Fri 10/21 @ 7:30PM
Sat 10/22 @ 7:30PM
Sun 10/23 @ 4PM
Cleveland-based chamber ensemble Les Délices kicks off its first full live season since the before-times with a series of three concerts in Akron, Cleveland’s University Circle and Rocky River.
Dubbed Winds of Change, the program, which they’d previously performed virtually as a limited-time on demand concert, will again feature flute player Emi Ferguson, joining the ensemble live to perform works based on the ideas of freedom and equality that drove the Haitian and French revolutions of the late 18th century.
The music performed will include pieces by composers from the Classical era, contemporary with those revolutions, including Joseph Bologne Chevalier de St. Georges and Luigi Boccherini, along with a work commissioned from 40-year-old Haitian-American composer Sydney Guillaume, called A Journey to Freedom. Guillaume describes the work as “a nine-minute meditation on the 200 year struggle for freedom of oppression, inspired by the history and current turmoil of Guillaume’s Native Haiti.”
Les Délices’ founder/artistic director Debra Nagy says of the piece, “The work’s more traditional tendencies are transformed and reclaimed by traditional Yanvalou rhythms from Sydney’s native Haiti. It’s a journey that feels cinematic — at times pleading, soaring, questioning, and ultimately left unresolved.”
The Portland, Oregon-based Guillaume will be in Cleveland prior to the concert to work with local high school and college choirs who will perform under his direction during the Friday and Saturday performances. They’ll also be performing two additional pieces by Giullaume, This, Too, Shall Pass and Tchaka.
The program will be performed Friday at the Akron Public Library, Saturday at the Church of the Covenant on the Case Western Reserve University campus and (strictly instrumental) Sunday at the West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church.
Go here for tickets.