James Reese and Brandon Acker invite audiences into the intimate and emotionally charged world of the airs de cour, the “songs of the court” that captivated France in the early 1600s. Heard in royal chambers and private homes, these supremely elegant songs were the pop music of French royalty. Both refined and personal, airs de cour pair solo voice with a lute in simple, direct expressions of poetry, revealing a world of longing, tenderness, wit, and heartbreak. These songs are far from distant historical artifacts; they feel modern in their emotional honesty. In this concert, Acker and Reese offer a rare opportunity to connect face-to-face with composers, singers, and poets from hundreds of years ago, whose songs and poetry express all the things that still make us human today.