Adèle Charvet and Florian Caroubi: Songs of the Belle Époque

La Belle Époque is an era bathed in nostalgia. The very name of it – The Beautiful Age – suggests something that was, and can never be so again. The songs and piano pieces in this recital are utterly steeped in their own time.

Well-known songs mingle with rarely-heard gems: from Chausson’s delicate hummingbird in Le colibri, to Koechlin’s autumnal Novembre to the mysterious, erotic atmosphere of Debussy’s La chevelure and Fauré’s En sourdine, to Entsagen by Romanian composer Enescu, who studied in Paris. The recital is opened with Albeniz’s Paradise Regained, with words by Francis Money-Coutts: a wistful search for a paradise just out of reach.

Mezzo-soprano Adèle Charvet and pianist Florian Caroubi have a remarkable, empathic rapport, and in recent years have made this sumptuous repertoire their own, bringing together highlights of the genre in their 2025 album, Belle Époque!. As a review in Gramophone put it, “[Caroubi] and Charvet always sound as if they instinctively think and feel as one”.

Adèle Charvet mezzo-soprano
Florian Caroubi piano

The programme will include works by Albéniz, Chausson, Debussy, Fauré, Massenet and other composers of the Belle Époque.