Debussy Concert & Book Talk with Pianist Catherine Kautsky

Politics, art, literature, not to mention racism, orientalism, and nationalism – a potent mix in fin-de siècle Paris. Come hear how Claude Debussy, who died precisely 100 years ago, combined them all in music whose sheer beauty and elegance belies its revolutionary impact on the new century. Pianist Catherine Kautsky, will speak about her recent book, Debussy’s Paris: Piano Portraits of the Belle Époque. The book was touted by Booklist as a “fascinating fusion of music, literature, and social history… a treat for music lovers, Francophiles, and anyone who appreciates the arts” and by pianist Richard Goode as “a wonderful book, a kind of total immersion in the Debussyan magic.“ Catherine will provide music at the piano as well as guide us knowledgeably through Paris, “the capital of the nineteenth century,” as it careens into a turbulent modernism.

Pianist Catherine Kautsky is the George and Marjorie Olsen Chandler Professor of Music and the Chair of Keyboard at Lawrence University in Appleton, WI and was the winner of the Lawrence University Excellence in Teaching Award as well as the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arts Institute Creative Arts Award, which honored her work on the intersections of literature, music, and social history.

https://www.debussysparis.com/