Join us at FIAF Montclair for a special Francophonie edition of Rendez-Vous!

The evening will kick off with an opening reception from 6-7pm for the exhibition Temporal Perception by French-Algerian artist Serge Hamad.

From 7-9pm, enjoy live performances, food, wine, and conversation en français. Dan Zanes & Claudia Eliaza, and Violette will perform songs in Haitian-Creole and French. A selection of delicious Haïtian snacks, French charcuterie, cheese, bread, and wine will be served.

• About the Artist & Performers

  • Serge Hamad
    Serge started practicing photography at a very young age. In the mid-eighties, he used both video and photography as a media to cover war-zones and inform about sociopolitical situations in Iraq and the Balkans. From 2010, Serge Hamad has dedicated his time mainly to fine art photography. Since then, his work has been exhibited at several galleries in the US as well as internationally in over 18 countries. Venues include the Samsung Art Collection and the Artspace. The Lumas platform represents his work as well as Paddle 8, Artsy, Christie’s London, and Robert Wilson’s Water Mill Foundation. Learn more here.

    Violette
    Born in Paris but raised in Ars-en-Re, a small village on an island off the French Atlantic Coast, and now making her home in Brooklyn, NY, singer-songwriter Violette began her musical journey at an early age, taking up the piano at five and later learning percussion while at a Parisian Conservatory. Her musical endeavors were clearly colored by influences from such French luminaries as Jacques Brel and Edith Piaf but quickly found her tastes and palette ranging much farther than her home. Soon her speakers were filled with the sounds of Ella Fitzgerald, Stevie Wonder, and Michael Jackson, all artists whose sound would have a hand in the development of her sophisticated pop sound. Learn more here.

    Dan Zanes & Claudia Eliaza
    Grammy award winning children’s performer Dan Zanes and Haitian-American music therapist / jazz vocalist Claudia Eliaza have been making music with each other since the day they met in the fall of 2016. They decided to continue singing together and, in the spirit of progress and inclusion, frequently work with presenters to try and make all of their concerts sensory friendly. Inspired by their artful modern-day all-ages folk music and commitment to accessibility, the Kennedy Center commissioned them to create a theater piece for young audiences. Night Train 57: A Sensory Friendly Comic Folk Opera premiered in October 2017 and has been performed several times since. Their love of songs and communal music-making resulted in a songbook entitled Dan Zanes’ House Party: A Family Roots Music Treasury, which was released in late 2018. This has opened the doors to many new conversations with parents, educators, music therapists, and fellow musicians about how to work together to create a healthier, more musical (and ultimately, more festive), society. Claudia and Dan have continued to bring their music to family shows, school workshops, community sing alongs, and folk festivals throughout the U.S. and into Canada, taking their commitment to accessibility and inclusion with them wherever they go. And — the icing on the cake — in the midst of it all they got married! Learn more here.