“When it comes to early music and period performance, we feel a big responsibility to seed the future,” said Debra Nagy, artistic director of Les Délices. “We’re excited about what they offer young people.”

The centerpiece of Les Délices’s big week is “The Aesop Project,” a new theatrical production based on the acclaimed fables. Les Delices will present the show twice, in Cleveland and Akron.

Using a new script by Ohio poet laureate Dave Lucas, a composite score of music by Biber and Telemann, and puppets by Ian Petroni (some of which Les Delices patrons may recognize from 2022’s “The White Cat”), Les Délices will invite children to follow along as a group of animals gathers together and tells stories.

Four of the most famous Aesop tales – and the morals of the stories – will get their due, including “The Ant and the Grasshopper,” “The Hare and the Tortoise,” “The Lion and the Rat,” and “The “Tortoise and the Eagle.” Mariah Burks will narrate while Nagy, an oboist, directs soprano Elena Mullins Bailey, violinist Shelby Yamin, cellist Rebecca Landell, and harpsichordist Mark Edwards.