I managed slightly more than five events in four days:
— Paavo Järvi conducting the Orchestre de Paris in Haydn's Symphony No. 85, Brahms's Piano Concerto No. 1 (with Radu Lupu), and Brahms's Symphony No. 4, at Salle Pleyel;
— Auber's La Muette de Portici at the Opéra-Comique;
— the beginning of a Debussy-Schoenberg recital by Florent Boffard, amid the Monet water lilies at the Musée de l'Orangerie (in conjunction with the superb exhibition Debussy, Music, and the Arts, through June 11);
— that same night, with a crucial assist from an exceptionally forceful cab driver, William Christie and Les Arts Florissants performing Charpentier sacred works at Cité de la Musique;
— a program of new pieces by younger composers involving solo instruments and electronics, at IRCAM;
— and Bach's St. John Passion at Cité de la Musique, with Christoph Prégardien conducting Le Concert Lorrain and the Nederlands Kamerkoor.
I also had the great pleasure of meeting, for the first time in person, my marvelous French translator, the singer and writer Laurent Slaars. A full report of my Paris visit will appear soon in The New Yorker.
