French-American Piano Society

presents

Shelén Hughes, Soprano

Matthieu Cognet, Piano, Artistic Director

A Selection of Lieder

ThuESDAY FEBRUARY 14, 2023 at 7:30 PM

Consulate of FrancE

in New York

A Lieder is a German song that sets poetry to music, performed by a single vocalist and piano.

‘Lieder’ most often refers to the specific musical settings of Romantic poetry; both music and lyrics composed in the 18th and 19th centuries. Romanticism was predominantly concerned with love and feeling, as well as the sublime beauty of nature and man’s place on earth. Lieder sought to express these concepts through music.

Bolivian Soprano, Shelén Hughes has a passion for social service and music in life. Previous credits include Atalanta from Handel’s Atalanta, Inez from Mercadante’s I Due Figaro, Snegurochka from Rimsky-Korsakov’s Snegurochka, Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen, Magda in Puccini’s La Rondine, her Carnegie Hall debut in 2019 and her NYFOS debut in 2022.

Ms.Hughes was a young artist at the 2019 Gstaad Menuhin Festival and a 2022 Gerdine Young Artist at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis performing the role of Frasquita in Bizet’s Carmen and Ms. Kohl in the premier of Awakenings. Ms. Hughes is the founder of “Voices for Bolivia”, a small but growing international non-profit organization for those in need in Bolivia, fully funded by classical music. Ms. Hughes is a 1st year ADOS artist at Juilliard studying with Darell Babidge.

French pianist Matthieu Cognet is an active soloist and sought-after chamber player who has appeared in major venues and festivals in Europe and the United States, including Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Steinway Hall, the Cultural Institute of Chicago, Hemptinne Festival (Belgium), the Rushmore Music Festival, SD, the Festival Memphis in May, the Saint Georges Music Festival in Guadeloupe, and the Prades and Pianissimes Festivals (France). He recently collaborated in concert with internationally acclaimed Flutist Carol Wincenc and Grammy Award winner Bandoneonist Hector Del Curto.

He has been a soloist with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, Stony Brook University Orchestra, Indiana University Student Orchestra, and the Paris Sorbonne Orchestra. His recital and chamber music performances have been featured on Radio France and Chicago WMFT Radio broadcasts.

Matthieu Cognet is a laureate of the Concours Musical de France, the Bloomington Travel Grant and Stony Brook Concerto Competitions. He won 1st Prize in the Entraide Française Competition in New York in May 2017, which earned him a recital at the French Consulate in New York City.

Dr. Cognet received degrees from the Paris and Brussels Conservatories, the University of La Sorbonne. He completed his Performer Diploma at Indiana University, while working extensively as the studio pianist of Janos Starker.  In 2017, he graduated with his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Stony Brook University.

In addition to his performing activities, Mr. Cognet released his own arrangement of Maurice Ravel’s La Valse for piano solo under the label Lauren Keiser Publications/Hal Leonard. He is also the Artistic Director and Masterclass Director of the French-American Piano Society. He has recorded three albums: “Debut Recital”, “Mit Humor”(Odradek Records), to stellar reviews (Gramophone Magazine), and “Global Saxophone.” He is currently a collaborative pianist and French Diction Instructor at the Juilliard School, the Curtis Institute and Manhattan School of Music.

PROGRAM

Robert Schumann

Arabeske

Jean-Paul-Égide Martini

Plaisir d’amour

Leonard Bernstein

A little bit in love

Richard Pearson Thomas

When I kiss you

Maurice Ravel

Ondine

Hugo Wolf

Selections from Italienisches Liederbuch 

Frederic Chopin

Nocturne Op. 9 No. 1

Teofilo Vargas

Cantarina boliviana

Joaquin Valverde

Clavelitos

Fernando Obradors

Del cabello más sutil

Jayme Ovalle

Azulao

Ernesto Nazareth

Voce nao me da!

Carlos Lopez Buchardo

Desdichas de mi pasión 

Robert Schumann (1810-1856) / Franz Liszt

Widmung

Francis Poulenc

Les Chemins de l'amour

Oscar Straus

Je t'aime

Champagne Reception

We are grateful to Credit Agricole Corporate investment bank

for their sponsorship of the Champagne Reception

THE JAMES J. SHEERAN STEINWAY PIANO

At its inaugural recital on January 16th 2018, S.E. Anne Claire Legendre, Consul General of France in New York, in the company of S.E. Bertrand Lortholary, Ambassador of France in Vietam, Former Consul General of France in New York, and S.E. Francois Delattre, Ambassador of France to the United Nation, former Ambassador of France to the USA, and former Consul General of France in New York, dedicated our Steinway concert piano to

JAMES J. SHEERAN

(1923 - 2007)

A GREAT AMERICAN PATRIOT, WWII VETERAN, SON OF FRANCE, AND CHEVALIER DE LA LEGION D'HONNEUR (2006) OF THE REPUBLIC OF FRANCE

2023-2028 YOUNG PIANISTS SCHOLARSHIPS

A post-COVID expansion of our successful scholarship program to sponsor (2023 to 2028) 10 talented young French pianists to attend U.S. based piano festivals, competitions and present their Debut Recitals in New York City and Washington D.C.

We are deeply thankful to the generous patrons

 who helped us fund our Steinway piano

CREDIT AGRICOLE CIB

NJ CURE

JCDECAUX

ALICE ROSNER FOUNDATION

COLAS, INC

COMMITTEE OF FRENCH SPEAKING SOCIETIES

CONNECTHINGS

CONSEILLERS DU COMMERCE EXTERIEUR DE LA FRANCE

MEDNEST

RATP DEV

VERONIQUE TRAVEL

and

The “88 Keys” Society Members and Patrons:

    Helene Buchen (C1#, D1#, F1&#, G1#, A1&#, F2#, G2#, A2#)

    Gilles Rousseau (G2,A2,B2,C3,D3,E3,F3,G3)

    Veronique and Pascal Carpentier (C6#, D6#, F6#, G6#, A6#)

    Ariane Daguin (B6, A6, G6, C7)

    Anne-Julia Audray (D5, F5, A4)

    Jean-Pierre Bizzari, MD (A5, B5)

    Laurence Chertoff (D2#, D3#)

    Thomas and Albane Duplan (C8, B1)

    Valerie and Gerard Duval (G7#, F7#)

    Lily Hsia (D5#, D7#)

    Susan Mackenzie (E6, C7#)

    Martha and Rick Olson (E4, G4)

    Daniel and Teresa Petitjean (F7, G7)

    Helene and Mathieu Petitjean (A0#,A4#)

    Dr. Ellie Abdi (B0)

    Catherine Munera and Alfredo Basurto (E5)

    Carey and Brett August (C6)

Veronique et Serge Banzet (A5)

    Arnaud Boyer (E7)

    Nigel Brown (G1)

    Florence and Eric Brun (G5)

    Eric and Isabelle Chaboureau (F2)

    Vésine de La Rue (D2)

    Philippe Dreano (G3#)

    Yoni Elmalem (A7#)

    Sylvie Epelbaum,MD (D4#)

    John F. Bennet, Paris-American Club (G4#)

    Bernard Frelat (F6)

    French-American Choir of New York (A4)

    Simone Galton (B3)

    Guy Geslin (D7)

    Anthony Gilroy (A3)

    Robert Gorman (D1)

    Odile Gorse (C1)

    Herve Houdre (C2)

    Laurent Kleitman (C5#)

    Remy Lumbroso (D6)

    Pierre Martin (F3#)

    Andrea Mayes (C5)

    Hanyi Meng (A7)

    Jean-Hugues Monier (E2)

    Mark Morris (A3#)

    Rick and Mary O'Connell (E1)

    Elizabeth Olson (C4)

    Claudine and Bernard Parisot (C4#)

    Joseph Patrych (G5)

    Michel and Judith Pautrat (F4)

    Jean Perrette (B7)

    Dmitry Rachmanov (F4#)

    Jerome Rose (A0)

    Sophie Schyler - Chateau Kirwan  (F5#)

    Guy Sorman (D4)

    Annaliese Soros (C2#)

    Marie-Monique Steckel (B4)

Code of Conduct

It is the policy of the French-American Piano Society that all attendees of Society hosted recitals, events, and associated activities are expected to exhibit respectful, and ethical behaviors.

Please review our Code of Conduct Policy here.

Report Violations of the Policy here