Concert-Theatre Work Sheds Light On Joseph Bologne, A Man of Many Talents
WDCB’s Gary Zidek catches up with theatre artist Bill Barclay to talk about French renaissance man, Joseph Bologne, and the creation of THE CHEVALIER.
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“We don’t have anyone today who we (could compare to Bologne), it’s like he’s like Bruce Lee and Paganini in the same person. And he was at the center of history of all these different famous people, and yet he himself is not famous.” - THE CHEVALIER writer/director Bill Barclay talking about his attempts to describe Joseph Bologne’s many talents.
New York-based theatre artist Bill Barclay
The true, but overlooked, story of a French trailblazer is the source material for a new concert-theater work that’s making its Midwest premiere in Chicago this week. THE CHEVALIER is all about the extraordinary life of Joseph Bologne. The Black composer was: the finest fencer in Europe, a virtuoso violinist, a friend of Mozart’s, music teacher to Marie Antoinette, a general of Europe’s first Black regiment and a crusader for the abolishment of slavery.
After being exposed to Bologne’s story, theatre artist Bill Barclay began working on ways to illuminate the accomplishments of the Chevalier de Saint-Georges. Barclay ended up creating a work that’s part concert and part theater. THE CHEVALIER premiered in 2019 during Tanglewood Learning Institute’s inaugural season and was a finalist in the 2020 Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference. There was a big pause because of the pandemic, but now Barclay and his company Concert Theatre Works are bringing the project to Chicago. THE CHEVALIER is being presented three times in the Chicago-area thanks to a collaboration of Music of the Baroque, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association, and the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts.
(left to right) R.J. Foster as Joseph Bologne and David Joseph as WA Mozart in rehearsal for THE CHEVALIER. Photo credit: Bill Barclay
