Émigré: French Refugees in the Early United States & the Music They Brought with Them

A musical journey of the Early American Republic during an all-but-unknown chapter of America’s early musical history, Émigré shares the complex stories of asylum seekers to the United States during the French and Haitian Revolutions. French nobles, planters, free people of all backgrounds, and the musicians they patronized—such as the clarinetist Mr. Beranger—sought safety from the violence of the French (1789–1799) and Haitian (1791–1804) Revolutions. Consequently, the United States experienced a French cultural explosion in the last decade of the 18th century as waves of self-imposed exiles poured into ports up and down the East Coast. Featuring works by André Grétry, Ignace Pleyel, Michel Yost, and others, Émigré takes its inspiration directly from historic concerts performed in America such as a 1793 benefit for an orphanage in Charleston, South Carolina and a 1798 performance featuring “the best musicians from Boston.” In person and live-streamed at blemf.org.