Sunday, December 23, 2007

French Human Rights Prize Awarded for Commemoration of Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges and Abolition of Slavery, May 10-11, 2007



[TOP: Reenactment of the fencing bout which took place at Carlton House, London, on April 9, 1787 between La Chevalière d’Eon (Brigitte Tillier) on the left and Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges (Joseph Blanc) on the right. BOTTOM: Cast of Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges – La Table de Marbre]


AfriClassical recently learned from Daniel Marciano and Jean-Claude Halley that Madame Catherine Pizon, Principal of the Collège Victor Hugo (Victor Hugo Junior High School), had traveled to Paris with four students on Dec. 19, 2007 to receive the National René Cassin Human Rights Prize of 2007 from Monsieur Xavier Dancos, National Education Minister of France. It was awarded for Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges – La Table de Marbre, a 2-day commemoration of the life and music of Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges, and the Abolition of Slavery, on May 10 and 11, 2007.

On August 2, 2007 AfriClassical published an E-mail from Madame Catherine Pizon in which she explained, in part:

As the Principal of a junior high school near Vichy, France, I staged a theatre show on the life and music of Saint-Georges this year with the collaboration of several primary and secondary schools, music schools and a fencing school. This show was exclusively interpreted by 14 year old students. The program included a theatre performance, music, singing, dancing and fencing.”

A DVD of the performance is scheduled for release March 6, 2008. It will be accompanied by a 100-page booklet including the play, educational material and photographs. Jean-Claude Halley's blog is Guadeloupe Attitude.

Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges was born Dec. 25, 1745 on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. Several pages are devoted to his life, music and fencing career, at AfriClassical.com


Saint-Georges+Commemoration" rel="tag">Saint-Georges Commemoration
Human+Rights" rel="tag">Human Rights
Black+Composer" rel="tag">Black Composer
Black+History" rel="tag">Black History
classical+music" rel="tag">classical music
Black+Fencer" rel="tag">Black Fencer

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