A Night in Paris with Jean Cocteau

Step into the world of French musical modernism — from boisterous cafés to the avant-garde spectacle of Sergei Diaghilev’s Parade (1917).
Experience the brilliance of Debussy, Ravel, Poulenc, and Satie.

Piano — Herman Marchasin | Director — Maria Simakova
Producer — Igor Tikhiy

About the performance
A Night in Paris with Jean Cocteau transports the audience into the atmosphere of early 20th-century Paris — a city of daring ideas, cabaret, jazz, and artistic experimentation.
At its center stands Jean Cocteau, poet, playwright, and artist, a cult figure of French modernism. His voice and commentary serve as a guide through an era where word, music, and image merge into a single artistic gesture.

The journey begins with Jacques Offenbach’s legendary Infernal Galop and culminates in Cocteau’s philosophical parable of the poet and death — the film Orpheus (1950).
Along the way, the music and ideas of his friends and collaborators — Erik Satie and the composers of Les Six — come alive, as well as the works of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, who helped shape the musical landscape of French culture at the beginning of the century.

The music of French modernism will be performed by pianist Herman Marchasin.
The production is created by director Maria Simakova and producer Igor Tikhiy.

This is a night where the Paris of avant-garde artists and cabarets comes alive, and the audience witnesses a dialogue of eras — the fusion of music, poetry, and theater.