To mark the release of the album Le Récital des anges on September 25, the Orchestre de l’Agora and its founding conductor, Nicolas Ellis, present an intense evening program centered on a world premiere by Canadian composer Ian Cusson and his original orchestrations of Schubert’s lieder.

At the heart of this recording, Le Récital des anges—a work performed by Innu soprano Elisabeth St-Gelais—draws its inspiration from an intimate yet universal experience: a woman wanders the streets of Montreal at night, haunted by memories of her sister Lucille, their shared childhood, and Lucille’s death. Drawing on the poems of Émile Nelligan, a poet of Quebec literature, Ian Cusson charts a contemplative journey into the heart of the dream experience, navigating the realms of nightmare, memory, and wandering. It is a work that places loss at the center of its musical discourse.

This production engages in a dialogue with Ian Cusson’s own orchestrations of Schubert’s lieder, performed by mezzo-soprano Ema Nikolovska. Among them is Erlkönig in Berlioz’s French version—a choice that firmly anchors this program in a dual German- and French-speaking cultural context and reaffirms the uniqueness of the Agora Orchestra’s artistic approach.

To listen to the album.

Released on Aparté label