music is brought to us thanks to the eclectic taste of Roland Celette, the cultural attaché and director of La Maison Française at the embassy. He tells us that La Maison is now to be called the House of France DC. Ah well, this maison by any other name would be just as Gallic.
House of France DC, Nov. 12, 7:30 p.m. Concert followed by wine reception to meet the artists. Tickets: $20, instantseats.com.
After the successful New York premiere of Gertrude Stein Invents a Jump Early On, Karren Alenier’s jazz opera with composer William Banfield, she chronicled its birth in her new book, The Steiny Road to Operadom: The Making of American Operas, which includes interviews with Placido Domingo, composers Ned Rorem and Libby Larsen, librettist J.D. McClatchy and critic Tim Page.
Alenier will read from her book at The Wordworks’ Café Muse Literary Series, Nov. 17, 7-9 p.m., Friendship Heights Village Center, Chevy Chase.
The free program includes a reading by poet Kevin Prufer, live classical music and refreshments.
