French Students Celebrate Poetry, Song, Food in Belmont Mansion

Dr. Cheryl Brown, professor of French, organized a soirée francophone on Feb. 26 in the Belmont Mansion for Belmont French students. Professor Laure Bordas-Isner and Brown welcomed students and faculty to an evening celebration of the French-speaking world through poetry, song and food. The evening included performances of French and Québécois songs by students including traditional Québécois fiddle tunes, a song from the film Amélie played on the accordion, a song from “Massenet’s Manon,” Piaf’s La Vie en rose, et Jacques Brel’s Ne me quitte pas as well as a song by popular Québécois singer Coeur de pirate. Dr. Cynthia Cox, associate professor of English, read the moral to Perrault’s Le Petit Chaperon rouge (Little Red Riding Hood) in French, and Dr. Cynthia Bisson, instructor of history, read two of the more romantic letters that Napoléon I wrote to Joséphine.