News & Events Music from the Salon of the Empress Josephine, Part of “Josephine” Exhibition at Mead Art Museum, at Amherst College Oct. 30

October 17, 2005
Director of Media Relations
413/542-8417

AMHERST, Mass.— The Mead Art Museum and the Amherst College Department of Music will present an afternoon of chamber music and song from the time of the empress Josephine for soprano, flute, harp and fortepiano at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 30, in the Rotherwas Gallery at the museum. This concert is free and open to the public, but seating is limited. A maximum of two tickets can be reserved by calling 413/542-2335. This event is part of “The Empress Josephine: Art and Royal Identity,” an international loan show focusing on Napoleon's consort, “the incomparable Josephine,” at the Mead through Sunday, Dec. 18.

Smith College faculty Jane Bryden, Monica Jakuc, Ellen Redman and Felice Swados join forces with Julia Fox, junior at Amherst College, for a concert of music that might have been played in the Empress's salon. The composers include Charles-Nicolas Bochsa, Jan Ladislav Dussek, Gaspare Spontini, and the Empress's own daughter, Hortense de Beauharnais, Queen of Holland. Dylan Schneider, a senior at Amherst College, will introduce the audience to the musical world of Josephine's salon in a pre-concert lecture at 2 p.m. in the Rotherwas Gallery.

This event has been generously supported by the Amherst Arts Series Fund, the Hall and Kate Peterson Fund and the Amherst College Music Department.

The Mead Art Museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Thursday evenings until 9 p.m. More information is available on the museum's Website or by calling the Mead Art Museum at 413/542-2335. All events are free and open to the public.

###