La Querelle des Bouffons is a musical scandal that rattled Paris in the mid-18th century.  The dispute (literally “the quarrel of the comic actors”) pitted the French composer Jean-Philippe Rameau against philosopher-musician Jean-Jacques Rousseau. What began as an argument over the merits of French opera versus the lighter, more playful Italian comic style…

This concert is an exhibition of 20th- and 21st-century French works, from wunderkind Lili Boulanger to jazz-influenced Guillaume Connesson. Henri Dutilleux brings a pinch of avant-garde flair, a tradition carried on by the ever-experimental Pascal Dusapin. This opening concert captures the threads running through the festival, an invitation to explore the diversity of chamber music, from incidental pieces to the avant-garde…