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About the Author
Sylvia Kahan is Professor of Music at the Graduate Center and College of Staten Island, CUNY, where she is a member of both the Piano and Musicology faculties. As a pianist, she has performed as concerto soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician in all of New York’s major halls and in concerts venues throughout North America and Europe. As a musicologist, Sylvia Kahan specializes in late 19th-century and 20th-century French music and culture. She has written on women’s roles as music patrons, Proust and music, Nadia Boulanger, and 19th-century music criticism.
About the Book
The book served as the inspiration for a lecture and concert produced by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
Praise
This biography by Sylvia Kahan is easy to read as an adventure story just as much as it is a sideways glance at over half a century's cultural history.– GRAMOPHONE
This is a book to be referred to again and again. . . an authoritative study that will give any interested reader an overview of a fascinating artistic epoch with a complex and intriguing survivor at its helm. Underneath the forbidding exterior, "Aunt Winnie" was a sensitive and selfless philanthropist, both acutely perceptive of genuine talent in others and wide-ranging in her patronage. These aspects shine clearly through the mine of detailed information in Sylvia Kahan's important new study.- TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT
Sylvia Kahan draws an unflinching portrait both of a lost world . . . Winnaretta Singer-Polignac appears as an avant-garde figure in patronage, a major reference for how to work in a useful and lasting manner to support the creation and advancement of the arts, allowing humanity to progress.– RESMUSICA
Upcoming Events
Join us for "La Pause Café”, a DROP-IN activity for you to practice your French skills, immerse yourself in stimulating conversations, and make new friends.
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Performing Arts & Screenings
Ciné Club Series: White Material by Claire Denis
Presentation and discussion with Mariel Iezzoni
Don't miss this special screening of White Material, a remarkable collaboration between filmmaker Claire Denis and novelist Marie Ndiaye
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We invite parents and children to gather in the children's room of our library for a magical story time in French!
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