07 Jul Press Release: Les Délices Announces 2022-23 Season

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

With an ambitious slate of four concert series programs and multiple regional and national tours, Les Délices’ 2022-23 season represents an enthusiastic recommitment to in-person performances in Cleveland, Lakewood, and Akron. After a two-year focus on outstanding virtual offerings, LD is eager to renew its connections with audiences in NE Ohio and beyond while maintaining a commitment to accessibility and high-quality recorded content through its award-winning webseries, SalonEra. Says Executive Director Laura Wiegand:

“What audience members gained from our virtual programs over the last two years was an up-close and personal experience with our artists and repertoire. We heard from patrons again and again how much they appreciated this new perspective and we hope to replicate that feeling of closeness and connection in our live programs this year.”

In the years since its founding, Les Délices has steadily broadened  its musical horizons and is celebrated for its unusually experimental programming. In its 2022-23 season, Les Délices will champion an exceptionally wide-range of music from the early Renaissance to the present day with signature panache and a slew of internationally-acclaimed guest artists.

Founder and Artistic Director Debra Nagy adds, “I strive  to bring audiences music that they won’t hear anywhere else, but there is more to it – and more in it for audiences – than that. The concepts underlying the programming are deeply meaningful (our Classical chamber music program Winds of Change, for instance, takes inspiration from the French and Haitian Revolutions) and we have unique opportunities to bring performers from around the country and the world who not only specialize in this music but who passionately and generously share their artistry.”

Les Délices’ season begins October 21-23, 2022 with performances of Winds of Change, an all–instrumental program of riveting Classical Era chamber music previously released on MarqueeTV as a filmed concert. At the heart of the program is a commissioned work, A Journey to Freedom,  inspired by the history and current turmoil in composer Sydney Guillaume’s native Haiti. Winds of Change also spotlights the virtuosic talents of flutist Emi Ferguson (pictured left) and lesser-known 18th-century music by French-Caribbean composer Joseph Bologne, Karl Bochsa, and Luigi Boccherini. Later in the season, Les Délices will take this program on tour, presented by Arizona Early Music and New York City’s Music Before 1800.

December 2-4, 2022 brings Rejoice: Bach Cantatas for Advent, a rare opportunity for Northeast Ohio audiences to experience world-class performances of Bach cantatas on period instruments. “While it’s not repertoire that I’ve traditionally pursued with Les Délices, Bach is a real specialty of mine,” commented Nagy. “By turns brilliant, spiritual, and deeply expressive, it’s tremendously satisfying to perform his cantatas one-per-part as chamber music.”  This program  brings together an incredible team of singers including baritone Jean Bernard Cerin (pictured right) and local favorite soprano Amanda Powell, and instrumentalists performing J.S. Bach’s Schwingt freudig euch empor (BWV 36) and Nun komm der Heiden Heiland (BWV 62) in three unique sacred spaces in Lakewood, Cleveland Heights, and Akron.

February 24-26, 2023, LD presents a program of French baroque cantatas featuring “radiant” soprano Sherezade Panthaki in her Les Délices debut. As Cleveland falls into the grips of a long winter, we invite audiences to an Enchanted Island where music by Clérambault, Montécleair, and Rameau evokes lush, magical climes. Nagy adds, “I’m thrilled to create Enchanted Island with Sherry. Opportunities to hear (or perform) this French Baroque repertoire are few and far between, yet the music is transcendent and transporting. Sherry is an exquisite singer and will carry our audiences away to another world in this program.”

Les Délices closes its season April 21-23, 2023 with a fascinating new program of Renaissance music featuring international guest artist Anna Danilevskaia, (vielle player and director of Basel-based Sollazzo Ensemble) alongside favorite collaborators Scott Metcalfe of Blue Heron and soprano Elena Mullins. Isabella’s Renaissance is inspired by Isabella d’Este, the “First Lady of the Renaissance,” whose patronage supported the careers of beloved Renaissance writers, painters, and musicians. This program features music by late-15th century masters Busnois, Agricola, Josquin, and others.

In addition to its flagship concert series, Les Délices will present a 3rd season of SalonEra, its acclaimed webseries highlighting hidden facets of the classical music repertoire. Look for an announcement detailing changes to this innovative series later this summer.

Concert subscriptions ($125-200) and Single Tickets ($28-$45) will go on sale via Les Délices’ website (www.lesdelices.org) on August 22, 2022.

2022-23 CONCERT SERIES PROGRAMS

Winds of Change, Oct. 21-23, 2022
An all-instrumental chamber program for Classical-Era instruments

Les Délices’ acclaimed concert Winds of Change leaps from the screen to the stage this October featuring virtuoso flutist Emi Ferguson. Join Les Délices for this all-instrumental program of riveting chamber works from the eve of the French and Haitian Revolutions. Inspired by philosophical ideals of liberty and equality and early abolitionist writing, we pair Classical Era works by Joseph Bologne Chevalier de St. Georges and Luigi Boccherini with Haitian composer Sydney Guillaume’s commission A Journey to Freedom.

Rejoice: Bach Cantatas for Advent, Dec. 2-4, 2022
Joyous cantatas by J.S. Bach performed by an all-star group of singers and instrumentalists. 

By turns joyous and introspective, virtuosic and lyrical, Bach’s brilliant Advent cantatas Schwingt freudig euch empor (BWV 36) and Nun komm der Heiden Heiland (BWV 62) pair heartfelt sacred texts with soaring strings, brilliant oboes, and the crystalline texture of one-per-part voices. An all-star cast of vocalists and period instrumentalists brings Bach’s unique compositional voice to vivid life. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to hear Bach’s cantatas live in Cleveland!

Enchanted Island, Feb. 24-26, 2023
Soprano Sherezade Panthaki sings Rameau, Clérambault and Montéclair

“Radiant” soprano Sherezade Panthaki debuts with Les Délices for a sumptuous program of French baroque cantatas that celebrates the sensuous abundance of nature. Louis-Nicolas Clérambault’s lush soundscapes instead transport us to the Isle of Delos where rippling waves, rustling leaves, tender breezes, and birdsong fills the air, Montéclair’s beguiling Pan and Syrinx recounts the famous tale of the wood nymph transformed into singing reeds, and scenes from Rameau’s The Enchanted Lyre complete the program.

Isabella’s Renaissance, Apr. 21-23, 2023
Featuring international guest artist Anna Danilevskaia 

Inspired by flowering humanism and flourishing arts under the patronage of the “First Lady of the Renaissance” Isabella D’Este (1474-1539), we feature international guest artist Anna Danilevskaia (dir. Solazzo Ensemble) with favorite collaborators Scott Metcalfe and Elena Mullins in music by late-15th century masters  Busnois, Agricola, Josquin, and others.