“Bon Appétit!”

Composer Lee Hoiby took Julia Child’s iconic sign-off for her weekly PBS television program, “The French Chef,” as the title for his “comic culinary extravaganza.” The work, composed in 1982 (so Child would have still been alive) and based on transcripts from two of her actual shows, was originally written for Jean Stapleton, as a curtain-raiser for Hoiby’s “The Italian Lesson” (also performed by Stapleton).

This weekend, mezzo-soprano Christine Meadows will appear as Child, as she demonstrates for the audience the creation of L’Éminence Brune, a classic French chocolate cake, as part of a delectably-programmed concert to be presented by Daniel Spalding and the Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra at the Trenton State Museum on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

Filling out the program will be music calculated to delight both palate and ear: Camille Saint-Saëns’ “The Wedding Cake,” Frédéric Chopin’s Etude Op. 25, No. 2 “The Honey Bees,” Scott Joplin’s “Pineapple Rag,” and a suite from Bohuslav Martinu’s ballet, “La revue de cuisine,” a witty examination of romantic entanglements among the kitchen utensils. Artem Tenkeli will be the pianist. The audience is invited to attend a post-concert chocolate cake reception. To learn more, visit https://www.pvco.org/event-list

The primary episode of “The French Chef” adapted by Hoiby

Audio of Jean Stapleton performance at the Kennedy Center in 1991

Stapleton is among the featured celebrities in this broadcast tribute to Child from 1993 that includes some unexpected musical interludes, including a percussion piece for pots and pans, played by members of the Boston Pops, and Garrick Ohlsson and musicians of the Boston Symphony Orchestra performing a movement from Dvořák’s Piano Quintet. Apparently, Julia herself played the bugle, the accordion, and the piano. At 58 minutes in, Diana Rigg shows up to read an erotic panegyric from Child’s husband!

PHOTOS (top to bottom): Stapleton and Hoiby; Child at work on L’Éminence Brune; and mezzo-soprano Christine Meadows