Joie de vivre—exuberant enjoyment of life with live music at CCM!

Friday, November 18, 2022 at 7:30 pm

Purchase tickets in advance or at the door. ($25 General Admission and free for students 18 and under)

In the optimistic Belle Époque era of the late 1800’s to the Roaring Twenties (aka Années Folles–known as the crazy years in France), an abundance of uplifting and lively music was composed in Europe and America that has continued to capture our hearts and attention throughout the decades.

Join us for an evening of exceptional cabaret, burlesque, and belle époque music performed by the ensemble BEME. Their original arrangements of iconic numbers such as the Can-Can, ragtimes, and the Charleston will deliver pocket-sized dramas and romances through witty, sometimes provocative, and positive prose and poetry. CCM faculty members Fabrizio Mazzetta on cello, and Masako Yotsugi on piano, with guest soprano Sonia Jacobson, will present a program that includes works of Gershwin, Erik Satie, Offenbach, and Scott Joplin, among others.

Guest Soprano Sonia Jacobson

After a BA in Modern Languages and Philosophy at Oxford University, French/American soprano Sonia Jacobson went on to pursue a career in opera and classical voice in Paris, France. As part of the Queen’s college choir, Sonia recorded an album, was broadcast live on the BBC and toured England (Westminster, Salisbury, Truro, Bristol…) In Paris, she studied voice at the Conservatoire and took part in master classes with teachers from the Royal Academy of Music, the Berlin Universität der Künste and the Julliard School of New-York.

On stage, Sonia has appeared as Nerone in the Coronation of Poppea (Monteverdi), the Second Witch in Dido and Aeneas (Purcell), and the Governess in The Turn of the Screw (Britten). In the later role, her “purity of tone” and “versatility and depth of expression” were highlighted by the critics (Oxford Daily Info, Oxford Culture Review). She performed as a soloist in Haendel’s Utrecht Te Deum, Mozart’s Requiem and Bach’s St John Passion with the Zeitgeist Chamber Orchestra. In France, Sonia sang Haendel’s Messiah with the Oya Kephale orchestra and performed Schönberg’s Pierrot Lunaire with the Maja Ensemble. She also held the title roles in Offenbach’s La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein (2018) and La Périchole (2019) under Laëtitia Trouvé’s baton. In 2020, she was Juno in Orphée aux Enfers at the Theatre du Ranelagh in Paris. Sonia moved to the Boston area in 2020, and can be found performing sacred music and at regular art song recitals throughout New England.