by Stephanie Manning
In the same way that 21st-century music lovers might display their CD collection, more than 500 years ago, Isabella d’Este inlaid her favorite music in her wall.
That piece — Johannes Ockeghem’s Prenez sur moi — kicked off Les Délices’s recent program “Isabella’s Renaissance,” which celebrated the achievements of the renowned 15th-century art patron. Whether by patronage, performance, or study, the music on this hour-long concert was connected in some way to the Marchioness of Mantua.
The evening’s six sections each included two to three pieces, often sandwiching instrumental works in between vocal ones for a sense of balance. Smooth and simple stage changes led the audience at Lakewood Presbyterian Church on April 22 to instinctively hold their applause until the end of each section.
Clarinetist Anthony McGill brought star power to the Cleveland Chamber Music Society on March 28. In a concert that was all about singing — that, in fact, included two pieces with soprano — McGill stood out as the most prominent voice.
When the Cleveland Composers Guild added the requirement of writing a vocal piece to its collegiate composition contest in 2019 and generated only a single entry — impressive as that piece was — the idea was born for dedicating an entire year to vocal music.