Festival de la Francophonie • Concert: Cadill'Rock

Come on out for a family-friendly classic rock concert exploring the shared heritage of France and the Great Lakes region!

Cadill’Rock, a group of musicians from Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac’s hometown of St-Nicolas-de-la-Grave, France, will lead us on a musical journey in the footsteps of the founder of Detroit and Governor of the Louisiana Territory - which included Illinois!

The concert will be punctuated by an engaging visual visual history lesson from Rendez-Vous Detroit’s John Cooper.

This program is designed for elementary and middle-school aged children and their families.

Guests are invited to enjoy a post-performance reception in the Eleanor Wood Prince Salon featuring complimentary refreshments and a thematic craft activity facilitated by the AF-Chicago Youth Programs team.

Doors at 4:30 p.m. Concert at 5:00. Please enter via 54 W Chicago Ave.

About Cadill’Rock

Photo credit: Xavier Coron

Xavier Coron is the founder of Cadill’Rock. He is passionate about teaching the shared heritage of France and the United States, and is motivated to take inspiration from—and follow in the footsteps of—Cadillac in North America. His message of positivity and to dare to endeavor out of the ordinary is especially aimed at young people, no matter what challenges may be present. His musical approach ranges from one acoustic guitar in a classroom setting~~,~~ to amplified volume on a stage with 5,000 marchers at the La Marche du Nain Rouge parade in Detroit.

About John Cooper

John Cooper

Trained as an engineer at Carnegie Mellon University, John Cooper experienced his first linguistic immersion during an exchange program in Lausanne, Switzerland. Upon graduation, John worked in Montreal for two years, gaining an appreciation for Francophone Canadian language and culture. For the last 40 years, he has worked in the automobile industry living in Detroit, Japan, France, Germany, and China. \

Since 2007, John is active in the Club Richelieu, the Francophone social/service club in Windsor, Ontario, (border city with Detroit) where he has taken on the personal mission of creating synergy between the significant communities of Francophones/Francophiles on both sides of the river.\

John is co-founder of Rendez-vous Détroit, a non-profit organization whose mission is to increase awareness and appreciation of the French legacy of the Detroit River Region in order to help its renaissance in the 21 st century.

In 2022, John was named Chevalier of the Order of National Merit by the French Republic.

Xavier and John met during a conference that John gave in St-Nicolas-de-la-Grave in 2019. Their objective is to share French history and cultural heritage in the US. 

Getting Here

The Alliance Française de Chicago is one block from the CTA Chicago Red Line stop. The closest bus routes are the 22 on Clark St and the 66 on Chicago Ave.