(Review contributed by Jens F. Laurson of
Ionarts)

Paris
on the Potomac is Washington’s citywide
celebration of French art and culture that will last
until Memorial Day. You might think it unlikely that
Washington can offer an authentic Parisian feel, but
those of us who went to the Corcoran Gallery of
Art‘s Twilight Concert last Sunday had the
chance to be shown otherwise. The Corcoran’s Salon
Doré is a little jewel box of a room, decorated with
gold panels, gilding, and a large ceiling mural. If it
has the feel of stepping into an 18th-century central
European royal chamber, it’s because it is
exactly that: a salon of the Clermont mansion,
commissioned by the Comte d’Orsay in 1770 and
transferred to New York in 1905 before being
bequeathed to the Corcoran. The room alone would be
worth the trip, but a turquoise-blue harpsichord
greeted the audience in this most intimate setting,
indicating musical delight (go to Ionarts for our full
review of this concert).