Douce France

About

Douce France is a chanson evening led by Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter with a small ensemble. The concert offers a personal, nuanced journey through the chanson tradition, balancing intimate salon colors with jazz-inflected elegance. Carefully crafted arrangements for accordion, guitar, piano, and violin create an atmosphere that is tender, melancholic, and at times wry. The program traverses French and Berlin song legacies to present a stylistically varied portrait of 20th‑century song. As a counterpoint to the festival’s large-scale opera productions, this evening highlights storytelling, text, and mood through classic chanson forms, revealing the expressive range of von Otter’s artistry.