Tine Thing Helseth & Friends: The Boulangerie

Trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth joins some of her closest musical partners from across Europe and beyond for a programme marking the lasting influence of Nadia and Lili Boulanger.

Helseth says, ‘I have always been fascinated by Nadia Boulanger – a figure whose influence on 20th-century music is almost impossible to overstate’.

Her apartment on the rue Ballu, known as The Boulangerie, ‘became a legendary gathering place, where composers like Stravinsky, Fauré and her beloved sister Lili came together to play, listen and debate – evenings that crackled with creativity and the joy of music shared among friends.’

At this concert’s heart is music by the sisters themselves. Lili’s radiant miniatures and D’un matin de printemps reveal her luminous language of colour and light, while Nadia’s Soleils couchants and Cantique show the expressive power of a composer better known as a legendary teacher.

Set around them is a musical circle shaped by Nadia’s far-reaching teaching influence, from Faustian fable The Soldier’s Tale by her friend and colleague Stravinsky to an exquisite movement from the visionary Requiem by her teacher Fauré.

Students and admirers continue the story into the 20th century. Copland’s atmospheric Quiet City places Helseth’s trumpet in a haunting nocturnal landscape. Music by Gershwin and Michel Legrand demonstrates the breadth of Nadia’s influence across jazz.

A Norwegian thread comes from Helseth’s compatriot Geirr Tveitt, who studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris.

Tonight, these friends in music capture something of the spirit of The Boulangerie: tracing a rich network of connections around two remarkable musical lives.