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Les Délices and soprano Hannah de Priest leave audiences “Starstruck” (Apr. 26)

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by Stephanie Manning

Part season finale, part album release party, Les Délices’ recent “Starstruck” program celebrated both its past and its future.

The group’s latest CD, Arcadian Dreams — released on March 13 — collects a group of pastoral pieces that local audiences heard live in 2024, featuring soprano Hannah de Priest. Last week, de Priest marked the album’s release by returning for “Starstruck,” a program of music exclusively by Georg Frederic Handel. The performances toured Akron and Cleveland Heights before the final rendition on Sunday, April 26, at Rocky River’s West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church.

Les Délices have been more than happy to support the exciting, early career of de Priest, who first met artistic director Debra Nagy as a Case Western Reserve University student and currently works as the group’s communications director. As Nagy put it, Les Délices decided to record a CD with her before anyone else did — and the wisdom of that choice is apparent once you hear her sing.

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Les Délices presents Starstruck: music by a young George Frideric Handel

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by Mike Telin

When you think of music by George Frideric Handel, the first works that come to mind are likely to be his large-scale oratorios such as Messiah, Israel in Egypt, and Solomon.

“People think of Handel’s Gloria as a showpiece for soprano and small ensemble,” Les Délices artistic director Debra Nagy said. “But Silete venti, which is not often heard, is an extraordinary showpiece for a soprano and I think it’s going to be a real thrill to play.”

On Friday, April 24 at 7:30 pm at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Akron, Les Délices will present Starstruck. The all-Handel program highlights the composer’s brilliant chamber music along with dramatic early cantatas brought to life by the magnetic soprano Hannah DePriest. The program will be repeated on Saturday at Heights Theater and Sunday at West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church. Both concerts begin at 4:00 pm, and tickets are available online.

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Les Délices conjures Arcadia in high quality (Oct. 20)

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by Stephanie Manning

Arcadia: that mythological Eden, that utopian natural paradise. The members of Italy’s Arcadian Academy, established in the late 17th century, aimed to replicate that pastoral life via the arts. And on October 20, Les Délices sought to do the same, by performing the music of composers from the Academy and beyond.

“Arcadian Dreams,” a program featuring soprano Hannah De Priest, gave the Harkness Chapel audience a taste of the early music group’s next recording. In fact, the musicians were gearing up to get in the studio the very next day — and they delivered a suitably high-quality performance in the process. [Read more…]

Les Délices to unveil “Arcadian Dreams”

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by Mike Telin

For their latest performance and recording project, Les Délices has turned to the bucolic paradise of Arcadia — a place of pastoral perfection where nature and humanity are in perfect balance  — for inspiration.

“Arcadian Dreams” features works for soprano and chamber ensemble by Jean-Philippe Rameau and a young Georg Frederic Handel, rarely-performed pieces by Louis Lefebvre and Thomas Louis Bourgeois, and music by Arcangelo Corelli and Domenico Scarlatti.

The premiere performances are on Saturday, October 19 at 2:00 pm at the Hudson Library & Historical Society — click here for a seating reservation — and Sunday, October 20 at 7:30 pm at Harkness Chapel. Tickets are available online.

I caught up with Les Délices oboist and artistic director Debra Nagy and soprano Hannah De Priest by Zoom. I began by asking them how the project came about.

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Sneak Preview: Les Délices’ Song of Orpheus (debut Oct. 7)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Les Délices has allowed us an advance look at the first full video program of its new season, Song of Orpheus, which will debut online Thursday, October 7 and remain available on demand through November 6.

The Orpheus myth inspired French Baroque composers Jean-Philippe Rameau and Philippe Courbois to write expressive solo cantatas about the famous Greek musician-poet and his futile attempts — because of his own impatience — to rescue his beloved Eurydice from the grasp of Pluto in the Underworld. These are beautifully performed by the clear-voiced soprano Hannah De Priest and the velvet-throated baritone Jonathan Woody (who makes a walk-on appearance in the Rameau). [Read more…]

Les Délices to premiere Jonathan Woody’s Much Love Betray’d on Orpheus program

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by Mike Telin

No mythological character has inspired musicians more than Orpheus. Legend has it that his music was so powerful that trees and mountains bowed in his presence — his song so beautiful that he convinced the ruler of the underworld to allow him to bring his love Eurydice back from the underworld.  

The legend will be brought to life on Thursday, October 7, when Les Délices debuts “Song of Orpheus” on Marquee TV. The program features rarely-heard cantatas by Jean-Philippe Rameau and Philippe Courbois performed by Hannah De Priest, soprano, Jonathan Woody, baritone, Shelby Yamin, violin, Debra Nagy, oboe, Rebecca Reed, gamba and cello, and Mark Edwards, harpsichord. The program will also include the premiere of Woody’s cantata Much Love Betray’d. The online-only event will remain available on demand through November 6. Click here for tickets.

Woody’s performance resumé includes two national tours with Apollo’s Fire, and appearances as soloist with period groups including the Boston Early Music Festival, Tafelmusik, Trinity Wall Street, New York Polyphony, Bach Collegium San Diego, and New York Baroque Incorporated. But he is also a leader in the historical performance performer/composer movement.

During a recent telephone conversation, Woody said that his dedication to keeping the early music canon alive can be traced back to when he was a student of musicologist and historical performance pioneer Bruce Haynes. “I was lucky enough to have him as a professor at McGill University, and he definitely engendered the mentality that the canon of early music could remain alive, and that we had the power to continue to add to it and make it something that wasn’t just stuck in the past.”

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Les Délices’ SalonEra is back and better than ever for second season

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by Stephanie Manning

Last year, Cleveland’s period ensemble Les Délices dared to be different with their contribution to the world of online concerts: SalonEra. Billed as a “variety show for early music,” the web series’ unique format made it a hit among audience members, director Debra Nagy said in a recent interview.

“One thing we heard over and over again was, ‘regardless of the state of the pandemic, please continue SalonEra.’” The series’ second season, which premieres on September 13, aims to be even more ambitious and exciting than what came before it.

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Les Délices’ Bewitched: “Sensational” Online Concert

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by Timothy Robson

“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 a carefully planned musical film, with elements of drama and music appreciation, all in support of the inspired program choices featuring Medea and Circe, two famous witches (or sorceresses, if you prefer) of classical antiquity. [Read more…]

Les Délices begins Concert Series with “Bewitched” Oct. 22

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by Jarrett Hoffman

There are a couple of reasons why “Bewitched” is a fitting title for the first program in Les Délices’ Concert Series, streaming Thursday, October 22 at 7:30 pm and available on demand until the Closing Reception on Monday, November 2, also at 7:30 — tickets available here.

Not only is Halloween drawing near, and not only will Chicago-based soprano Hannah De Priest sing the roles of two witches in Colin de Blamont’s Circé and Louis-Nicolas Clérambault’s Medée, but in a way, the ensemble hopes to cast a spell with a reenvisioning of the traditional concert format, in particular with the creative use of video and lighting.

In a conference call, I spoke to De Priest and Les Délices director/oboist Debra Nagy 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 possible signature cocktails for the concert.

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An interview about interviewing: Debra Nagy on SalonEra Episodes 4-6

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by Jarrett Hoffman

SalonEra is off and running, continuing into its fourth, fifth, and sixth episodes over the next several weeks with “Strike The Viol” (October 5), “Latin Baroque” (October 19), and “Schubertiade” (November 2).

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.

For Nagy, it starts with a “discovery call” with someone she’d like to bring on the show: “a very open phone call that is maybe as much as an hour long,” she said during our own recent call over Zoom. Of course, she’ll already know in advance what someone’s specialty is, “but also, people surprise me,” she said. From there, and sometimes with a second phone call to further refine a topic, she can begin to weave a web that ties together different discussions and performances (all to be pre-recorded).

During the final taping of each episode, Nagy has enjoyed the challenge inherent in any interview: steering a conversation so that it’s both substantive and concise. The interviewee, of course, plays a part in that as well: both sides have to come together in a sort of dance that’s simultaneously organic and prepared.

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