“Arcadian Dreams” brings together the ensemble Les Délices and soprano Hannah De Priest in a Baroque program inspired by Arcadia. Featuring works by Rameau, Handel, and other rare compositions, the album combines refinement, expressiveness, and musical rediscovery. 
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With Arcadian Dreams, the ensemble Les Délices offers an elegant immersion into the pastoral imagination of European Baroque. Alongside soprano Hannah De Priest, this program explores an artistic ideal inspired by the myth of Arcadia, blending idealized nature, poetry, and human emotions. The album weaves a delicate thread between cantatas and instrumental pieces, offering a rich and evocative panorama of this aesthetic world.
The program juxtaposes major composers such as Jean-Philippe Rameau and George Frideric Handel with lesser-known figures, thereby revealing the full diversity of 18th-century European musical traditions. This alternation between well-known works and rarities lends the album a genuine dynamism, ranging from dramatic intensity to pastoral intimacy.
Under the direction of oboist Debra Nagy, the performance stands out for its subtlety and attention to tonal color. This debut recording by Hannah De Priest reveals an expressive and nuanced voice, perfectly suited to this repertoire. At the intersection of rediscovery and contemporary sensibility, Arcadian Dreams emerges as a work that is both accessible and demanding.
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