Le Tango

Pianist Jo Simons and poet Lewis Bosworth present this unique set of 20 short piano pieces by Eric Satie (1866-1950), written in 1914 and inspired by illustrations by a popular French illustrator in the day, Charles Martin.

Sports et Divertissements
by Eric Satie

Jo Simons, piano
Lewis Bosworth, reading

November 22, 7pm
The French House
633 N Frances St., Madison

Free and open to the public.

This performance will include slides of Charles Martin’s drawings and short commentary to accompany each piece, written by Satie, and read by Lewis Bosworth.

Although his musical output was not large, Satie exercised a profound effect on 20th century music. His innovative harmonies, freedom of form and mastery of musical understatement influenced a diverse company of modern masters, ranging from Debusy and Ravel to Milhaud, Poulenc and Cage.

Jo Simons teaches piano and Music Together. She performed this work at the French House in 1993, the reading done by her French-speaking daughter. She comes from an intensely musical family. Her 96-year old father is the oldest orchestra conductor in the country!

Lewis Bosworth is a Madison poet and long-time friend of the French House. He taught French and phonetics at UW-Madison and is now teaching poetry and writing in the PLATO Program at UW-Madison.