Les Délices’ 2020-21 Virtual Concert Series comes to a close with our most ambitious video project to date: Machaut’s Lai of the Fountain, a collaboration with Boston’s Blue Heron, which features Machaut’s stunning Lai along with works by Pykini, Ciconia, and others. Lai of the Fountain, together with an upcoming online release from BH entitled Le grant retthorique forms a...
For her first published collection of cantatas, composer Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre (1665-1729) eschewed the traditional subjects of nymphs, goddesses, and trickster gods from Greco-Roman mythology. Instead, she took stories from the Old Testament, focusing almost exclusively on the heroines: Susanna, Esther, Rachel, Jephta’s Daughter, and Judith. It’s unclear what drove this artistic choice but the inherent drama of...
Les Délices' next virtual concert series release, Games & Grounds (available on-demand Feb. 18-Mar. 1), is a potpourri of through-composed fantasias, brilliant ground bass variations, musical versions of Aesop’s timeless fables, and baroque dance. Featured soprano and dancer Elena Mullins will both open and close the program, performing a chaconne from Jean-Baptiste Lully’s opera Phaëton and her original choreography for...
Les Délices continues their innovative all-virtual concert series in February with Games & Grounds. Full of fantasy and flashes of inspiration, Games & Grounds includes Baroque dance, through-composed fantasias, brilliant ground bass variations, and musical versions of Aesop’s timeless fables. Games & Grounds premieres on Les Délices’ Watch Now Page on February 18, 2021 at 7:30pm EST and will include a...
From Schmopera: Witches are people too, and they have relatable issues. Those mythological heavy hitters, Medea and Circé, are the subjects of “Bewitched,” the first installment of Embracing Change, the four-concert virtual season being streamed by the Cleveland-based early music group, Les Délices. Resorting respectively to filicide and transforming men into beasts, these mythic women are nonetheless captivating. Artistic director, Debra...
"'Bewitched,' the first subscription concert of this season by Les Délices, can be summed up in one word: sensational. In her introductory remarks, director Debra Nagy talked about the “Embracing Change” theme of the season and completely rethinking the concert experience for streaming. The detailed planning was in evidence throughout the program. “Bewitched” was not just a concert; it was...
Zachary Lewis spoke with Debra Nagy and longtime Les Délices violinist Julie Andrijeski for this feature for Cleveland.com. "While many early-music groups have struggled in the search for a new normal, Les Delices already has found and avidly pursued its future. The result is “Embracing Change,” a new season of four online programs featuring considered, creative blends of music and video. 'We...
Les Délices Artistic Director Debra Nagy and Bewitched soprano Hannah De Priest joined ClevelandClassical contributor Jarrett Hoffman for a chat "about the experience of recording in person at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights, stepping into the shoes and the vocal cords of those morally ambiguous witches, the role of gender in these stories, favorite Halloween costumes, and one or two...
"I reached out to Les Délices artistic director Debra Nagy to learn more about these three very different programs, but also to talk about the new role she’s taken on for this series: interviewer. And whether you’re Conan O’Brien or Debra Nagy, there’s a lot that goes into that." SalonEra is off and running, continuing into its fourth, fifth, and sixth...
Safety and finances are the two most basic issues facing classical music ensembles embarking on fall concert seasons amid the coronavirus crisis. Then there are matters that go deeper. Can ensembles address the pandemic through their programming? And can they show a commitment to racial diversity, continuing the movement that has gripped the field since the killing of George Floyd? Two Cleveland-based...