Guests Kim Gruenwald and Dominic Giardino consider the music and sounds that reverberated across the western frontier as French, English, new American settlers, and Native Americans pushed westward in the decades following the Revolutionary War.

Lions and tigers and bears! Oh my! LD Artistic Director Debra Nagy and cellist Rebecca Landell share Baroque music inspired by the animal kingdom in this audio-only episode featuring recent live performances of music by Biber, Pasquini, and others.

Together with conductor Anthony Trecek-King and ethnomusicologist Gibb Schreffler, SalonEra probes the history and evolution of sea shanties and related work songs from the eighteenth to twentieth centuries. Featuring live concert recordings by Seán Dagher with Les Délices and more.

Czech music scholar Martin Nedbal explores how 18th century Bohemian composers subtly incorporated folk tunes and inflections of their homeland despite cultural suppression under Hapsburg rule in this audio-only episode featuring live performances from Les Délices’ October program Bohemian Rhapsody.

SalonEra considers the legacies of blind and visually-impaired historical composer-performers like Jacob van Eyck, Turlogh O’Carollan, and others and talks with vision-impaired harpsichordist & violinist Albano Berberi, lutenist Lucas Harris, and Braille music engraver Kathleen Cantrell.

LD Artistic Director Debra Nagy and host Hannah De Priest explore the strange and beautiful music of the ars subtilior in this audio-only episode featuring live performances from Les Délices’ November 2024 program 14th Century Avant-garde. Featuring music by Machaut, Senleches, and others with performances by Debra Nagy, (winds, voice, harps), Scott Metcalfe (vielle and Gothic harp) Sophie Michaux (mezzo-soprano) and James Reese (tenor).

Drawing inspiration from a range of non-Western musical traditions as well as historical events, SalonEra shines a light on artists doing fascinating work that centers cultural exchange. Setar virtuoso Kiya Tabassian (Constantinople), Indian-American soprano Vidita Kanniks, and Thai-American violinist Sallynee Amawat (Infusion Baroque) join us to share recent work that thoughtfully bridges traditions.

Legendary period clarinetist Eric Hoeprich shares insights on Mozart and looks back on his own career highlights in this audio-only episode featuring live performances from Les Délices’ October program for wind octet, Moonlit Mozart.

Myth Then & Now spotlights artists whose recent projects reflect mythology’s contemporary resonance. Guests Sophie Michaux & Adam Simon (Tiny Glass Tavern) share a recent performance centering St. Cecilia while Les Délices previews their recent world-premiere of “A Moment’s Oblivion” by composer Viet Cuong. Additional guests to be announced.

SalonEra partners with the Boulanger Initiative to spotlight enterprising women composers from mid-eighteenth-century England, Elizabeth Turner and Elisabetta de Gambarini. Featuring brand new recordings from Les Délices and harpsichordist Paula Maust plus insights from Dr. Alison DeSimone (author of Women and the Business of Performance in Eighteenth-Century Britain).