01 Aug Blog: O’er the Hills and Far Away

Before we kick off our 2025-26 Concert Series Metamorphosis, Les Délices is bringing a new, FREE program to NEO audiences on September 13th at the Cleveland Public Library Main Branch and on September 16th at Cuyahoga Valley National Park’s Happy Days Lodge. We’ll also perform at Lorain Community College on their Signature Series on Monday September 15.

This uplifting new program brings together 18th century Scottish ballad tunes with songs of the Great Lakes and the Ohio-Erie Canal that crossed the Atlantic and traveled up through the Cuyahoga Valley to Lake Erie in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries. The featured artists for O’er the Hills and Far Away are: Tyler Duncan (baritone), Debra Nagy (oboe and recorders), Shelby Yamin (violin), Rebecca Landell (cello), and Brian Kay (guitar).

O’er the Hills is all about music and migration: imagining the sounds and strains echoing first across the Atlantic and then across the hills and valleys as young men left the old world for the new, went to war fighting for freedom, and ventured west in search of independence and opportunity. Along the way, audiences will hear both famous and little-known tunes (including the earliest published version of Yanky Doodle Dandy and a tribute to the Marquis de Lafayette set to Auld Lang Syne) that not only lift our spirits but give us plenty to think about.

Putting this new program together has meant many hours of research for Artistic Director Debra Nagy. She says, “Not only have I been reading about early American history, westward expansion, the canal era, and more, but I have also been uniting historical lyrics with music, tracing early versions of tunes, reconstructing melodies, and composing arrangements. I’ve also benefited from conversations with KSU Associate Professor of History Kim Gruenwald [pictured right], who will share a special pre-concert talk at the CVNP performance of O’er the Hills and Far Away that will provide additional historical context for this wonderful free concert!”

Event Details

Saturday, September 13, 2025 at 2:00 pm
FREE performance hosted by Music at Main
Cleveland Public Library Main Branch
325 Superior Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44114

Monday, September 15, 2025 at 7:30 pm
FREE performance presented by LCCC Signature Series
Stocker Arts Center at Lorain County Community College
1005 N. Abbe Road
Elyria, OH 44054

Tuesday, September 16, 2025 at 7:00 pm
FREE performance hosted by the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Pre-concert talk with KSU Associate Professor of History Kim Gruenwald at 6:00 PM in the Happy Days screened-in porch
Happy Days Lodge at CVNP
500 West Streetsboro Street/State Route 303
Peninsula, OH 44264