PostClassical Ensemble Presents: A Night Of Jazz & Surrealism In 1920s Paris!

PostClassical Ensemble (PCE) will kick off their 2022-23 season on November 9 at 7:30pm with Paris at Midnight: Jazz and Surrealism in the 1920s. The performance, which will feature guest-curator Harry Cooper (Senior Curator at the National Gallery of Art), will take place at The Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater, as will the rest of their exciting season.

The evening will begin with a solo performance of classical French accordion music by award-winning accordionist Simone Baron, setting the stage for a night that transports audiences back to 1920s Paris. The opening act will be followed by a rare screening of the Surrealist masterpiece "Entr'acte" (René Clair, 1924) with the original score by Erik Satie performed live by the PCE orchestra. The program also includes film footage of Josephine Baker dancing and a tribute to jazz great Sidney Bechet. The evening will culminate with Maurice Ravel's partly-jazz-inspired Piano Concerto in G featuring soloist and Avery Fisher Career Grant Winner Drew Petersen.

Paris in the 1920s was a place of great artistic conflict and excitement. While some like Igor Stravinsky and Pablo Picasso embraced Neo-Classicism and a "return to order" in the aftermath of the Great War, others launched bold new experiments. Under the leadership of André Breton, Surrealism sought to shock the bourgeoisie, while a passion for African and African American art and culture, from jazz to art to dance, galvanized the city, personified above all by Josephine Baker.

"From the moment audiences settle into their seats until the final note is played, this evening will be a transformative experience," says PostClassical Ensemble Music Director, Angel Gil-Ordóñez. "Much like our own current moment, there were divisions and chaos between the two wars, but within that space came a great artistic flowering that we will capture in both film and music."

Tickets for Paris at Midnight are available online through the PCE website. Tickets start at $45. The Embassy of France and Villa Abertine are partners of the event. For all other ticket-related customer service inquiries, call the Kennedy Center Advance Sales Box Office at (202) 416-8540. For more information visit: https://postclassicalensemble.webflow.io/shows/paris-at-midnight.

*This performance is an external rental presented in coordination with the Kennedy Center Campus Rentals Office and is not produced by the Kennedy Center.