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Les Délices to present
“Concertos Comiques”

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by Mike Telin

CorretteFinding ways to circumvent rules has always been a popular pastime. It has also often inspired creative genius. When Louis XIV put a stranglehold on entertainments such as opera and theater by enforcing rules designed to secure official monopolies, non-court composers and playwrights countered with Fair Theaters (Théâtre de la Foire), low-cost performances on the outskirts of Paris. The satirical plots regularly mocked the pretentiousness of the bourgeois by featuring servants who were far more intelligent than their bosses, or by poking fun at old men who chased after young girls.

On Saturday, May 7 at 8:00 pm at the Bop Stop and Sunday, May 8 at 4:00 pm at Plymouth Church, Les Délices will present Concertos Comiques. The program will include works by Michel Corrette, Francesco Corbetta, Joseph Bodin de Boismortier, and Jean-Joseph Mouret, performed by Debra Nagy (oboe), Julie Andrijeski and Scott Metcalfe (violins), Josh Lee (viola da gamba), and Simon Martyn-Ellis (theorbo and baroque guitar). [Read more…]

Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas
at Harkness Chapel, CWRU (April 17)

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by Mike Telin

dido-aeneas-4When talented young conservatory students are given permission to unleash their creativity, wonderful things can happen. A case in point is Jason Goldberg’s imaginative production of Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, which received area performances on April 15 and 16 at Fairchild Chapel on the campus of Oberlin College, and on April 17 at Case Western Reserve University’s Harkness Chapel (which I attended). From start to finish the production vividly captured all of the opera’s action, magic, love, and heartbreak. [Read more…]

Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas directed by Jason Goldberg to be performed at Oberlin and CWRU

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by Mike Telin & Daniel Hautzinger

GoldbergDirecting an opera is an enormous task. “Opera equals nuclear fusion,” said Jonathon Field, Director of Opera Theatre at the Oberlin Conservatory. But Jason Goldberg, a fifth-year student majoring in vocal performance and opera directing at Oberlin Conservatory, isn’t afraid of the challenge.

On April 15 and 16 at 8:00 pm in Oberlin’s Fairchild Chapel and on April 17 at 3:00 pm in Case Western Reserve University’s Harkness Chapel, Goldberg will present his production of Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, a student-led project in collaboration with CWRU. [Read more…]

Apollo’s Fire: “A Harlequin Romance” at Maltz Performing Arts Center (April 9)

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by Daniel Hathaway

playerAndrijeski_dancing_700x475 4.17.27 PMApollo’s Fire brought baroque dance in both its noble and theatrical styles to its engaging program, “A Harlequin Romance” at the Maltz Performing Arts Center in University Circle on Saturday evening, April 9. Dancers Julie Andrijeski and Steven Player were the headliners, but concertmaster Olivier Brault also got into the act, as did several orchestra members in an encore. [Read more…]

Apollo’s Fire: “A Harlequin Romance” — Julie Andrijeski & Steven Player talk about dance

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by Daniel Hathaway

Player-AndrijeskiWhen Apollo’s Fire presents four performances this weekend of “A Harlequin Romance,” its final show of the season, Julie Andrijeski and Steven Player, who have made brief appearances as dancers with the orchestra in the past, will play a more central role in exploring both noble and popular forms of baroque movement to corresponding music by Georg Philipp Telemann.

“This is the rare occasion when I’ll be dancing in more than a cameo role,” said Andrijeski, who can usually be spotted playing violin in Apollo’s Fire. We spoke by telephone during a break in her rehearsals with Player last week.

“Steve and I will mostly be dancing this time but also playing violin and guitar a little bit. There’ll be two different type of dances: a set of the more noble dances to Telemann’s Don Quixote Suite in the first half, then in the second half we’ll be dancing to the Overture Burlesque, which is more of a commedia dell’arte presentation. [Read more…]

Les Délices to hold Ohio City residency from March 17—20

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by Mike Telin

LesDelicesPopUp2Les Délices, Cleveland’s period instrument ensemble specializing in French Baroque music, will settle into Ohio City beginning on Thursday, March 17 for a weekend full of free events. As a resident of the neighborhood, Artistic director Debra Nagy feels strongly about reaching out to Cleveland’s Near-West Side community. “The primary goals for the residency are to build awareness of chamber music performance, expand the group’s West-Side audience, and increase visibility for Cleveland artists,” Nagy said in an interview.

The ensemble’s residency also celebrates Early Music Month, devised by Early Music America. Nagy, who is an EMA board member, explained that the month is designed to draw attention to the quantity, breadth, and richness of the country’s early music scene. [Read more…]

Les Délices: “Folly of Youth” at Harkness Chapel, CWRU (Feb. 20)

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by Christine Jay

Rubens-fall-of-phaetonDoing stupid things when young is natural. Two epic failures in youth — alas, fatal ones — are found in the myths of Icarus and Phaeton. Both are ambitious teenagers, their unrelenting and unchecked egos inducing catastrophe. Although similarly bold, the Les Délices program titled “Folly of Youth” at Case Western Reserve University’s Harkness Chapel on February 20 delighted and enthralled, with no signs of godly demise. [Read more…]

Understanding Spiritual Nationality: Apollo’s Fire — Sephardic Journey (Feb. 5)

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by Christine Jay

sephardic_group_700One of the most remarkable elements of mankind is its ability to endure. History is filled with stories of people struggling, failing, succeeding, and surviving, but few have endured the centuries of exile and forced displacement experienced by the Jews. Performing an inspired program devised by artistic director Jeannette Sorrell, soprano Nell Snaidas, baritone Jeffrey Strauss, and cellist René Schiffer, Apollo’s Fire gave a sensational concert on February 5 at St. Paul’s Church in Cleveland Heights. [Read more…]

Galante Experiments: Les Délices in “The Age of Indulgence” at Plymouth Church (Nov. 8)

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by Nicholas Jones

Les-Delices-3The truism holds that French aristocrats before the Revolution danced time away in utter complacency, refusing to change in the face of the inevitable. The image is probably true with respect to most things that would have mattered to those who stormed the Bastille. But in the world of music, things were changing decades before the Revolution. Writing within a framework of courtly elegance that would have pleased Marie Antoinette, composers were also pushing the boundaries of their music with wit, irony, turmoil, and glimmers of Romantic self-consciousness. [Read more…]

Apollo’s Fire: Splendor of Venice at Fairmount Presbyterian (October 16)

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by Daniel Hathaway

AF-Olivier-JeannetteVenice, always on the verge of sinking into the Adriatic, rose well above sea level on Friday evening at Fairmount Presbyterian Church in Cleveland Heights as Apollo’s Fire began its 24th season with “Splendor of Venice: An Orchestral Extravaganza.” Following a parade by the musicians up the center aisle heralded by natural horns on either side of the stage, founder and conductor Jeannette Sorrell announced in her opening remarks that she would play the role of Rick Steves that night, taking the audience on a musical tour of 18th-century Venice. [Read more…]

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