Jeanne LAMON amène le Chevalier de Saint-Georges à Londres.

Saint-Paul Monument durable à la Gloire de Dieu

La délicieuse Jeanne LAMON a toujours eu un faible pour Joseph Bologne et sa musique.

Tafelmusik music director Jeanne Lamon uses her latest visit to Orchestra London to celebrate the music of a man known as the “Mozart Noir.”

Much of the program in tonight’s Cathedral series concert is devoted to works by Joseph Boulogne, the Caribbean-born violinist and composer. A major figure in music, politics and society during the late 18th-century in France, Boulogne was called the “Mozart Noir” or “Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges.”

Lamon says she has been fascinated with the Chevalier (or knight’s) life and music for more than a decade. “He was famous and multi-talented, as an athlete and as a musician,” she says. “He was a black man socializing in the highest of French aristocratic circles in a time when racism was rampant and slavery just barely — and only temporarily — illegal. Many people didn’t accept that black people were fully human, especially intellectually. So his accomplishments were all the more impressive against that backdrop.”

Tonight, at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Lamon will lead the orchestra and concertmaster Joseph Lanza in Chevalier’s music as it receives one of its rare performances in London.

Boulogne was born in the Caribbean to a black slave and French plantation owner. (Some sources spell his name as Saint-George, but Tafelmusik’s recordings and other material have the final “s.”) After attending school in France and excelling in fencing in his teens, he gained in popularity in Paris as a star athlete, violinist, composer and womanizer.

“Two new biographies have come out about his life in recent years,” says Lamon. “I found him such a fascinating historical character, that I decided to dig a bit and find his music. Imagine my delight to find his music so charming and well-written.”

Saint-Georges’ compositions include several violin concertos and two symphonies. Lamon’s interest helped lead Toronto’s Tafelmusik world-class baroque orchestra to earlier encounters with Saint-Georges. In 2003, Tafelmusik released Le Mozart Noir DVD a multi-award winning documentary. In the same year, Tafelmusik and CBC Records released a Juno-nominated CD of the same name.

Source : LFP.com

Lamon, orchestra salute Mozart Noir

Orchestra London’s Cathedral series

By JAMES REANEY,THE LONDON FREE PRESS

La traduction de ce petit article est en cours, mais mes lecteurs sont bilingues et ont reconnu ici la talentueuses Directrice du TAFEL MUSIC ORCHESTRA de TORONTO.

Les Amis de Saint-Georges ont été très honorés de participer à la réalisation du très beau DVD sur le Chevalier de Saint-Georges… Et puisque je parle de Mozart, ce très beau film musical vaut l’AMADEUS du divin Maître. Il faut avoir vu le formidable orchestre de Jeanne LAMON dans les difficile Concerti de Saint-Georges, mais aussi les explications du chef d’orchestre sur la musique du Chevalier son charme et sa simplicité. 

Saint-Georges dans la Cathédrale Saint-Paul de Londres ! Merci Madame Jeanne LAMON ! Mon petit doigt me dit qu’un jour on vous verra au Pays de Saint-Georges c’est à dire la Guadeloupe.