FAIRHOPE, Alabama (AP) — Sculptor Stephen Spears is turning history into bronze with the first monument to the Navy’s D-Day heroes at Normandy and a statue of a World War I doughboy at the site of a landmark American victory in Cantigny, France.

His three bronze figures of a Navy captain and two sailors will be installed on a bluff overlooking Utah Beach to remember the naval service’s role in World War II’s pivotal amphibious invasion, adding a new visual element to the landscape at the historic site.

“All the monuments at Normandy are stone pillars, obelisks or plaques,” said retired Navy Capt. Greg Streeter of Jacksonville, Florida, chairman of the Navy D-Day Monument Project. “What we like most about our monument is that it is composed of representations of human figures that represent the officers and enlisted men that participated in the naval aspects of the Normandy invasion.”

Mike Conley, a spokesman for the American Battle Monuments Commission, which approved the Navy monument, said there are three human sculptures in the Normandy cemetery, but Spears’ work will be the first with human figures on Utah Beach.

Click here to read the rest of the article.

Les Nouvelles De Paris — dollar be damned, visit now!

With the dollar under the kind of pressure that would make even the crispiest crème brûlée crumble, this may not seem like the ideal time for a Paris fling. But there’s so much to see and do in the City of Light—and so much that’s new—that it almost seems unfair to let the Parisians have all the fun.

Paris is still cheaper than many international cities like London, or even Moscow. In fact, the number of Americans traveling to Paris annually hasn’t dropped off so much as their spending habits. The French Government Tourist Office’s Patrice Doyon says “the depressed dollar” has slowed growth, but Americans are still visiting—they’re just spending less. “They might go to a three-star hotel instead of a four-star hotel,” he says. “Or do less shopping.” But why not go against the grain—after all, the French have made a national sport out of doing just that—and go all out?

Few cities are as well-positioned for an exercise in indulgence as Paris, which is for many still the standard of luxury and culture against which other cities are measured. That said, if you know where to go, you can get more for your inflated euro in the French capital than you might think. Because Parisian luxury is not merely a tale of flamboyance and creature comforts, as in Las Vegas or Dubai, but about quality and authenticity of experience.

Full Article Here

When Erik Torkells told his sister, Molly, he’d take her anywhere in the world as a 40th-birthday present, she picked Las Vegas. Clearly, there was work to be done.

by Erik Torkells

My sister and I spent our formative travel experiences together, most of which involved long family RV trips around the western U.S. But while I got bit by the travel bug, even becoming the lucky editor of this magazine, Molly never traveled much. She found plenty of excitement in getting married, moving across the country (and back), having two kids, and starting a teaching career.

For her 40th birthday, I thought it’d be fun to take her somewhere. After all, the only times she had left the U.S. were on a graduation cruise to Ensenada and a family drive to Vancouver. “Think about where you’d like to go!” I e-mailed her. “London? Iceland? Tokyo?” I was feeling like Brother of the Year. A few days later, she e-mailed her choice. I took a few deep breaths, and pointed out that while, yes, it was her birthday, and yes, I’d said she could choose the destination, the idea was to go somewhere she’d never been–basically, anywhere but Las Vegas.

Molly thought about it some more and realized she was intimidated by the unknown: different languages, passport bureaucracy, foreign currency, and so on. She said she needed to get over her fear, and that we could go to Europe. She’d let me decide exactly where.

I chose Amsterdam because it’s so easy to navigate, making it the perfect place to dip a toe in–besides, it’s where I went on my first trip to Europe. And then we’d go to Paris, because it’s Paris.

If you were to ask her about the experience now, a few months after the trip, she’d probably say that it was discombobulating being the student, not the teacher–let alone having her little brother be the one in charge. For six days, I was a cross between George Patton and Napoleon Bonaparte. We didn’t just see Amsterdam and Paris: We conquered them.

Any little brother worth his salt torments his sister long after he should’ve stopped. In that spirit, here, for her review, are my 11 lessons on how to explore a city.

Click here for full article

01 Jun 2009 - 30 Jun 2009 Date to be confirmed

Every other year the Paris Air Show displays all that is new in the aviation industry and looks back over some of the great historic achievements in this field. Open initially to the trade, the show welcomes the public during the closing weekend. Attractions include impressive flying displays and exhibitions showcasing the latest cutting-edge technology in the aircraft industry. The French Air Force contributes a large number of military aircraft to the flying displays and also put on a show of their own. Flight simulators, space launch vehicles, traffic control systems and anti-aircraft defence systems also feature among the exhibitions. The Air and Space Museum’s permanent collections are open throughout the show. This popular event attracts about 500,000 people each year.

How does this affect groups participating in the American Celebratin of Music in France in 2009? Because of the many thousands that attend the Air Show, hotel rates in and around Paris during the Show are increased, thus making it difficult to find hotel space within budget. Most of the MCI groups traveling during these weeks will be staying in hotels outside of the city OR they will be paying a premium on hotel rooms in Paris.

Although we arrived home separately, I know that everyone involved with this tour took with them once in a life time memories. From mass rehearsals in Lucerne with Eph Ehly, to the performance in the KKL, both with the mass choir and as an individual choir, our time in Lucerne was unique. Thanks to John Wiscombe and all of the Music Celebrations staff for their flawless execution of logistics, the vision to establish and produce what I think will be one of the premier festivals to attend, and their collective friendliness and professionalism. My singers and I didn’t feel like customers, but rather guests who were treated like professionals and colleagues.

Our time in Paris was packed with sight seeing and performances in venues that are not only acoustically, but also historically significant. Our tour manager, Patrick Fargier, went out of his way to make sure that we saw and did all we could do in the four days we were in Paris. He didn’t just do his job, but went out of his way to get to know the group and genuinely connected with them. Although I can’t afford to travel internationally every year, from my experience on this tour, the next time I plan to tour the world, it will be with MCI. To have the opportunity for my students to work with a world class conductor, sing in the same Cathedral where Napoleon was crowned, stand on top of the Eiffel Tower, and make music and friends with other singers has been priceless. The songs that we performed on this tour now hold memories that go way beyond the way they sounded, and hold a place in time that will not be forgotten by anyone who was there. One of my singers said the entire tour experience was “more than she expected and went way beyond what she could have hoped for.”

Thanks again,

Bruce C. Lengacher
Director of Choral Activities
Acalanes High School, Lafayette, CA

Singing in Notre Dame

The tour to France was a great success. I’m not sure I can express how thrilled we were with our tour managers. They definitely bonded with our group and we certainly bonded with them. I will write two letters about each of them to further explain how pleased we were!

The concerts were wonderful. The venues were breathtaking and the audiences were warm and very receptive. It was absolutely thrilling to sing a Mass at Mont-St-Michel, and the recital at Notre Dame was unbelievable! Hundreds and hundreds of folks listened to us here. It was the thrill of a lifetime!

Omaha Beach was the highlight of our trip. It stopped raining just before we sang the National Anthem as they raised our flag at the Memorial. One of our tour managers sang the French National anthem - we were all in tears!!! WONDERFUL. The wreath laying ceremony, done by several Vets in our choir, was perfect!

Can’t wait until the next trip! I am very, very pleased with Music Celebrations and will continue to book with you for all future trips!!

Kay Randolph
Mountain View Presbyterian Church Choir
Scottsdale, AZ

We just returned from our tour to Switzerland and France, and I just wanted you to know that we had a wonderful experience. This is our second tour with MCI, and I am increasingly impressed with the company. The staff members at MCI are amazing. You are fortunate to have these people on staff; I’m convinced that people make the difference in the travel business! Your personnel are very strong both in the U.S. and in Europe, and a great strength of your company.

I thought that your suggestions for the general itinerary were right on target, and that the venues were perfect. We are grateful for the opportunity to sing during a Mass in Notre Dame Cathedral; it will be a precious, vivid memory for years to come. It will be hard to go back to our regular rehearsal room!

So many details come together to make a tour as special as this one. I am amazed that MCI has such quality in every aspect of them. You have a good thing going!

-Dr. Gayle Walker, Director of Choral Activities at Otterbein College

The Children’s Chorus of San Antonio recently returned from touring Paris and England. In Paris, the Chorus performed in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame and La Madeleine where they enjoyed receptive audiences of 200 – 300 at each venue. In the UK, they visited Canterbury, London, and York, where they participated in a festival with Doreen Rao.

Unforgettable concert venues, great food, wonderful accommodations, schedules that ran so smoothly - our summer tour to France and England was all that and more! Thank you for coordinating our 2006 Tour and for the many details MCI handled for our trip. We appreciate all that you did on our behalf. Everything that MCI arranged more than met our expectations. It was an amazing experience all the way around; thank you so much.

Sincerely,
Marguerite McCormick, Artistic Director, Children’s Chorus of San Antonio

The W.T. Woodson High School Choirs toured Austria, Switzerland, and France this past summer and performed in Vienna’s Karlskirche, Salzburg’s Dom, Lucerne’s St. Leodegar, and Paris’ Cathedral of Notre-Dame. The following is a brief note from Michael regarding the choirs’ performance in Notre-Dame.

I can’t begin to find the words to express how overwhelming singing at Notre Dame was. It was great in 1999…but this experience went way beyond. In 1999, after the mass, we simply left the altar and went back to the room to change. This time, they had us follow the altar boys down the main aisle of the cathedral and then across the back, and back up the side and then into the sacristy. That was the first time the kids were able to see just how many people were present…it was over 1000. The congregants stood up for them and applauded. Needless to say, I was extremely proud and pretty emotional throughout that experience.

Back in the sacristy, the celebrant spoke to the kids and me and thanked us for participating in the mass. It really was a wonderful experience. Equally wonderful was singing at the retirement/nursing home the next day. It was a very heart-warming experience for all of us. I was very pleased with each of their performances.

-Michael Ehrlich, W.T. Woodson High School, Virginia

The following are notes and pictures from Robert Bullwinkel, the choir director at Sunnyside High School in Fresno, CA. The Sunnyside High School Chorus recently returned from a European concert tour with MCI.

As the jet lag slowly fades, the images and memories of the Sunnyside High School chamber choir’s Sister City Tour become clear. Suffice it to say that the tour was everything we hoped it would be and more. Since it is impossible to recount everything,let me give you a few snapshots of the many memorable moments.

Paris
–a sunset cruise down the Seine as the stars came out and the lights of the Eiffel tower came on, then stopping on the Pont Neuf to see the Tower glowing against the deep azure sky with the moon shining above and the whole scene reflected in the water.
–the Sunday morning farmer’s market on the Rue Moufftard, sipping cafe au lait and watching the Parisians do their shopping.
–singing through our tears on the altar at Notre Dame as we realized that we had really made it there.
–our “live” broadcast back home to Fresno’s Finest

Muenster
–our first rehearsal with the choir from the Gymnasium Paulinem school (founded in the year 797), seeing the walls between the students break down, and then, after lunch together in the German students’ homes, seeing all of the new “best friends for life”.
–bringing down the house that night at the Festaal of the Rathaus in an awesome performance with the Paulinem choir. In the words of the Mayor’s office, “We have many fine choirs in Muenster, but we have never seen anything like this! The Festaal has never rocked like this before!!”
–seeing our bright and shining faces all over the morning papers the next day:)
–our performance in St. Paul’s cathedral and hearing the shimmering chords echo throughout the space
–our final performance in Muenster at St. Petronilla church. Word about the choir’s previous performances had gotten around and the church was packed to the rafters. We have never heard such applause nor seen multiple standing ovations that lasted for so long. I think that if we had more songs to sing we would be there singing still!

Switzerland
–a beautiful, sunny drive through the Alps and the view of the lakes at Interlaken surrounded by the snowcapped peaks
–two words: Swiss Chocolate

Riva del Garda
–being selected to sing in the opening concert of the International Choir Festival and giving the crowd some real American gospel music and having the audience of 48 choirs from 26 different countries clap along with us.
–gelato, gelato, gelato
–taking paddle boats out onto Lake Garda and seeing the foothills of the Alps wrapped around the beautiful Italian harbor.
–realizing that we were singing in a competition for huge college choirs and then giving our best performance anyway and holding our own with the older, bigger choirs.
(For the record, this was the first time in the eighteen year history of the event that an American high school choir entered into the competition. We were placed in category G3 for choirs aged 16-25. All of the other choirs, except one, were from colleges around the world. Coincidentally, there was one other American school entered in the category–Piedmont High School from the Bay Area with the highest public school API score in California for their enrollment. Sunnyside beat them handily. The G3 category was won by a private college choir from Singapore who went on to win the entire festival.)

Verona
–singing in the Baptistery of the 12th century Cathedral at a special service written just for our choir called “The rebirth of hope”. The program was sponsored by the city of Verona and the church with a pre-service dinner provided by the ladies of the church.
–performing “Only in America” on the steps of the City Hall which stands next to a Roman Arena built in the first century BC. Drawing a big crowd of enthusiastic listeners including a group of French teenagers who became part of the show and our biggest fans of the tour!
–strolling the streets in the beautiful spring weather and feeling very Italian.

The usual tour stuff…..
–lost luggage! Our sound gear finally joined us in Muenster, three days after we arrived.
–the neverending card games
–playing pool at the youth hostel
–getting sick and passing it around
–more walking than we thought humanly possible
–lost glasses recovered from a truck stop as we passed back through a week later
–everyone applauding as our Italian driver parallel parks the 50′ bus in a spot seemingly too small for a VW
–getting homesick and needing to talk to mom:)
–late nights and early mornings
–flirting with other teens and finding that puppy love has no language barrier
–Mr. de Jong grossing everyone out by eating horsemeat and mulemeat in Verona.
–fun and games with food (Becky, Romanita, Sandy and Marya!)
–shopping, shopping, shopping
–steppng around a corner and seeing yet another postcard view of an ancient city
–surly Sicilian waiters
–being kissed on both cheeks!
–hours spent on the bus
–getting in trouble for being late
–hauling our bags a mile straight uphill to the youth hostel in Verona
–travelling for nearly 24 hours straight to get home
–sending the police out to search for one of our missing chaperones
–cheering when we got back to the USA and realized how much we love our home.

You can check out more pictures and student blogs here.

The Musée de l’Orangerie

By Doreen Carvajal, CNN Budget Travel

The most long-awaited debut is the Musée de l’Orangerie, which opens on May 17 after an unexpectedly drawn-out six-year reconstruction. An 1852 former orange-tree greenhouse in a corner of the Tuileries garden, l’Orangerie was transformed into a museum in 1927 to house Claude Monet’s “Water Lilies,” giant panels inspired by his pond in Giverny. But the oval gallery where the paintings lived became dark and claustrophobic when a new exhibition floor that covered existing skylights was added in 1960.

Construction was well under way when the discovery of a 17th-century limestone wall under the museum caused a delay; new permits had to be obtained and plans were altered. Now, the upper floor has been removed, letting in natural light, and the entry hall has been remodeled to allow direct access to the marquee art. Additionally, builders created a subterranean gallery and installed air-conditioning to protect the collection, which also includes works by Cézanne, Matisse, Picasso and Renoir.

Less famous — but no less worthy — are the sister palaces, the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais, 19th-century jewels built for the Universal Exhibition of 1900. Each underwent serious renovations, and reopened late last year. The Petit Palais, a flamboyant, domed confection of gilded wrought iron and Italian mosaics, is home to the Musée des Beaux-Arts, which has permanent works by Delacroix and Courbet.

An $86 million makeover restored the palace’s stone exterior to its original wedding-cake whiteness; vivid blue ceiling panels representing themes of Beauty, Thought, Mysticism and Matter were touched up. In the half-moon garden courtyard, gardeners replanted species of palm trees that had been there in the early 20th century.

Across the street, a four-year face-lift was the first stage of a $120 million total renovation at the Grand Palais. It bolstered the foundation and the structural safety of the glass-and-steel exhibition hall. (The building had been closed since 1993 after a metal bolt from the ceiling plunged 115 feet into a display case.) The showpiece is an art nouveau cupola framed by 9,370 tons of green steel. The Grand Palais also has temporary exhibits; a collection of contemporary French art will remain on display through July.

Workmen recently finished a big job at the Aquarium du Trocadéro, which was closed for more than two decades. The aquarium, on a hill facing the Eiffel Tower, opened in April with over 10,000 fish, three cinemas, and an underground glass tunnel that is supposed to simulate an undersea swim.

One other noteworthy museum is in a burst of final preparations. The Musée du Quai Branly is slated to open June 23. The building, designed by Jean Nouvel, is intended to resemble a giant footbridge; what looks from afar like a long elevated strip is surrounded by a garden with 178 types of trees, including sugar maples, cherry trees and magnolias. The museum — which assumed the collection of the Musée des Arts d’Afrique et d’Océanie — will be the only one in Paris dedicated to ethnography and indigenous peoples.

If it feels like you’ll need to add night shifts to squeeze in all the new museums, no worries: The Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, in the east wing of the Palais de Tokyo, now lets guests wander around until 10 p.m. on Wednesdays. As part of a two-and-a-half-year renovation completed in February, exhibition space was added in the basement, and a special “black room” was built to screen art videos. Work was also done to Raoul Dufy’s 1937 “La Fée Électricité,” an epic celebration of electricity. The 6,450-foot oil mural, composed of 250 wood panels, had its asbestos backing stripped off, and is mounted on curved walls and illuminated from the floor, carrying out the artist’s original vision.

In 1998, the government bought a Frank Gehry-designed building formerly home to the American Center of Paris. It took six years and $41 million, but in September, the Cinémathèque Française opened within. The Cinémathèque is a shrine to cinema, with daily screenings of classics and a collection of antique film cameras and memorabilia — among them a dress Vivien Leigh wore in “Gone With the Wind.”…

The H-F Symphony Orchestra & Chorus recently returned from a successful concert tour to Spain and France as part of the American Celebration of Music in Europe concert series festival. The Orchestra and Chorus arrived in Barcelona, Spain, where they rehearsed and enjoyed their first concert, and then moved into France, visiting the cities of Carcassonne, Avignon, and finishing in Nice, performing in each city. Two of the many highlights were the performances in the Cathedral of St. Michel in Carcassonne, where they enjoyed an enthusiastic audience that “would not let them go” until they performed two encore pieces following the scheduled program, and the second highlight worth mentioning was the concert in Centre Cultural ‘Le Forum’ in Les Angles (a suburb of Avignon) where they enjoyed another receptive audience of an estimated 450 people and were afterwards treated to a full dinner & dessert and were given gifts relating to their community.

On March 31, 1889 (117 years ago today), the Eiffel Tower is dedicated in Paris in a ceremony presided over by Gustave Eiffel, the tower’s designer…

In 1889, to honor of the centenary of the French Revolution, the French government planned an international exposition and announced a design competition for a monument to be built on the Champ-de-Mars in central Paris. Out of more than 100 designs submitted, the Centennial Committee chose Eiffel’s plan of an open-lattice wrought-iron tower that would reach almost 1,000 feet above Paris and be the world’s tallest man-made structure. Eiffel, a noted bridge builder, was a master of metal construction and designed the framework of the Statue of Liberty that had recently been erected in New York Harbor.

Eiffel’s tower was greeted with skepticism from critics who argued that it would be structurally unsound, and indignation from others who thought it would be an eyesore in the heart of Paris. Unperturbed, Eiffel completed his great tower under budget in just two years. Only one worker lost his life during construction, which at the time was a remarkably low casualty number for a project of that magnitude. The light, airy structure was by all accounts a technological wonder and within a few decades came to be regarded as an architectural masterpiece.

The Eiffel Tower is 984 feet tall and consists of an iron framework supported on four masonry piers, from which rise four columns that unite to form a single vertical tower. Platforms, each with an observation deck, are at three levels. … The Eiffel Tower remained the world’s tallest man-made structure until the completion of the Chrysler Building in New York in 1930. Incredibly, the Eiffel Tower was almost demolished when the International Exposition’s 20-year lease on the land expired in 1909, but its value as an antenna for radio transmission saved it. It remains largely unchanged today and is one of the world’s premier tourist attractions.

Learn more about MCI’s American Celebration of Music in France where a visit to the Eiffel Tower is a must.

Joseph-Maurice Ravel (March 7, 1875 – December 28, 1937) was a French composer and pianist, known especially for the subtlety, richness, and poignancy of his music and generally considered to be one of the major composers of the 20th century.

While participating in the American Celebration of Music in France, visiting groups can explore the history and music of Ravel while visiting his birthplace in Ciboure, the Ravel house (Montfort l’Amaury, Le Belvédère) which is now the Musée Maurice Ravel or his burial place at Levallois-Perret. Please contact us for more information.

Today is Frédéric Chopin’s 196th birthday. Chopin is one of the most famous, influential and admired composers for the piano, and Poland’s most significant composer.

Chopin, although born in Warsaw, traveled extensively and spent many of his years in Paris. In 1848 Chopin gave his last concert in Paris and in 1849 he at his home in the place Vendôme.

He had requested that Mozart’s Requiem be sung at his funeral, which was held at the Church of the Madeleine and was attended by nearly three thousand people. The Requiem has major parts for female singers but the Madeleine had never permitted female singers in its choir. The funeral was delayed for almost 2 weeks, until the church finally relented and granted Chopin’s final wish provided the female singers remained behind a black velvet curtain.

Although Chopin is buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris, at his own request his heart was removed and dispatched in an urn to Warsaw, where it is sealed in a pillar in the Church of the Holy Cross.

Chopin’s funeral site, the Church of the Madeleine in Paris, is a concert venue available to musical groups traveling with Music Celebrations International as part of the American Celebration of Music in France. Please contact MCI to learn more about traveling to either France or Poland.

Today in 1804 at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte is crowned Napoleon I, the first Frenchman to hold the title of emperor in a thousand years. Pope Pius VII handed Napoleon the crown that the 35-year-old conqueror of Europe placed on his own head. Click here to read the whole article.

The painting featured above is the Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon I and Coronation of the Empress Josephine in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris on 2 Dec 1804 by Jacques-Louis David found in the Musee du Louvre, Paris. Of course, a visit to the Louve is a highlight for musical groups traveling with Music Celebrations Internatial as part of the American Celebration of Music in France.

KKL - the festival venue

Music Celebrations International is pleased to announce the Lucerne International Choral Festival, July 3-7, 2007. The festival will be a combined choir under the direction of Dr. Eph Ehly accompanied by full orchestra in the outstanding Kultur-und-Kongresszentrum Luzern (Lucerne’s Culture and Convention Center [KKL] – see picture). Switzerland will also be a great starting point for a longer European tour which could include extensions into other parts of Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Germany and France.

The festival will feature outstanding SATB choirs from across the United States who will in their participation pay tribute to Dr. Ehly in a year where he will be celebrating his 70th birthday. The concert repertoire is not yet solidified, but Eph’s current thoughts are opening with Te Deum in C by Haydn, closing with Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral by Wagner and between performing works such as Brahms’ Nanie, Mozart’s Vesperae Solennes de Confessore, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, Puccini’s Messa di Gloria or Hanson’s Song of Democracy.

For more detailed information on how your choir can participate, please call Music Celebrations at 1.800.395.2036 or contact us through our web-form.

Thanks to the History Channel’s This Day in History for the story.

While on your Music Celebrations International concert tour to Paris, you’ll visit the Louvre, possibly the most famous museum of all the world. Today is the 212th anniversary (1793) of the opening of the Louvre Museum.

After more than two centuries as a royal palace, the Louvre is opened as a public museum in Paris by the French revolutionary government. Today, the Louvre’s collection is one of the richest in the world, with artwork and artifacts representative of 11,000 years of human civilization and culture.

The Louvre palace was begun by King Francis I in 1546 on the site of a 12th-century fortress built by King Philip II. Francis was a great art collector, and the Louvre was to serve as his royal residence. The work, which was supervised by the architect Pierre Lescot, continued after Francis’ death and into the reigns of kings Henry II and Charles IX. Almost every subsequent French monarch extended the Louvre and its grounds, and major additions were made by Louis XIII and Louis XIV in the 17th century. Both of these kings also greatly expanded the crown’s art holdings, and Louis XIV acquired the art collection of Charles I of England after his execution in the English Civil War. In 1682, Louis XIV moved his court to Versailles, and the Louvre ceased to be the main royal residence.

In the spirit of the Enlightenment, many in France began calling for the public display of the royal collections. Denis Diderot, the French writer and philosopher, was among the first to propose a national art museum for the public. Although King Louis XV temporarily displayed a selection of paintings at the Luxembourg Palace in 1750, it was not until the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 that real progress was made in establishing a permanent museum. On November 8, 1793, the revolutionary government opened the Musée Central des Arts in the Grande Galerie of the Louvre.

The collection at the Louvre grew rapidly, and the French army seized art and archaeological items from territory and nations conquered in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. Much of this plundered art was returned after Napoleon’s defeat in 1815, but the Louvre’s current Egyptian antiquities collections and other departments owe much to Napoleon’s conquests. Two new wings were added in the 19th century, and the multi-building Louvre complex was completed in 1857, during the reign of Napoleon III.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the Grand Louvre, as the museum is officially known, underwent major remodeling. Modern museum amenities were added and thousands of square meters of new exhibition space were opened. The Chinese American architect I.M. Pei built a steel-and-glass pyramid in the center of the Napoleon courtyard. Traditionalists called it an outrage. In 1993, on the 200th anniversary of the museum, a rebuilt wing formerly occupied by the French ministry of finance was opened to the public. It was the first time that the entire Louvre was devoted to museum purposes.

Today is the 167th birth anniversary of Georges Bizet (October 25, 1838 – June 3, 1875), French composer of the romantic era best known for his opera Carmen.

Bizet spent all of his life (outside of a 3 year stay in Rome) in Paris. Let Music Celebrations International help your musical group plan a concert tour to France, and while in paris visit Bizet’s grave at the Cimetière du Père Lachaise (where you will also be able to see the tombs and memorials of Jim Morrison, Chopin, Molière, Oscar Wilde, Honoré de Balzac, Eugène Delacroix and Maria Callas).

Today is the 194th birthday of Hungarian composer Franz Liszt (Hungarian: Liszt Ferenc) (October 22, 1811 – July 31, 1886). List is also widely considered to be one of the greatest piano virtuosi of all time, and certainly the most famous of the nineteenth century.

To celebrate Liszt’s life and music, you may consider planning a concert tour to Europe. Liszt was born in Doborjan Hungary (now known as Raiding - a short drive south from Vienna). He was performing in Vienna from the time that he was 9 years old. He and his family moved there 2 years later, wher he studied piano with Carl Czerny and composition with Antonio Salieri. Liszt known as “the darling of Paris” as early as 1824. Shortly thereafter he tours England and performs for King George IV. Liszt spent much of his life either in Paris or touring Europe. Click here for a full timeline of Liszt.

Some popular Liszt sites include:

*The Liszt Ferenc Memorial Museum in Budapest
*The Liszt House in Weimar, Germany
*The Liszt burial site at Bayreuth, Germany
*The Liszt Memorial in Eisenstadt

Please contact Music Celebrations International to help you plan your performance tour.

Today is Chopin’s 156th death anniversary. In memory, I quote a short synopsis of his death from Wikipedia:

By the 1840s Chopin’s health was rapidly deteriorating. He and Sand took several trips to remote locations, such as Nohant-Vic, to no avail. By 1849, the year in which Chopin died, most of his major works were completed and Chopin concentrated on mazurkas and nocturnes. His last work was a mazurka, in F minor.

Officially the cause of Chopin’s death was tuberculosis, although there is some speculation that he may have had another disease such as cystic fibrosis or emphysema due in part to autopsy findings (reported only by his sister) seemingly inconsistent with the initial diagnosis. He had a terror of being buried alive, and asked to be “cut open”, writing a few days before his death: “As this earth will suffocate me, I implore you to have my body open so that I may not be buried alive”.

He had requested that Mozart’s Requiem be sung at his funeral, which was held at the Church of the Madeleine and was attended by nearly three thousand people. The Requiem has major parts for female singers but the Madeleine had never permitted female singers in its choir. The funeral was delayed for almost 2 weeks while the matter raged, until the church finally relented and granted Chopin’s final wish. Although Chopin is buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris, his heart is entombed in a pillar in the Church of the Holy Cross in Warsaw. The Pere Lachaise site attracts numerous visitors and is invariably festooned with flowers, even in the dead of winter.

Music Celebrations International is dedicated to providing musicians with opportunities to tour and perform in prestigious venues and events throughout the world. MCI believes that touring motivates musicians to raise their level of performance. An example of this is John Johnson in California who was selected to participate in the Central California Youth Symphony’s 2006 European Tour (who was recently featured in the Ledger Dispatch).

“Just when his enthusiasm for music was beginning to fade, 13-year-old John Johnson of Pine Grove became the only junior high student chosen to travel to Europe in 2006 with the Central California Youth Symphony, renewing his passion and dedication for the talent he has spent three years developing.

‘Getting chosen to go on this trip just put (music) right back on top for him,’ said Maja Johnson, John’s mother.

‘I was amazed that it was me (chosen),’ he said. ‘I was the only small town kid chosen for a big trip.’

John has been playing the trumpet since fifth grade, the French horn since seventh grade and has recently taken up piano. He will be playing the French horn during the 10-day Europe trip that will include three concerts: one in Paris as part of the 2006 American Celebration of Music in France; one in Caen, also a part of the Celebration and one in Brussels. The symphony, comprised of 40 to 60 young musicians, will be on a structured itinerary while in Europe that includes many tours of historic and popular tourist spots.”

Congratulations, John! For the full article, click here.