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Les Délices: a conversation with Mark Edwards about performing J.S. Bach’s Musical Offering

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by Daniel Hathaway

One of the few documented face-to-face encounters with Johann Sebastian Bach produced one of his most intriguing works. The Musical Offering is the subject of the opening concerts of Les Délice’s new season, which will be performed on Thursday, October 1 at 7:30 pm at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Akron, on Saturday, October 3 at 7:30 pm in Gamble Auditorium at Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, and on Sunday, October 4 at 3:00 pm in Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

As artistic director Debra Nagy writes in her program notes, “The story goes like this: On May 7, 1747, J.S. Bach was visiting his son Carl Philipp in Potsdam, where he was invited to an audience with the Prussian King, Frederick the Great. A devoted musical amateur, the King hoped to impress — and perhaps intimidate — the great Bach. To begin, the King showed off his recently-acquired Silbermann fortepianos. He then proposed that Bach improvise a three-voice ricercar on a theme of the King’s own invention.” [Read more…]

Les Délices’ 2026 season: poets, prodigies, musical games, timelessness, and festivity

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by Mike Telin

Les Délices kicks off their new season on September 19 at 7:30 pm at The Treelawn Music Hall. The ensemble’s signature program, The Poet & the Prodigy includes music by C.P.E. Bach and Georg Philipp Telemann along with Baroque-era titans François Couperin and J.S. Bach. Reserve your free pay-what-you-can ticket here.

“Treeland Music Hall is a new venue in the Waterloo Arts & Entertainment District and I’m excited about performing there,” Les Délices’ artistic director Debra Nagy said during a recent telephone conversation.

She added that while The Poet & the Prodigy has been expanded from the original version, it’s still fundamentally about J.S.Bach and François Couperin.

[Read more…]

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.

[Read more…]

Les Délices presents Edwards & Yamin in Marianne Mozart-era music at CMA (Mar. 22)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Whatever happened to the siblings of famous musicians?

That’s a particularly interesting question in the case of Marianne Mozart, Wolfgang Amadé’s beloved sister, nicknamed Nannerl, who in her youth was highly regarded as a pianist and composer, but whose works have completely disappeared.

On March 22  at the Cleveland Museum of Art, Les Délices honored the music of Mozart’s sister in its absence with a fascinating recital of music by women composers from her era performed by fortepianist Mark Edwards and violinist Shelby Yamin.

Edwards is a celebrated harpsichordist and organist on the faculty of the Oberlin Conservatory, but this performance marked his public debut as a fortepianist, as well as his inaugural appearance as a duo with Yamin.

[Read more…]

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.

[Read more…]

World premiere of “La Diosa” leads Les Délices to Latin America (Feb. 28)

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By Peter Feher

There’s something sacred about the female voice. And while the title of “La Divina” has already been claimed, today’s sopranos might still aspire to a similar status — “La Diosa,” perhaps.

That’s the self-assertion made early on in Soy La Diosa (“I Am the Goddess”), a prophetic new piece by composer Gilda Lyons. The work’s soloist delivers this phrase after detailing, in alternate Spanish and English lyrics, the various guises her spirit can take: “messenger,” “creator,” “warrior,” “protector,” “shadow,” and “song.” Naturally, such shape-shifting calls for a comparable array of vocal techniques, everything from whoops to whispers to full-throated high notes.

Only a confident performer could embody these powerfully clashing roles, and soprano Estelí Gomez was in her element singing the world premiere of Lyons’ score on Saturday, February 28, at the Heights Theater. If the afternoon felt vaguely out of time and place — with the period instrumentalists of Les Délices not just accompanying but commissioning this contemporary endeavor — then ethereal aims accomplished.

[Read more…]

Soprano Estelí Gomez and composer Gilda Lyons collaborate on Les Délices’ “La Diosa”

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by Stephanie Manning

The Venn diagram of performers who love early music and those who love new music is closer to a circle than one might think. Take soprano Estelí Gomez, who is as likely to appear on a Baroque program as she is on a contemporary one.

“One of the reasons people love doing both is that the composer has a lot of excitement for and trust in the performer,” Gomez said in a recent interview.

From the composer’s perspective, that idea of artistic freedom is “wonderfully liberating,” Gilda Lyons said in that same Zoom call. While research is important, “I’m never going to know as much as the performers do about their specific instrument. So I’m going to leave space for them to be the artists that they are.”

[Read more…]

Les Délices welcomes the festive season with “Noel, Noel” (Dec. 7)

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by Stephanie Manning

Once December kicks in, an almost overwhelming number of holiday programs pop up around Northeast Ohio. But Les Délices’ offering should draw your attention.

While other festive concerts may create the atmosphere of a bustling party by the fireplace, “Noel, Noel” is like observing a snowy evening from the warmth of the indoors. This is music best enjoyed in quiet contentment, and especially live — so it’s no surprise that the early music ensemble brought back this signature program for three performances this month.

On December 7 at West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church, the six-member group presented a lovely ninety-minute program, which is also available on CD and via streaming until the end of the year. [Read more…]

Les Délices’ elaborate, entertaining Aesop Project (Nov. 22)

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by Peter Feher

In the 1670s, Louis XIV commissioned a series of 39 fountains for the Gardens of Versailles, each modeled on a story from Aesop’s Fables and intended for the education of the king’s young son, the Dauphin.

The Aesop Project, the latest community offering from Les Délices and artistic director Debra Nagy, is slightly less ornate but just as inspired. Cleveland’s ever-resourceful period chamber ensemble partnered with local puppeteers and poets for this family-friendly program teaching music and morals.

After touring Northeast Ohio schools earlier in the week, the project received a public performance at the CMA Community Arts Center on Saturday morning, November 22. Children, parents, and committed patrons of early music sat down for the 35-minute show, surrounded by spectacular displays of costumes and props from the Cleveland Museum of Art’s annual Parade the Circle celebration. [Read more…]

[VIDEO] Les Délices debuts The Aesop Project

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by Stephanie Manning

This isn’t the first time Les Délices has brought puppets to the party. Following up on their 2022 Baroque opera The White Cat, the ensemble will present The Aesop Project in Cleveland and Akron on November 22.

The free, family-friendly program features puppets created by Ian Petroni, who talks about the design process in the video below. Soprano Elena Mullins Bailey also shares her thoughts on the new narration, written by local Ohio poet laureate Dave Lucas.

The Aesop Project will be presented at 11:30 am on November 22 at the CMA Community Arts Center, 2937 W. 25th St, Cleveland. Arrive at 10:30 am to join the art-making activities. Les Délices will then repeat the program at 3:30 pm that same day at the Akron Public Library Main Branch, 60 S. High St., Akron.

Watch the video below and find it on Instagram and Facebook. [Read more…]

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