Bolivian Baroque: A Full-Day Baroque Strings Workshop

Ages: 10 - 18
Session Length: 1 Day
Skill Level: Intermediate and Up

Join members of Les Délices, Cleveland’s premiere Baroque chamber ensemble, for a full-day workshop focusing on music from manuscripts preserved in present-day Bolivia and Peru.

This workshop will introduce young string players to the vibrant musical traditions that flourished in the missions and cathedrals of colonial Latin America. Participants will explore how Indigenous, European, and African influences shaped a style full of rhythmic vitality, expressive contrast, and improvisatory flair. Along the way, we’ll introduce elements of Baroque style, experience the expressive potential of using baroque bows, and gain essential chamber music experience as we learn and rehearse Baroque music without a conductor.

Students will also experience the art of oral learning—a living practice through which Indigenous and especially Moxeño communities have preserved their music for generations. By learning melodies, rhythms, and performance gestures by ear, participants step into the same creative continuum that has kept this repertoire alive to the present day.

Sunday, February 22, 2026
9:00 am - 4:30 pm
TMS University Circle Campus
11125 Magnolia Drive, Cleveland, OH 44106

Workshop Schedule

• 9:00 am - 9:45 am: Faculty performance introducing history of Baroque Music in Latin America & Historical Performance Practice
• 10:00 am - 11:00 am: Full ensemble playing
• 11:15 am - 12:30 pm: Breakout Groups: Fundamentals of Baroque String Playing
• 12:30 pm - 1:15 pm: Lunch Break (provide your own or purchase a bag lunch)
• 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm: Group Lessons
• 2:45 pm - 3:45 pm: Chamber orchestra (full group session)
• 4:00 pm - 4:30 pm: Short performance/presentation for parents/families + reception

Participating families will also receive up to four free tickets to Les Délices’ upcoming performances of Starstruck, presented April 24th - 26th.

Prerequisites

Participants must be able to play 2 octave melodic or harmonic minor scales; up to 2 or 3 flats/sharps, and have completed Suzuki Book 3. Completion of Suzuki Book 4 is preferred.

Contribution

The Music Settlement and Les Délices are committed to making this program accessible for all who wish to attend. If you do wish to make a contribution towards the cost of the program, suggested donations range from $25 - $150 per participant. All contributions will go directly toward the talented team who makes this program possible.

Registration

Advanced registration is required as these is limited capacity for this workshop. An attempt will be made to balance the ensemble across sections.

Please select your instrument below and complete your registration. Alternatively, to enroll by phone, please call The Music Settlement at 216-421-5806 ext. 100.

Violin Registration

Viola Registration

Cello Registration

Double Bass Registration

Register

Faculty

Les Délices

Les Délices (in English, The Delights) brings long-forgotten music alive for contemporary audiences through concerts in Cleveland, on tour, and through recordings and broadcasts. Dubbed “an early music group with an avant-garde appetite” by The New York Times, the San Francisco Cl... Expand

Les Délices (in English, The Delights) brings long-forgotten music alive for contemporary audiences through concerts in Cleveland, on tour, and through recordings and broadcasts. Dubbed “an early music group with an avant-garde appetite” by The New York Times, the San Francisco Classical Voice observed that “Les Délices can’t help but get one listening and thinking in fresh ways.” Recent projects have seen Les Délices bring their “outstanding artistry and verve” (American Record Guide) to signature programs of French Baroque music, folks songs from Baroque-era Scotland, chamber music from the Age of Revolutions, late-Medieval music, and more. Visit www.lesdelices.org to learn more.

rn

Featured Teachers

rn

rn
• Violinist Shelby Yamin will lead project planning and work with upper strings. Equally adept on modern and baroque violin, Shelby has appeared as a soloist with Philharmonia Baroque Chamber Players, New York Baroque Incorporated, the San Francisco Academy Orchestra, Tafelmusik Winter Institute, and as guest concertmaster of the 2019 Berwick Academy of the Oregon Bach Festival. Also an active chamber musician, she regularly collaborates with a wide range of New York based ensembles and Cleveland's Les Délices.
rn
• rn

  Rebecca Landell is a professor of baroque cello and viola da gamba at Oberlin Conservatory. She enjoys a varied performing career as a soloist and chamber musician with groups like Apollo’s Fire and Les Délices, as well as collaborating with a variety of artists creating experimental programs.

  rn
rn
• Les Délices Artistic Director Debra Nagy will assist with program planning and instruction. Debra Nagy is one of North America’s leading performers on the baroque oboe. She is principal oboe with Boston's Handel & Haydn Society and performs with ensembles around the country including Apollo’s Fire, and others. Passionate about chamber music, Debra is the founder/director of Les Délices and was awarded a 2022 Cleveland Arts Prize (Mid-Career). She serves on the faculty of advanced-level early music summer programs including the American Bach Soloists Academy and Oregon Bach Festival’s Berwick Academy, teaches baroque oboe at New England Conservatory as part of the Pratt Early Music Residency, and is a Visiting Instructor at Case Western Reserve University & Cleveland Institute of Music.
rn

Close

Send Message