Ah Paris!

Well, our last European tour of the summer is rapidly approaching.  On September 12th The Rose Ensemble will board a plane and fly to Paris where we have been invited to perform our Hawaiian program at the Festival d’Ile de France in the Eglise Saint-Mathurin de Larchant on Sunday, September 14th.

The Festival d’Ile de France welcomes between 20,000 and 25,000 spectators for each season. For each show, the Festival d’Ile de France makes both musical discovery and the discovery of regional heritage coincide. This relationship is, from the beginnings of the festival, an essential element of its identity. Music and locations are selected in close relation, so that the container and the contents mutually provide meaning and emotion.

The public is not misled by this: the musical enthusiast comes in search of the various locations that are often inaccessible to the public, such as châteaux, churches, theatres, circuses, old factories or picturesque farms. Every year, the Festival settles in new places.

Our venue is one that is not to be missed on this Festival.  This is a 12th century gothic cathedral in the village of Lechant, one of the villages just south of Paris on the Compostella route.

Our concert will be recorded by Radio France and broadcast throughout the listening area.  We are thrilled to be part of this incredible festival.

From Paris, we will journey on Monday to the Loire Valley to Minneapolis’ Sister City, Tours.  Our first adventure to Europe in 2005 was in this lovely city, rich with history dating back to the Romans with archeological relics and catholic history dating back to St. Martin of Tours.

(excerpt from wikipedia)
In Gallic times the city was important as a crossing point of the Loire. Becoming part of the Roman Empire, during the 1st century after J.-C., the city was named “Caesarodunum” (”hill of Cesar”). The name evolved in 4th century when the original Gallic name, Turones, became first “Civitas Turonorum” then “Tours”. It was at this time that the amphitheatre of Turns, one of the five largest in the Empire, was built. Tours became the metropolis of the Roman province of Lyon towards 380-388, dominating the Loire Valley, Maine and Brittany. One of the outstanding figures of the history of the city was Saint Martin, second bishop who divided his coat with a naked beggar in Amiens. This incident and the importance of Martin in the medieval Christian Occident made Tours, and in particular Saint-Jacques de Compostelle, a major centre of pilgrimage during the Middle Ages.

In the 6th century Gregoire de Tours, author of the Ten Books of History, made his mark on the town by restoring the cathedral destroyed by a fire in 561. The Saint Martin’s monastery benefited from its inception, at the very start of the 6th century, from patronage and support from the Franc king, Clovis the first, which increased considerably the influence of the saint, the abbey and the city in Gaule. In the 9th century, Tours was at the heart of the Carolingian Rebirth, in particular because of abbatial of Alcuin with Saint Martin. In 845, Tours pushed back a first attack of the Viking chief Hasting. In 850, the Vikings settled at the mouths of the Seine and the Loire. Always led by Hasting, they went up the Loire again in 852 and sacked Angers, Tours and the abbey of Marmoutier.

During the Middle Ages, Tours consisted of two juxtaposed and competing centres. The “City” in the east was composed of the archepiscopal unit (cathedral and residence of the archbishops) and of the castle of Tours, sites of the authority comtale (tourangelle then angevine) and royal. In the west, the “new city” structured around the Saint Martin’s abbey was emancipated from the City during the 10th century (an enclosure is built towards 918) and became “Châteauneuf”. This space, organized between Saint Martin and the Loire, became the economic center of Tours. Between these two centres remained Varenne, vineyards and fields, little occupied except for the abbaye Saint-Julien established on the banks of the Loire. The two centres were linked during the 14th century. Tours is a model of the medieval double city.

It is to this city that we will be bringing our beautiful Slavic program featuring music from the Fire of the Soul and Slavic Wonders discs to the opening concert of the festival de Musique Anciennes in the beautiful Notre Dame la Riche on Tuesday, September 16th.  Unfortunately, we are not afforded a lot of time on this trip.  We leave the following day for home.

Such is the life of a singer on the road and so will end our summer journeys.  As always, I welcome your comments and thank you for your support! ~Lisa Drew