Concert: Le Monde de Verlaine with Morgan Manifacier & Corinne Penner

Join us as we kick off the 2026/2027 cultural season with a unique classical music concert commemorating the work of queer French Symbolist poet Paul Marie Verlaine. French tenor Morgan Manifacier and pianist Corinne Penner have teamed up for an international tour celebrating Verlaine’s influence on classical music, 130 years after his death.

Plein Air Concert: Paris-Douala-Chicago with Suzie Telep

Join us for one last evening of music and rosé in the Alliance’s jewelbox courtyard as we wrap up this summer’s plein air concert series! French‑​Cameroonian vocalist and songwriter Suzie Telep presents Paris–Douala–Chicago: A Jazz & Diaspora Journey, a multilingual concert tracing her musical path between France, Cameroon, and the United States. Blending jazz, soul, French chanson, and Afro‑diasporic traditions, she sings in French, English, Basaa, Creole, and more, weaving rhythm and storytelling into an intimate, cross‑cultural experience.

Director Talk: Flamboyants! with Florient Jousse

This fall, Réunionese cross-disciplinary theater and performance group Tilawcis Collective travels to Chicago to present Flamboyants!: a major multilingual musical-theater performance connecting Réunion Island, New Orleans, and Puerto Rico. Join us for a special evening with director Florient Jousse, who’ll take us behind the scenes of this ambitious project that blends documentary theater, music, and performance to weave a vibrant dialogue between territories shaped by shared histories of colonization, slavery, and cultural resistance.

Art Talk: Pierre Bismuth's Love Bless America

Join us for a special behind-the-scenes look at the University of Chicago Neubauer Collegium’s fall exhibition Love Bless America, featuring new work by Brussels-based French conceptual artist and filmmaker Pierre Bismuth.

Lecture: Americans in Paris with Robbie Ellis

Join comedy songmaker, music director, composer, and WFMT host Robbie Ellis for a musical history of Americans who have called Paris home. This immersive lecture features music by everyone from Mozart to Jay-Z; appearances from George Gershwin, Josephine Baker, Jackie Kennedy, and more; and plenty of biting quotes from Mark Twain.

Concert: The Bridge #2.11—ConstelNation

In partnership with Villa Albertine, the Alliance is thrilled to welcome back transatlantic network for creative music The Bridge for their final installment: tour #2.11, ConstelNation. This special free jazz performance celebrating 13 years of musical exchange between French and North American musicians will feature Chicagoans Angel Bat Dawid and Nick Macri alongside French artists Magic Malik, Toma Gouband, and Richard Comte.

Concert: Rediscovering Marguerite Canal, Compositrice Extraordinaire

The Alliance is honored to host a rare performance of work by an extraordinary French composer, whose work has been forgotten—erased, even—by history. Duo partners for nearly two decades, Sara Su Jones and Tatyana Stepanova have given recitals at the Harvard Club of New York as well as in Reykjavik and Washington, DC. Their eclectic, creative programs highlight striking but little-known works, and Sara Su’s insightful commentary and storytelling enliven the duo’s performances.