We’d like to let you know about the first ever performance of a new work that we have been developing. The piece is called Letters from the Affair. Letters from the Affair is a hybrid work—there’s a little jazz, a little opera, some Klezmer, some musical theater and maybe even an art history lecture. This multi-media jazz song cycle is based upon a series of letters written by the Impressionist painters Camille Pissarro and Edgar Degas.

The letters trace their artistic friendship and its eventual deterioration as a result of the anti-Semitism caused by the Dreyfus affair. Images from the era and paintings and prints by the artists will provide further context. This work presents an impression of the personal ramifications of a national political event and is an illustration of how bigotry can destroy a friendship.

A talk back with the band will directly follow the performance.