Soirée de Verlaine - Music concert

About this event

Soirée de Verlaine - Au Clair de la Lune Song Settings of Poetry by Paul Verlaine, along with some solo piano music to go with them. Performed by: Jim Reilly, piano and Ben Cooper, tenor. Weather permitting, this concert will be held outdoors at the Alliance Française Mpls/St Paul, as the sun sets and the moon rises. Bring your own favorite outdoor chair. Don’t miss this very special evening! Paul Verlaine was a famous French poet who lived in the 1800s. He is one of the most important French poets. His poems are known for their beauty, emotions, and musical style. He often wrote about love, nature, sadness, and memories. Many classical composers later turned his poems into songs. This concert is “Pay What You Can”; a $20 donation is suggested, but we thank you for your donation in any amount. Cash, Venmo and Paypal options at the venue. Arrive at 7 pm to find parking. Concert starts at 7:30. Register About the Performers Ben Cooper took up solo singing relatively late in life, and has studied with Jim Reilly, and in Sweden with Anders Andersson in Stockholm and Margareta Jonth in Uppsala. He has performed recitals for the Nordvendt series, the Leiv Eriksson International Festival, at the American Swedish Institute, here at the Alliance Française, in Madison, Wisconsin, and at numerous house concerts. His repertory includes Swedish songs, in addition to better known works in other European languages, and he has premiered songs of Jim Reilly. He recently the role of the Narrator in P.D.Q. Bach’s Oedipus Tex, and he sings with the Minnesota Chorale. Jim Reilly is now the Interim Music Director at Mindekirken, our area's only Norwegian language church, a job he retired from eighteen years ago. He has performed as a tenor, pianist, and organist in over twenty states, Norway, Holland, and at many local venues. He and Ben Cooper will perform Jim's song cycle "The Danish Easel" for the Leif Eriksson International Festival in October; they premièred the cycle here…

Description from afmsp.org