AGAVE and soprano Michele Kennedy explore images of motherhood and the feminine divine through the ages as told through the voices of brilliant female composers. Delve into the intersections of spirituality and incarnation, grief and hope, and, ultimately, transformation. From 17th-century Italian convents to Viennese salons to the Underground Railroad and the legacy of slavery in the American South, this program presents a powerful and vivid journey into the heights and depths of the human experience. Featuring works by Barbara Strozzi, Antonia Bembo, Pauline Viardot, Clara Schumann, Camille Nickerson, Margaret Bonds, and Florence Price.

“Versatility must be Kennedy’s middle name…The tone [of this album] is set by an inspired reading, brought to exquisite realization by Kennedy and AGAVE.”

- Textura.org (reviewing AGAVE: In Her Hands)

LISETTE traces the three-century journey of the earliest surviving song text in Haitian Creole, following its transformations across Haiti, France, and the United States. Emerging in colonial Saint-Domingue, Lisette quitté la plaine moved through salons, abolitionist circles, Creole households, and concert stages, absorbing new meanings along the way. This Navona Records release presents multiple historical incarnations alongside contemporary responses, using a wide range of both period and modern instruments -- from French and Haitian Baroque to the 21st century -- to reflect a music shaped by migration, displacement, and cultural exchange.