Vocal and Piano Recital

Sunday, September 13, 2026, at 4:00 PM

Danaé Matuz-Echaiz, mezzo-soprano

Magali Natalizio, pianist

This recital spotlights the immense and multifaceted talents of Pauline Viardot (1821–1910), who was simultaneously an adored prima donna, a visionary composer, a virtuoso pianist, and the inspiring muse to the greatest creative minds of her era—from George Sand to Turgenev, Chopin, and Fauré.

The story of this musical dynasty, the Garcia family, resonates deeply in Brussels. Pauline Viardot’s older sister, the celebrated diva Maria Malibran, lived in Ixelles. Together with the love of her life, the violinist Charles-Auguste de Bériot, she commissioned a grand, beautiful residence—today the Ixelles Town Hall—and now rests in a magnificent mausoleum at the Laeken Cemetery.

This intimate concert revives the free and vibrant spirit of the musical salon Pauline Viardot hosted just outside Paris, presented through her own art songs alongside works from her artistic inner circle.

Program

Arias and art songs by Pauline Viardot, Manuel García, Franz Liszt, Gabriel Fauré, Camille Saint-Saëns, Gioachino Rossini, Robert Schumann, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and others.