Les Nuits d'Ete: a midsummer soiree

Les Nuits d’Ete: a midsummer soirée 

Celebrating the glorious nuances of French song , Opera Prelude presents a jewel of an evening in the English countryside.

Maria Levandaskaya, piano and XXXX, mezzo soprano perform some of the most treasured songs in the French repertoire, many evoking a night theme. Music for voice and for solo piano includes Apres un Reve, Faure, Claire de Lune, Debussy and the piano suite Pour Le Piano also by Debussy. The core work this evening is  Les Nuits d`ete, the only song cycle by French Romantic composer Hector Berlioz.  Berlioz composed the six songs for mezzo-soprano to text by his friend Théophile Gautier in 1840-1841. In contrast to his perhaps more familiar Symphonie fantastique, in this work we are immersed in the composer’s inner world of nuance and colour. Perfect for a Summer’s Evening!