Join Les Bougies Baroques (in collaboration with Cricklewood Library & Friends of Gladstone Park) as they take you on an 18th-century journey (in the form of a donation-based charity event benefitting the National Black Arts Alliance [registered charity 1065810] – to whom you can donate either via PayPal or by getting in touch directly, both through the following e-mail address: baa@blackartists.org.uk) featuring the music of Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799) – who was a composer, champion fencer, virtuoso violinist, and conductor of the Concert de la Loge Olympique (the leading symphony orchestra in Paris at the time).

Born in the French colony of Guadeloupe, Joseph Bologne was the son of George Bologne de Saint-Georges (a wealthy married planter) and Anne (dite Nanon), his wife’s African slave. After being taken to France to be educated there by his father, Bologne would go on to become a champion fencer and lead the first all-black regiment in Europe (the Légion St.-Georges) as colonel on the side of the French Republic…