Bon Voyage en France

If you're anything like me, you've been dying to travel for weeks now as home isolation stretches on and no end seems to be in sight for this pandemic.  For musicians, summers are usually a time to make unforgettable memories at music festivals around the world while soaking up new cultures and new experiences (and best of all, new food!).  Some of my fondest memories are of making music and friends at festivals across Europe, enjoying the rich history of each country.    

But what to do now, when we aren't even allowed in to Europe? Let's try the next best thing and enjoy an "all-expenses-paid" virtual trip to France for Bastille Day with the Constellations Family, featuring works by Cesar Franck and Franz Liszt, influenced by the great author and statesman Victor Hugo!  Two dynamic duos will be our musical tour guides for this trip: cellist Christine Lamprea (1st Prize, 2013 Sphinx Competition) with pianist Nuno Marques (Director, Porto Pianofest), and warm yet crystal-clear lyric coloratura soprano Mariane Lemieux-Wottrich with her pianist and husband Tyler Wottrich (Artistic Director of the NDSU Chamber Music Festival).

We received an amazing collection of recipes, reading lists, favorite movies, wine pairings and more from the Constellations family to celebrate this upcoming virtual trip to France!  You can see all of those submissions at this link - including a special set of wine pairings for each work on our program by NSO violinist (and certified wine expert) Jennifer Kim.  Kogod Liquors of Washington, D.C. has generously agreed to sponsor us by donating 10% of all purchases of this special "Bon Voyage" wine package, with free pickup on Friday or delivery by Saturday afternoon within the D.C. area!

For this week's virtual concert, we have upgraded our concert space on our homepage to provide a more interactive experience for all of you!  The performance will be live-streamed on our homepage (www.constellationsmusic.org) starting right at 4PM on Sunday, July 12.    Our new live-stream system now features live chat and commentary.  Immediately following the performance, you are invited to a live Q&A session with the artists and virtual reception in Constellations' Zoom meeting room!  You can feel free to either participate in the discussion or just observe.  You can use the free Zoom app to join - you can find that here if you don't already have it.  After the reception, the virtual concert will remain on our home page for 72 hours, and then will move to our online archives.  

Sunday's concert features the following works:

Franz Liszt - Book of Songs Vol. II (on poetry by Victor Hugo) 

S'il est un charmant gazon 

Oh! quand je dors

Comment disaient-ils 

Enfant, si j'étais roi

Mariane Lemieux-Wottrich, soprano & Tyler Wottrich, piano 

César Franck - Sonata in A Major

I. Allegretto ben moderato

IV. Allegretto poco mosso 

Christine Lamprea, cello & Nuno Marques, piano

A big THANK YOU to Hae-Soon Hahn & Steve Rosenbaum and Nancy Riker for sponsoring the musicians for our tenth Constellations Virtual Concert!

All of our Virtual Concert programs are crafted by the Programming Committee and specially performed by the artists for the Constellations audience.  You can donate online by clicking here or texting CONSTELLATIONS to 44-321.  All contributions for this campaign will go 100% to the artists!

Special thanks to Hae-Soon Hahn & Steve Rosenbaum for sponsoring the Constellations Programming Committee for our entire Virtual Concerts project!