by Mike Telin
This weekend, Les Délices will present “Cantiques Spirituels — Music for Lent,” a concert that straddles the worlds of private devotion and the public sphere. “What I think is wonderful about this program is the interesting juxtaposition of the texts with the music,” guest soprano Nola Richardson said during a recent telephone conversation. “The texts are quite somber, but the music of Couperin and Charpentier is so elaborate and beautiful.”
On Friday, March 6 at 7:30 in Oberlin College’s Fairchild Chapel, Nola Richardson, soprano, Debra Nagy and Kathie Stewart, recorders and flute, Julie Andrijeski and Scott Metcalfe, violins, Beiliang Zhu, viola da gamba and Michael Sponseller, organ, will perform settings of the Lamentations of Jeremiah by François Couperin and Marc-Antoine Charpentier, as well as works by Pierre Du Mage and Marin Marais.
The program will be repeated on Friday, March 7 at 8:00 pm in St. Peter’s Church in downtown Cleveland, and on Sunday, March 8 at 4:00 in Herr Chapel of Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights. A pre-concert lecture will be given by Peter Bennett beginning at 3:00 on Sunday. [Read more…]