Birdfoot Festival to Celebrate Chamber Music in New Orleans

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The Birdfoot Festival–New Orleans’ largest celebration of chamber music–will return from May 23 to May 28. Now in its fifth year, the event will present a variety of concerts and showcases in locations across the city.

Participating venues include the Contemportary Arts Center, Cafe Istanbul, New Orleans Jazz Market, George and Joyce Wein Jazz & Heritage Center, Ace Hotel and more. There will be 11 concerts and events in total, such as:

  • Lunchtime Concert sponsored by Pan American Life Insurance Group — On Tuesday, May 24, 2016, at 12:15 PM, in the lobby of the Pan American Life Center at 601 Poydras Avenue in downtown New Orleans, Birdfoot presents a free lunchtime concert and preview of music featured in later festival concerts. Bring your lunch and enjoy a little lunchtime chamber music!

  • Tango Labyrinth — On Wednesday, May 25, 2016, at 8:00 PM, at Café Istanbul, 2372 St. Claude Avenue, in the Marigny neighborhood of New Orleans, Birdfoot presents a concert of musical labyrinths featuring Bach, Piazzolla, and texts by Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges. Following the concert at 9:30 PM, Carlos Urrego and Maureen Muñoz will host and DJ a milonga (a social tango dance).

  • Birdfoot Backstage — This event will be recorded for rebroadcast by WWNO 89.9 FM, on Thursday, May 26, 2016, at 7:00 PM, at the George and Joyce Wein Jazz & Heritage Center, at 1225 North Rampart Street in New Orleans. This popular and interactive event (which has sold out in the past two years) will take the audience “backstage” with musicians from the Birdfoot Festival (including celebrated soprano and New Orleans native Jeanne-Michèle Charbonnet), to explore some of chamber music’s most seductive works.

  • Ma Mère L’Oye — This concert will be held on Friday, May 27, 2016, at 8:00 PM Contemporary Arts Center’s Freeport McMoRan Theater, at 900 Camp Street in the Warehouse District of New Orleans. This event is a concert of myths and fairy tales featuring Ravel’s beloved Mother Goose suite, Webern’s Six Bagatelles, Dvorak’s Bass Quintet, and the world premiere of a chamber song-cycle by pianist and composer Prach Boondiskulchok called The Goose Daughter, based on poems by 2016 T.S. Eliot-award winner Sarah Howe. The concert will also feature soprano and New Orleans native Jeanne-Michèle Charbonnet. This concert will be preceded by a performance at 7:15 PM featuring participants in Birdfoot’s Young Artist Program.

  • Final Gala Concert: Lost to the World — This concert will be held on Saturday, May 28, 2016, 8:00 PM at the New Orleans Jazz Market, at 1436 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd, New Orleans. The event will be a tantalizing musical odyssey that includes Bach’s legendary Ricercar in 6 Parts (from The Musical Offering), Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder (sung by acclaimed soprano Jeanne-Michèle Charbonnet), Mozart’s “Dissonance” Quartet, and Schoenberg’s shimmering Transfigured Night. Audience members are invited to stay for a post-concert party celebrating the Birdfoot Festival’s fifth anniversary. The concert will be preceded by a performance at 7:15 PM featuring participants in Birdfoot’s Young Artist Program.

  • Other Festival events will include open rehearsals, a community chamber music reading party, Young Artist Program concerts, and Community Concerts around the city.

Details on the Birdfoot Festival, including ticketing information, can be found at the event’s website.