Working In Concert is proud to present our 2024 National French Week collaborations with several renowned French artists and educators! Join us this November 4-10 in celebrating French language and Francophone culture through engaging and educational musical performances, right in your very own classroom. Read on to learn more about our performers!
Eric Vincent French singer-songwriter began his career in Paris at the cabaret Le Port du Salut, with Coluche. Born in Forcé (Mayenne), Eric Vincent began playing banjo and violin, followed by years of classical studies, guitar, and composition. For decades he has toured the US every year, playing especially to schools and language teacher audiences. Donna Czarnecki, retired French teacher and officer of the American Association of French Teachers’s Chicago chapter shares her experience with Eric: “Eric sent us CD’s ahead of time. And we chose certain songs that we analyzed in class and did other activities before Eric came. When Eric began his concert and then got to the songs the students had become familiar with, the students actually started singing with him. They got so much out of the experience.”
Angélique Dessaint‘s passion began with dance, slipped into singing, spread to the theater – from classical repertoire to one-woman shows -, broke into musicals, tested herself on the street, exposed herself to the camera, and returned to the schools to entertain and educate the little ones. She offers puppet shows (and making them with the children) and songs in French as part of her classroom engagement. Angelique says working with young students is a “passion that drives my boat, and the encounters keep it gliding along…so, perhaps I’ll see you soon!”
Jean-Claude Orfali
Pianist Jean-Claude has previously regaled students at an Oak Park school with his quirky crocodile song and classical songs with WIC’s own Christine Steyer. In Paris, he is a principal pianist for the renowned Cabaret Lapin Agile and a band leader for a swing orchestra. has participated in many international events and piano concerts. Jean-Claude comes from a family of musicians. For many years he has played regularly in Paris at venues such as Le George V, le Plaza-Athénée et le Bristol. He performs as a solo pianist, as part of small jazz groups and also leads Parisian Big Band “BB15”. He has composed and performed for film.
www.jean-claudeorfali.com
Wilfried Touati
Graduated in Paris in classical and jazz accordion, Wilfried Touati participates in all types of projects across musical borders, from solo to symphony orchestra, as musician, arranger and composer. In 2018, he formed the Wilfried Touati Quartet to play his compositions in a jazz aesthetic. Its first album Voyage was released in November 2021 by the label Jazz Family. This experience led him to create duets with oboist Guillaume Retail and Christelle Raquillet on flute and vocals.
Michèle Barbier
Michèle taught literature in Sweden where she met Joséphine Baker, world renowned performer, World War II spy, and activist. She became her private secretary and began to compose, sing and act while by Baker’s side. While on tour in Scandinavia, she was hired as a ringleader at Cirque Schreiber, where she spent thirty years. She has published ten books and released two albums of songs. Back on stage, she presented her singing tours and her creations: “Laissez Pleurer les Chiens” (theater), “J’ai Deux Pays”, a show of songs and unpublished texts, conceived for the fiftieth anniversary of Algerian independence.
Michèle is excited to perform her music for students, share her life experiences as a French musician, and talk about the time she spent working with the icon Joséphine Baker.
http://www.michele-barbier.com/v5/
Clotilde Rullaud
Clotilde is an international multidisciplinary creator, artistic director, vocalist, flutist, producer, and vocal coach who employs a range of artf orms to generate new poetic languages. She combines music, song, dance, and the visual arts to make singular performance pieces, concerts, and films. Here in Chicago for Working In Concert’s “French Connexion”, she is thrilled to have the opportunity to share her music and culture with students.
Contact Us
Reach out to dvis@workinginconcert.org for more information on how to get us in your classroom!