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A Tale of Two Salons—Winnaretta Singer and Marcel Proust

May 18, 2025

The daughter of sewing machine industrialist Isaac Merritt Singer, Winnaretta Singer, Princess de Polignac, was a force of nature, hosting everyone from Leion Bakst to Jean Cocteau and Jean Giraudoux to Prokofiev, Madame Jean Lanvin, Siegfried Wagner, Arthur Rubenstein, Arnold Schoenberg, and Edith Wharton in her Paris salon. more importantly, she was responsible for developing a new genre: “Great music for a small space by up-and-coming composers” in the words of Sylvia Kahane, her biographer, who will join for the four-hand piano “Bagatelle” by Winaretta’s husband, Edmond de Polignac. Works either commissioned by her, dedicated to her, or that were performed in her mansion on Rue Henri-Martin, will be featured in our on-stage “salon”: Ravel’s Pavane pour un enfant défunte, Stravinsky’s Piano Sonata 1924, the sizzling César Franck Piano Quintet and songs by Fauré, Polenc and Reynaldo Hahn. She also befriended Marcel Proust and his lover Hahn, who reciprocated with an evening at their Pairs salon, inspiring a chapter in Swann’s Way.  A rich tapestry in search of time, place and personages.

Alexander Shtarkman, piano; Sylvia Kahane, piano; William Ferguson, tenor; Xiao-Dong Wang, violin; Helena Baillie, viola; Yehuda Hanani, cello 

Join us for an Afterglow Reception on the Mahaiwe stage following the concert! You are invited to meet the artists and enjoy bites and beverages by Authentic Eats by Oleg.

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Details

Date:
May 18, 2025
Time:
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Event Categories:
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Venue

Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center
14 Castle Street
Great Barrington, MA 01201 United States
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Phone
413 528 0100
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