Future President John Adams – 1779
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Joseph Bologne is at the top of his game – music teacher to Marie Antoinette and Europe’s fencer to beat. But when a bedridden Mozart is carried into his kitchen, he attracts the attention of a secret police force returning people of colour to slavery.
As Paris hurtles toward Revolution, Bologne is forced to choose between his creative freedom and the crusade for equality. Can he sacrifice his bow for his sword?
This is the true story of three immigrants – Marie Antoinette, Mozart, and the Chevalier – conflating the French Revolution with the Resistance against authoritarianism unfolding today.
‘Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.’
Voltaire, 1765
Commissioned by The Boston Symphony, 2018.
Debuted at The Tanglewood Music Festival, 2019.
Workshopped at The National Black Theatre Festival, 2020.
Finalist for the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, 2020 and 2021.
Staged reading with the Winston-Salem Symphony, 2021
Before Amadeus…
Bologne was at the intersection of forces that all became more famous than he.
He introduced Mozart to the Symphony Concertante where two soloists share the spotlight – like a good duel. Mozart’s artistic debt has never been attributed to Bologne.
He joined Alexandre Dumas – also the son of a Caribbean slave and French aristocrat – to defend France and liberate the islands from slavery. Aramis, the famous Musketeer, is based on Bologne’s legendary swordcraft.
He created a new opera with Choderlos de Laclos (author of Dangerous Liaisons), before being enlisted by Laclos in the deadly work of the Revolution. Bologne was the first Black opera composer in history.
The true nature of his passionate friendship with Marie Antoinette may be shrouded in mystery forever.
These are the protagonists of…
The Chevalier Project
This play is the centrepiece of an international campaign to highlight Black excellence, and address the historic marginalisation of people of colour in classical music.
Read on to learn about our partnerships with the Sphinx Organisation in Detroit, the Chineke! Orchestra in London, and the Festival de Saint-Georges in Bologne’s birthplace of Guadeloupe.
We are also funding auditions for people of colour, open-sourcing historical Black music, educating young people, and organising our fellow musicians to demand that our ensembles meet this moment.
Get involved by telling us who you are.
WRITE THE TEAM
Bologne coded themes of equality into his compositions, an unknown fact revealed in The Chevalier for the very first time.
Partners
The National Black Theatre Festival and Winston-Salem Symphony have teamed with Concert Theatre Works to make a two-year commitment to The Chevalier Project.
Watch the short documentary here to learn about this groundbreaking collaboration.
Following the Festival, Concert Theatre Works will tour a dynamically staged concert version with four actors and seven musicians. The actors will also tour to orchestras so that ensembles can play Bologne’s music in the context of his life story. Every participating orchestra will join the National Alliance for Audition Support.
Bring The Chevalier to your ensemble, venue, school, or digital platform.
Chukwuji Iwuji (Othello, Public Theatre) plays Joseph Bologne. Brendon Elliott (New World Symphony) leads the orchestra. Merritt Janson is Marie Antoinette, and David Joseph is Mozart.
Bill Barclay – Playwright
I have produced or told many stories about the power of music, including most recently Broadway’s Farinelli and the King. Never have I heard a tale more powerful, more sorely neglected, more critical to our global dialogue, than that of Chevalier de Saint-Georges.
Working to dismantle systemic racism in classical music is, and will continue to be challenging work on many fronts.
It is now plainly obvious that our most powerful tool is Story. I have therefore spent my greatest labor on crafting a commercial powerhouse play that cannot be ignored, that will entertain as it educates, and that will inspire generations of musicians from all walks of life.
As the Chevalier’s mother Nanon says in my play:
‘Not to defend this world, but to create a better one.’
Barclay’s work as writer, composer, director and producer ranges from Broadway and The Hollywood Bowl to Buckingham Palace and the Olympic Torch. Having produced or composed music for 130 productions at Shakespeare’s Globe, he is currently artistic director of Concert Theatre Works. MFA Playwriting, Boston University.
Systemic racism in classical music must be addressed.
Black orchestral participation has stubbornly remained under 2%. Bologne is just one example of a minority ethnic composer historically ignored by our orchestras. For concert music to thrive, we must take action to ensure our stages reflect the audiences we seek.
The Chevalier raises money for the National Alliance for Audition Support, an unprecedented national initiative to increase diversity in American orchestras. It offers Black and Latinx musicians mentoring, audition preparation, financial support, and audition previews.
Concert Theatre Works is the first organisation to insist that all our partner orchestras join the National Alliance, making the organisation’s inaugural payment in their name.
Aaron Dworkin of Sphinx
We are building an international coalition.
The Chevalier Fund supports the creation of a new audition alliance with the Chineke! Orchestra, funding auditions for musicians of colour in British and European orchestras.
The Chineke! Foundation was created by Chi-chi Nwanoku OBE in 2015 to provide outstanding career opportunities to established and up-and-coming Black, Asian and ethnically diverse classical musicians in the UK and Europe. Chineke!’s motto is: ‘Championing change and celebrating diversity in classical music’.
The Chevalier Project’s key benefactors include Margaret Casely-Hayford, CBE, Chair of Shakespeare’s Globe.
Why are orchestras not playing music by Black composers?
Bologne has 275 listed compositions, scattered among publishers around the world. They are difficult to find and occasionally expensive or inaccurate.
The Chevalier Fund provides the resources to convene an international coalition of musicologists to digitise, proof, and open-source all of Bologne’s works so that they are free and easy to find for posterity.
This vital work requires funding and participation to succeed.
In collaboration with the Saint-Georges International Music Festival, in Bologne’s birthplace of Guadeloupe.
Conductor Marlon Daniel, director of the Festival Saint-Georges, and a contributing musicologist in a newly edited Complete Works of Joseph Bologne.
An initiative of
Concert Theatre Works
Our Work
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