Danielle de Niese The Mozart Album

Danielle de Niese
The Mozart Album

Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Sir Charles

In Stores: September 8th, 2009
Album Released to Digital Retailers: August 18th, 2009
Duet with Bryn Terfel Available Exclusively at
iTunes Music Store July 28th, 2009

’ÄúHer singing is utterly delectable and completely assured’ĶSheer ’Äòjoie de vivre’Äô and mastery come spilling across, to the eyes as well as the ears.’Äù -The New York Times

New York, NY ’Äì On September 8th, 2009, Decca will release The Mozart Album, the hotly anticipated second solo recording from 30-year-old soprano Danielle de Niese. The full album will be available at digital music retailers including the iTunes Music store on August 18th. On July 28th, iTunes will exclusively offer the single ’ÄúLa ci darem la mano’Äù performed by Danielle de Niese together with baritone Bryn Terfel.

An Australian’Äìborn American soprano of Dutch and Sri Lankan heritage, the exotically beautiful de Niese has been captivating audiences since childhood, when she was a fixture of Los Angeles local television hosting a weekly arts showcase for teenagers, for which she won an Emmy Award. De Niese was just 18 when she was accepted as the youngest artist ever into the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program of the Metropolitan Opera. She made her Met debut as Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro, alongside Renˆ©e Fleming, Bryn Terfel, and Cecilia Bartoli and led by James Levine. On September 22nd of this year, de Niese returns to the Met to perform the leading role of Susanna in the same Jonathan Miller production of Le Nozze di Figaro in which she made her debut over a decade ago.

From the age of 19, when Danielle de Niese made that auspicious Metropolitan Opera debut it was clear that she was destined to be a major Mozart singer, given her extraordinary ability to communicate emotion through her one-of-a-kind voice, personal charisma, star quality and the irresistible force of her personality. So Mozart is a natural next step for de Niese in her recording career following up on her debut album of Handel arias released in 2007. The selections on The Mozart Album reflect her career on stage, as well as her own favorite Mozart arias. Sir Charles Mackerras, a world authority on Mozart, leads the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

In addition to her engagement with the Metropolitan Opera, the 2009-10 season sees Danielle de Niese performing as Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro with Lyric Opera of Chicago under the direction of Edward Gardner. She also appears in L’Äôincoronazione di Poppea with the Teatro Real and Semele with Thˆ©ˆ¢tre des Champs Elysˆ©es. Additionally, Ms. de Niese will tour Europe with the period instrument group Il giardino armonico with an all Handel program with performances in Amsterdam, Vienna, Berlin and Madrid.

Visit Danielle de Niese on her website at www.danielledeniese.com and join her more than 1000 friends at www.myspace.com/danielledeniese.

Danielle de Niese in Performance USA 2009-2010

Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro
September 22, 29,
October 1, 5, 9,
December 4, 8, 12
Conductor: Edward Gardner
Metropolitan Opera

Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro
February 28,
March 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 20, 22, 24, 27
Conductor: Edward Gardner
Lyric Opera of Chicago



Danielle de Niese: The Mozart Album Tracklisting
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756’Äì1791)

Exsultate, jubilate (K.165)
Bella mia fiamma (Concert aria K.528)
Giunse al fin il momento ... Al desio di chi t'adora (Alternative Aria in Act 4 of "The Marriage of Figaro" K.577)
Una donna a quindici anni (from "Cosˆ¨ fan tutte" K.588)
Quando avran fine o mai ... Padre, germani, addio! (from "Idomeneo" K.366)
Ah Fuggi il Traditor (from "Don Giovanni" K.527)
Oh, temerario Arbace! ... Per quel paterno amplesso (Concert aria K.79)
L'amerˆ¾ (from "Il re pastore" K.208)
La ci darem la mano (Duet with Bryn Terfel) (from "Don Giovanni" K.527)
Laudate Dominum (from "Vesperae solennes de Confessore" K.339)

Juilliard String Quartet's Sony Classical Releases Available Digitally

SONY CLASSICAL RELEASES DIGITAL RECORDINGS FOR DOWNLOAD BY THE JUILLIARD STRING QUARTET

WORKS INCLUDE THE COMPLETE STRING QUARTETS OF BEETHOVEN AND BARTˆìK; QUARTETS BY DEBUSSY, RAVEL AND DUTILLEUX; AND COLLABORATIONS WITH LEGENDARY MUSICIANS

Sony Classical has announced that its catalog of recordings by the Juilliard String Quartet is being made available for download. The Quartet has been associated with Sony since the ensemble's inception in 1946.

The releases are as follows:

Bartˆ„k: String Quartets Nos. 1-6

Beethoven: The Early String Quartets (Op. 18, Nos. 1-6)

Beethoven: The Middle String Quartets (Op. 59, Nos. 1-3; Opp. 74 & 95)

Beethoven: The Late String Quartets (Opp. 127, 130, 131, 132, 133 and 135)

Debussy/Ravel/Dutilleux: String Quartets

Great Collaborations

The members of the Juilliard String Quartet jointly stated, "We are thrilled that a substantial amount of our recorded legacy will now be available through the latest technology, for listeners of all ages. With Nick Eanet now joining the Quartet, we look forward to continuing our relationship with this great label."

Alex Miller, General Manager of Sony Masterworks, said, "The Quartet has a long and celebrated relationship with the label and we are delighted to begin making their remarkable and diverse catalogue available to the public digitally."

The first six recordings will include the complete string quartets of Beethoven and Bartˆ„k (the latter a Juilliard String Quartet specialty). On CDs, the Beethoven quartets comprised a total of nine discs (three three-disc sets); the Bartˆ„k quartets comprised two discs; the French collection one disc; and Great Collaborations two discs. All of the titles to be digitized have been released previously on CD; all titles also appeared on the LP format with the exception of the French disc, which was released on CD only.

The Great Collaborations release includes Dvorak's Piano Quintet with Rudolf Firkusny, piano; Barber's Dover Beach with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone; Schoenberg's Verklarte Nacht with Walter Trampler, viola, and Yo-Yo Ma, cello; Schumann's Piano Quintet with Leonard Bernstein, piano; Copland's Sextet for Clarinet, Piano and Strings with Aaron Copland, piano, and Harold Wright, clarinet; and Franck's Piano Quintet with Jorge Bolet, piano.

Each title of the new releases will include a digital booklet of liner notes.

About the Juilliard String Quartet

The Juilliard String Quartet is internationally renowned and admired for performances characterized by clarity of structure, beauty of sound, purity of line and an extraordinary unanimity of purpose. Celebrated for its performances of works by composers as diverse as Beethoven, Schubert, Bartˆ„k and Elliott Carter, it has long been recognized as the quintessential American string quartet.

This 2009/10 season is the inaugural season with first violinist Nick Eanet. Highlights include Da Camera of Houston, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Shriver Hall Concert Series in Baltimore, dates at The Juilliard School, and tours in Japan and throughout Europe.

Recent seasons heard the JSQ in concert at the Kennedy Center, on tour in Australia, at the Konzerthaus Vienna, at the Palacio Real in Madrid, and at the Citˆ© de la musique in Paris with an accompanying two-day residency at the Conservatoire National Supˆ©rieur de Musique. The Juilliard String Quartet offered special programming in recognition of Elliott Carter's 100th birthday, performing the world premiere of his new Clarinet Quintet with Charles Neidich at The Juilliard School, the European premiere of the work at the Konzerthaus in Berlin, and his String Quartet No. 2 in concerts around the world. As ardent advocates of Carter's complex and visionary string quartets, the Juilliard's landmark recording of Quartets Nos. 1-4 was released by Sony in 1991.

The Quartet celebrated its 60^th anniversary season with complete Bartˆ„k cycles (the Juilliard Quartet played the American premiere of the Bartˆ„k cycle at Tanglewood in 1948) in major cities throughout the U.S. and Japan. In honor of both the Juilliard's 60^th birthday and the Shostakovich centennial, Sony BMG Masterworks released a 2-CD set of the Juilliard Quartet's recordings of Shostakovich Quartets Nos. 3, 14, 15 and the Piano Quintet with Yefim Bronfman. The Juilliard Quartet also celebrated Mozart's 250^th birthday, performing Quartets K. 421, K. 428 and K. 465, newly informed by first-edition parts recently donated to The Juilliard School. Other recent highlights include a pair of concerts presented by the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Disney Hall; the world premiere of Ezequiel Viˆ±ao's Quartet II, "The Loss and the Silence," commissioned for them by The Juilliard School in honor of its 2006 centennial; and international performances of Bach's "Art of the Fugue."

In 2003 the Quartet marked the celebrations of its 40^th anniversary as Quartet-in-Residence at the Library of Congress with a twelve-concert complete Beethoven cycle interspersed with works by American composers whose work the Quartet has championed throughout its existence. The JSQ has performed complete Beethoven cycles in seven-concert series at Alice Tully Hall in New York, at Casals Hall in Tokyo, at Michigan State University and, most recently, at the International Beethoven Festival in Bonn and at the Tonhalle in Dˆºsseldorf.

At Carnegie Hall, the Quartet appeared on Maurizio Pollini's "Perspectives" series with pianist Martha Argerich, and in the Hall's 100^th anniversary gala. Annual guests at Tanglewood's Seiji Ozawa Hall, the Juilliards played in the Hall's opening concert and are the lead-off artists in the recent recording celebrating its 10^th anniversary. They are frequent guests at the Miyazaki Festival in Japan and at festivals in Europe including the Lucerne Festival and the Schubertiade in Feldkirch. In a departure from the classical norm, the Juilliard Quartet has twice been the featured ensemble ’Äì comedic and musical ’Äì on Garrison Keillor's "Prairie Home Companion."

As Quartet-in-Residence at New York City's Juilliard School, the Juilliard String Quartet is widely admired for its seminal influence on aspiring string players around the world. The Quartet continues to play an important role in the formation of new American ensembles and was instrumental in the formation of the Alexander, American, Concord, Emerson, La Salle, New World, Mendelssohn, Tokyo, Brentano, Lark, St. Lawrence, Shanghai and Colorado string quartets.

In a momentous occasion at Tanglewood in 1997, the Juilliard String Quartet's founder and first violinist Robert Mann retired from the group after fifty years. Earlier that season, Musical America named the Quartet "Musicians of the Year," making it the first chamber music ensemble ever to appear on the cover of the publication's annual International Directory of the Performing Arts.

In its history, the Juilliard String Quartet has performed a comprehensive repertoire of some 500 works, ranging from the great classical composers to masters of the current century. It was the first ensemble to play all six Bartˆ„k quartets in the United States, and it was through the group's performances that the quartets of Arnold Schoenberg were rescued from obscurity. An ardent champion of contemporary American music, the Quartet has premiered more than 60 compositions of American composers, including works by some of America's finest jazz musicians.

The ensemble has been associated with Sony Classical, in its various incarnations, since 1949. In celebration of the Quartet's 50th anniversary, Sony released seven CDs containing previously unreleased material as well as notable performances from the Quartet's award-winning discography. With more than 100 releases to its credit, the ensemble is one of the most widely recorded string quartets of our time. Its recordings of the complete Beethoven quartets, the complete Schoenberg quartets, and the Debussy and Ravel string quartets have all received Grammy Awards. Inducted into the Hall of Fame of the National Academy for Recording Arts and Sciences in 1986 for its recording of the complete Bartˆ„k string quartets, the Juilliard Quartet was awarded the Deutsche Schallplattenkritik Prize in 1993 for Lifetime Achievement in the recording industry. In 1994, its recording of quartets by Ravel, Debussy, and Dutilleux was chosen by the Times of London as one of the 100 best classical CDs ever recorded.

Nick Eanet, Violin (Pronunciation: Eanet, rhymes with "senate")

Nick Eanet began his violin studies at the age of three with Nicole DiCecco, and was an avid chamber musician almost from the beginning, playing quartets by the age of five. When he was only eleven, his young quartet was invited to perform at a festival by Shinichi Suzuki in Matsumoto, Japan. At the age of twelve, he was admitted to The Juilliard School Pre-College where he studied with Dorothy DeLay, continuing at the college with Robert Mann. After graduating from Juilliard with a bachelor of music degree, Mr. Eanet joined the Mendelssohn String Quartet as leader and first violinist.

During his years with the Mendelssohn String Quartet, Mr. Eanet performed around the world in major venues such as Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Wigmore Hall in London, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and the Library of Congress. His teaching responsibilities included posts at Harvard University and the North Carolina School of the Arts. Numerous summer festival appearances include the Mostly Mozart Festival, Sante Fe Chamber Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Maui Chamber Music Festival, Steamboat Springs Strings in the Mountains Festival, among others. His playing, hailed by the New York Times as "brilliant and passionate," is in great demand: In addition to performing with the Sea Cliff Chamber Players and at Bargemusic, Mr. Eanet is a key member of Amadeus Virtuosi, a chamber orchestra that he also conducts. He has premiered and recorded the violin music of Frederich Nietzsche, available on the Newport Classic label.

Mr. Eanet's exposure to solo work also began when he was quite young. At age eight he was invited by Zubin Mehta to appear as soloist with the New York Philharmonic in one of the orchestra's Young People's Concerts. Two years later, he performed as soloist on the Philharmonic's subscription series and its New Year's Eve gala concert. Mr. Eanet has since performed as soloist with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra led by James Levine at Carnegie Hall, the Minnesota Orchestra with Sir Neville Marriner, the New York Youth Symphony, and others.

From 1999 until he joined the Juilliard String Quartet, Mr. Eanet was the concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, a position appointed by James Levine. During his tenure with the orchestra, Mr. Eanet performed across Europe and Japan, and regularly appeared in orchestral and chamber music concerts at all three venues at Carnegie Hall. Nick Eanet is a native Brooklynite.

Ronald Copes, Violin

Praised by audiences and critics alike for his insightful artistry, violinist Ronald Copes has received international acclaim as concerto soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. Having appeared as a featured performer in the Marlboro, Tanglewood, Bermuda, Cheltenham, Colorado and Olympic music festivals, Mr. Copes has toured extensively with Music From Marlboro ensembles, the Los Angeles and Dunsmuir piano quartets, and, since 1997, with the Juilliard String Quartet in concerts throughout Europe, Asia and North America.

He has recorded numerous solo and chamber music works for radio and television broadcast as well as for Sony Classical, Orion, CRI, Klavier, New World Records, ECM and the Musical Heritage Society. Devoting considerable energy to the development and presentation of contemporary string literature, he has worked closely with composers and has given the first performances of a number of solo and chamber works.

Mr. Copes has garnered prizes in several national and international competitions including the Artists' Advisory Council, the Merriweather Post and the Concours International d'execution Musicale in Geneva. For two decades, he served as Professor of Violin at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and, in 1997, joined the faculty of The Juilliard School in New York City. During the summer he is on the artist-faculty of the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival.

Samuel Rhodes, Viola

Samuel Rhodes is celebrating his 41st year as a member of both the Juilliard String Quartet and the faculty of The Juilliard School where he is chair of the viola department. He has been a participant in the Marlboro Festival since 1960 and is a faculty member of the Tanglewood Music Center. His solo appearances have included several recitals at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and an unaccompanied recital at The Juilliard School. This celebratory season includes recitals in Hamburg, Germany, and at Juilliard. In June 2001, Mr. Rhodes was invited to play a recital in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the festival Viola Space in Tokyo, Japan. He gave the world premiere of Figment IV for solo viola by Elliott Carter in January 2008 in Paris. In 1998, Mr. Rhodes had the honor of being invited to join the late Isaac Stern as a coach at his Chamber Music Workshops in Jerusalem, Israel; Miyazaki, Japan and Carnegie Hall, New York.

A native New Yorker, Samuel Rhodes studied the viola with Sydney Beck and Walter Trampler. He has a bachelor of arts degree from Queens College, New York, and a master of fine arts degree from Princeton University where he studied composition with Roger Sessions and Earl Kim. As a composer, Mr. Rhodes wrote a string quintet for two violins, two violas and cello, which has been performed by the Blair, Composer's, Galimir, Pro Arte and Sequoia quartets. The Pro Arte Quartet recently recorded the work with the composer as guest artist.

Mr. Rhodes has been artist-in-residence at Michigan State University and has been awarded honorary doctorates by Michigan State, the University of Jacksonville and the San Francisco Conservatory. He has appeared as a guest artist with many ensembles including the Beaux Arts and Mannes trios and with the Brentano, Cleveland, Guarneri, and Mendelssohn quartets.

Joel Krosnick, Cello

Joel Krosnick has performed as soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician around the world. As a member of the Juilliard String Quartet since 1974, he has performed the great quartet literature throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. With his sonata partner of more than 30 years, pianist Gilbert Kalish, Mr. Krosnick has performed recitals throughout the U. S. and Europe. Since 1976, they have given annual series of recitals in New York City and recently presented the series American Milestones of the Last 100 Years at The Juilliard School.

With Mr. Kalish, Mr. Krosnick has recorded the complete sonatas and variations of Beethoven and the sonatas of Brahms as well as works by Poulenc, Prokofiev, Carter, Hindemith, Debussy, Janacek, and Cowell for the Arabesque label. Especially noteworthy is their CD devoted to the cello and piano music of Ralph Shapey. Yet to be released is a CD, Forgotten Americans.

Mr. Krosnick completed his bachelor of arts degree at Columbia College where he began his lifelong commitment to contemporary music. He has performed and premiered a large number of new works by composers including Donald Martino, Ralph Shapey and Richard Wernick. Joel Krosnick's recording of the Sonata for Solo Cello by Artur Schnabel appears on the CP2 label, and his CD of Roger Sessions' Six Pieces for Solo Cello is presented on Koch Classics.

A dedicated and passionate teacher, Mr. Krosnick is chair of the cello department of The Juilliard School and is a member of the faculty of Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival in Maine. He has been associated with the Aspen, Marlboro and Tanglewood music festivals, and appeared for the third time as a member of the artist-faculty of the Piatigorsky Seminar at the University of Southern California. A recipient of the Chevalier du Violoncelle Award from the Eva Janzer Memorial Cello Center at the Indiana University School of Music, Mr. Krosnick holds honorary doctoral degrees from Michigan State University, Jacksonville University, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Laitman's Mystery Garners Further Acclaim in Patricia Green's New CD

Laitman's Mystery Garners Further Acclaim in Patricia Green's New CD

"Laitman is one of the best and most prolific song writers at work today," writes Robert Moore in the American Record Guide Review of Patricia Green's new Blue Griffin release, Unsleeping, in which the Canadian mezzo-soprano pays tribute to six living international composers, with Laitman singled out to represent the United States with a song cycle titled Mystery. This version of the 1998 cycle, originally composed for baritone and recorded on Laitman's eponymous first solo CD, has already received several glowing reviews, and serves as a testament to the composer's extraordinary skills in adapting her remarkable art songs to a variety of voice types, making them accessible to a wider tapestry of vocal talent. In speaking of her approach and method, the composer says:

"In my vocal writing, I always compose the vocal line first. I custom construct each melody to emphasize the words or phrases of a poem that I find most important. I also take great care to create a musical line that will work well for the voice. Of course, other musical aspects factor into my work, but having a primary focus on melody makes my songs particularly adaptable to other voice types ’Äî so long as the accompaniment can function in another key and the text remains appropriate."

The song cycle consists of five settings to poems by American poet Sara Teasdale. Of the current recording Gramophone Magazine writes: "The teaming of composer Lori Laitman and poet Sara Teasdale in Mystery results in five songs of generous lyricism and propulsive ardour." Colin Clarke of Fanfare Magazine says: "Laitman’Ķ has made her name in the field of art song, and it is not difficult to hear why. These are exquisitely crafted miniatures. The delicious love song, "Spray" (the cycle's second movement), is most movingly and tenderly rendered here. The quasi-improvised nature of the piano part to "The Mystery" gives it almost a late-night jazz feel before "The Rose" introduces the character of Pierrot in a portrayal of deeply felt regret."

The youngest composer featured on this new recording, Lori Laitman's "exceptional gifts for embracing a poetic text and giving it new and deeper life through music" (The Journal of Singing), finds the composer with over 200 songs to her credit, setting the words of classical and contemporary poets with uncanny skill and unmatched beauty. Laitman's own fourth solo CD, Within These Spaces, was released in May 2009 by Albany Records. The composer's full-length opera, The Scarlet Letter, to poet David Mason's libretto on Hawthorne's literary masterpiece, opened to splendid accolades in November 2008.

Laitman is currently composing Vedem, a Holocaust oratorio commissioned by Music of Remembrance. The work is based on the story of the underground magazine published at the Terezin concentration camp, and weaves poet David Mason's haunting new libretto with poetry written by the Czech boys imprisoned at the camp. Vedem will premiere on May 10, 2010 in Seattle, WA, and will feature musicians from Music of Remembrance as well as the famed Northwest Boy choir. The busy composer's calendar in the upcoming months will see her presenting master classes and workshops at Cleveland Institute of Music, Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory, The Buckeye NATS Fall Workshop, Colorado College, and the Virginia NATS Spring Conference.

Find more information about Lori Laitman's music on her official website at: www.artsongs.com.

Roberta Gambarini's new album So In Love

Celebrated Singer Roberta Gambarini Affirms Her Status as One of the Most Important Vocalists Today with the Release of ’ÄòSo In Love’Äô out on Groovin’Äô High/Emarcy on August 25, 2009

Every once in a while, a truly great singer comes along who possesses the beauty, individuality and talent to remind us of the magic and majesty of the human voice: that singer is Roberta Gambarini, celebrated throughout the world by fans, critics and many of the world’Äôs greatest musicians.

With the August 25, 2009 release of ’ÄòSO IN LOVE,’Äô Roberta Gambarini affirms her status as the ’Äútrue successor to Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, and Carmen McRae’Äù (Boston Globe) and ’Äúthe best singer to emerge in over 60 years,’Äù as declared by 2009 GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, Mr. Hank Jones.

Mr. Jones, the legendary pianist who accompanied Roberta Gambarini’Äôs 2008 major label debut, ’ÄòYou Are There,’Äô a superb follow-up to Gambarini’Äôs GRAMMY-nominated debut, ’ÄòEasy to Love,’Äô knows a thing or two about great vocalists ’Äì he has accompanied almost all of the most renowned vocalists of the 2oth century such as Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae, Peggy Lee, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Nat ’ÄúKing’Äù Cole, and Billy Eckstine.

Roberta didn’Äôt set out to call the new album ’ÄòSo In Love,’Äô but looking back at the song list after the recording, she realized that the ’Äúalbum is all about love: the love between a man and a woman, the love of song, children, and most of all, the love of life.’Äù

As Roberta explains, she rarely goes into the studio with a ’Äúconcept,’Äù instead she says that she tries ’Äúto let the songs come out of a balance between life experience and reflection,’Äù capturing the music I feel in the moment.’Äù

Joining her in this adventurous journey is a group of ’Äúexceptionally talented, sensitive, and sympathetic musicians,’Äù who are long-time supporters, friends, and collaborators of Roberta since her arrival in the States from Torino, Italy: James Moody; Roy Hargrove; Tamir Hendelman; Eric Gunnison; Gerald Clayton; Chuck Berghofer; Neil Swainson; George Mraz; Jake Hanna; Al Foster; Montez Coleman; and Jeff Hamilton.

Recorded by Al Schmitt at the legendary Capitol Studios, with Roberta arranging all but two of the tracks, ’ÄòSo In Love’Äô is dedicated to the loving memory of her dear friends, Johnny Griffin, Ronnie Mathews, and David ’ÄúFathead’Äù Newman.

’ÄòSO IN LOVE’Äô Track List:

1. So In Love (Cole Porter)

2. Day In Day Out (Rube Bloom/Johnny Mercer)

3. Get Out Of Town (Cole Porter)

4. Crazy (Willie Nelson)

5. That Old Black Magic (Harold Arlen/Johnny Mercer)

6. Estate (Bruno Martino/Bruno Brighetti)

7. Golden Slumbers / Here, There and Everywhere (Lennon/McCartney)

8. I See Your Face Before Me (Arthur Schwartz/Howard Dietz)

9. From This Moment On (Cole Porter)

10. You Must Believe In Spring (M. Le Grand/J. Demy/A. Bergman/M. Bergman)

11. This Is Always (Harry Warren/Mack Gordon)

12. You Ain't Nothing But a JAMF (Johnny Griffin/lyrics by Roberta Gambarini)

13. Medley from "Cinema Paradiso": Main Theme/For Elena (Ennio Morricone/Andrea Morricone/ English lyrics by A. Stewart)

14. Over the Rainbow (Harold Arlen/E.Y. Harburg)

Artists Release Bach Sonatas for Viola Da Gamba by Audrey and Paul Cienniwa

Artful Bach Sonatas

Grace and beauty define the New England duo Audrey and Paul Cienniwa (SIN-uh-wah) as they perform these beloved pieces.



On this recording, Audrey Cienniwa fluently demonstrates that her "baroque", gut-string violoncello piccolo suits Bach's viola da gamba sonatas admirably. And, together with Paul Cienniwa's elegant harpsichord, offer the listener every reason to pay special attention to their performance.



This debut release for Whaling City Sound was performed in the acoustic majesty of Boston's First Church and deftly captured by engineer Angus Lansing. Paul and Audrey's gifted reading is further enhanced by the superior sonics evident on this disc.



Rounding out the CD are two cantata aria transcriptions. Written for cello piccolo, solo voice and continuo; they are the Cienniwa's own transcriptions, with the harpsichord providing the continuo part and solo voice.


Audrey and Paul began playing as a duo in 1998 after meeting in Brussels as students. Since then, they have performed regularly throughout New England and Europe, part of a new generation of early music performers, specializing in historical performances of the Baroque and pre-Classical periods.


Now a teacher at the Music School of the Rhode Island Philharmonic and Providence College, Audrey studied the baroque cello with the renowned Hidemi Suzuki.



Following undergraduate studies at DePaul University with harpsichordist Roger Goodman, Paul was awarded a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Yale in 2003, where he was a student of Richard Rephann. He is currently active on many fronts as the Music Director of Newport Baroque, Sine Nomine choral ensemble and First Church in Boston.



This gracious commentary by renowned harpsichord performer and instrument expert, Bach specialist, writer, educator, and recording producer Peter Watchorn brings it all into focus.

"This new recording of the three sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord, played on the 5-string cello piccolo by Audrey Cienniwa, and partnered by harpsichordist Paul Cienniwa provides a high level of artistry from both performers as well as the level of ensemble that comes only from long experience of playing together. It is well paced, thoughtful and flexible in the best sense. The readings combine virtuosity and gravitas, rhythmic precision and a fine sense of phrasing and architecture: the perfect mix in Bach performance.

"The use of the five-string cello provides a level of clarity and cutting-power from the string instrument that is hard to match on the viola da gamba, and its use is no less authentic. The disc is augmented by transcriptions by the performers of substantial movements from two Bach cantatas (BWV 175 & 183), a practice occasionally undertaken by Bach himself, for example in one version of the G major sonata for violin & harpsichord, where a movement reappears as an aria in cantata BWV 120. Good sound, excellent performances. A truly worthy release for all Bach lovers."


Audrey & Paul Cienniwa's Bach Sonatas for Viola da Gamba is a special gift to all music lovers.

Nos stars cˆ©lˆ®brent le jazz ˆÝ Montrˆ©al - album en magasin le 30 juin

Nos stars cˆ©lˆ®brent le jazz ˆÝ Montrˆ©al

en magasin dˆ®s le 30 juin

Montrˆ©al, le mardi 9 juin 2009 ’Äî Pour marquer de faˆßon spectaculaire le 30^e anniversaire du Festival International de Jazz de Montrˆ©al, le label Spectra Musique est heureux d'annoncer la crˆ©ation d'un album de classe internationale, sur lequel nos plus grandes vedettes reprennent admirablement certaines des plus cˆ©lˆ®bres chansons du rˆ©pertoire jazz. Nos stars cˆ©lˆ®brent le jazz ˆÝ Montrˆ©al sera disponible dans tous les magasins, prˆ©cisˆ©ment le jour de l'ouverture officielle de la 30^e ˆ©dition du Festival, le mardi 30 juin prochain.

Cet enregistrement, qui se rˆ©vˆ©lera certainement un incontournable, permet aux plus grands artistes d'ici de renouveler les plus grands standards et de se les approprier en ajoutant une touche jazzy ˆÝ la personnalitˆ© musicale unique qui les a chacun fait connaˆÆtre. On y retrouve Isabelle Boulay, C‰ìur de pirate, Cˆ©line Dion, Garou, Florence K, ˆâric Lapointe, Stˆ©phanie Lapointe, Daniel Lavoie, Jean Leloup, Marie-Mai, Ginette Reno, Michel Rivard et Marie’Äëˆâlaine Thibert.

L'album, dont la direction artistique a ˆ©tˆ© assurˆ©e par Andrˆ© Mˆ©nard, a ˆ©tˆ© en majeure partie rˆ©alisˆ© par Dan Thouin, qui en signe aussi les merveilleux arrangements. Il permettra au grand public de dˆ©couvrir ou redˆ©couvrir ces superbes classiques intemporels ’Äî et immortels ’Äî, magnifiquement interprˆ©tˆ©s par un ˆ©ventail sans prˆ©cˆ©dent d'artistes de chez nous, enfin regroupˆ©s sur un mˆ�me disque pour rendre hommage aux 30 ans du Festival International de Jazz de Montrˆ©al.

Un must !

Ffin Records releases John Hardy composition

Orchestra piece is a step outside reality

With a salary of £30 and a mission to oversee every school in an area the size of England, Anne Ritchie set out on foot and by dugout canoe across vast terrains and wild country. Her letters home paint pictures of a truly foreign world, with schools so poorly equipped they have "children doing arithmetic on their bare arms," and where they found a "python over at St Mary's, but the girls killed it quite happily!"

Forty years after her return, her son John Hardy was commissioned by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales to compose an accessible, energetic piece for a series of concerts. His inspiration for the music came from the stories his mother had told of her adventures in Africa. Her letters sent back home gave the piece its name: Blue Letters from Tanganyika. "What I did was to take some of them and use them as the basis for a sort of tone poem," explains John, "describing in music some of the colour and drama of her time there."

The 18-minute piece is split into four movements, each based on a different part of Anne's travels. "The first movement is her arrival there, a dangerous and rough journey, at one point she inadvertently walked through an area patrolled by lions; the second movement is a scherzo which describes travelling on a lake, sometimes calm and tranquil and other times stormy; the third describes the calm and peace of the very long and dark African nights near the Equator and then the last movement is an on-safari finale."

Full of exuberant African colours and textures, the piece is rich with imagery and imagination. Anyone who likes classical, orchestral, classical crossover and big film scores will feel instantly at home with this visual and visceral sound-world. Fresh and bold, Blue Letters from Tanganyika conjures an exotic world where lions are banished by bicycle bells, snakes are frightened away with hymns and the only person who can cure an aching tooth is a German nun.

Following the success of the piece in audience votes, radio broadcasts and five live performances, Ffin Records are releasing the music on Friday 1st May.

The tiny Cardiff-based record label has kept hold of the music in the face of serious attention from major companies who have described the piece as "great" (Universal Classics & Jazz) and "cinemagraphic" (Hyperion Records), praising the "great feel for atmosphere, beautifully scored" (EMI Classics).

Naxos even put in a bid to release the music themselves, noting "the music would appeal to a Classic FM audience." However, Ffin Records is committed to an independent release. "This music needs the attention it can only get from a personal, specialist label," manager Ed Scolding notes, "we know the music best ’Äì so we can help everyone experience this extraordinary music in the fullest possible way". Recorded by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Grant Llewellyn, Blue Letters from, Tanganyika will be released digitally on Friday 1st May at www.ffinrecords.co.uk. Part of the sale proceeds will be donated to charities supporting work around the area of Tanzania described in the letters.

Notes: John Hardy is a highly-acclaimed composer whose concert music has been described as 'utterly engrossing' and 'unique' by the Guardian, 'witty' by the Independent, 'gripping and intensely theatrical' by Opera Now and 'energetic, instinctive' by the Times.

He is regularly commissioned to write substantial choral and instrumental works for organisations such as Welsh National Opera, DV8, BBC National Orchestra & Chorus of Wales, BBC Concert Orchestra, Test Dept. and Westminster Abbey.

Un troisiˆ®me album pour Joseph Edgar arrive en gare !

« Y'a un train qui s'en vient... »

un troisiˆ®me album pour Joseph Edgar arrive en gare !

Deux ans et demi aprˆ®s la parution de ¬´ oh ma ma ¬ª, Joseph Edgar offre au public un troisiˆ®me album intitulˆ© ¬´ Y'a un train qui s'en vient... ¬ª, en vente ˆÝ partir du mardi 5 mai. L'auteur-compositeur-interprˆ®te acadien, ex-chanteur principal du groupe populaire Zˆ©ro ÀöCelsius, livre un disque composˆ© de 11 nouvelles piˆ®ces, dont la plupart ont ˆ©tˆ© crˆ©ˆ©es au cours de la derniˆ®re annˆ©e. Dˆ©jˆÝ, depuis le dˆ©but avril, le premier extrait ¬´ Rˆ�ves volˆ©s ¬ª a ˆ©tˆ© lancˆ© aux radios et sur Internet et suscite un grand intˆ©rˆ�t de la part des critiques. La chanson a dˆ©jˆÝ fait son entrˆ©e sur les palmarˆ®s des radios communautaires francophones en Atlantique et, mˆ�me s'il s'agit d'une production maison, le vidˆ©oclip de cette chanson a fait beaucoup de chemin sur divers sites web.

S'alliant une fois de plus au rˆ©alisateur Marc ¬´ Chops ¬ª Arsenault (Pascal Lejeune, Petunia, Serge Brido...), bassiste du groupe Les PaˆØens dont les membres font partie de l'ˆ©quipe principale du disque, Joseph Edgar raconte que ce cd vient finalement combler son dˆ©sir de faire un album qui a comme vocation de ¬´ joindre le plus possible l'ˆ©nergie et la force du spectacle ˆÝ une expˆ©rience sonore qu'on ne peut explorer qu'en studio. ¬ª Le chanteur ajoute qu'il a rˆ©ussi ˆÝ obtenir le son qu'il cherchait ¬´ grˆ¢ce au travail de tous ceux et celles qui ont jouˆ© sur l'album et qui sont venus complˆ©menter les chansons de leur talent magique, et surtout, grˆ¢ce au travail passionnˆ© du rˆ©alisateur qui a aussi agi comme ingˆ©nieur et mixeur. ¬ª

En plus des autres membres du groupe Les PaˆØens (Jean Surette, Denis Surette et Sˆ©bastien Michaud), les autres musiciens que l'on retrouve sur l'album sont Isabelle Thˆ©riault, Chris Colepaugh et Lisa LeBlanc, entre autres.

Rappelons que Joseph Edgar a ˆ©tˆ© rˆ©cipiendaire du trophˆ©e Artiste de l'annˆ©e en musique au Gala des prix ˆâloizes en 2008 pour son album ¬´ oh ma ma ¬ª sorti ˆÝ l'automne 2006 et sur lequel l'extrait ¬´ Fantˆ¥me de Blanchard ¬ª a rˆ©ussi ˆÝ capter l'attention et les ˆ©loges de quelques grands noms de la scˆ®ne quˆ©bˆ©coise dont Daniel Bˆ©langer et Ariane Moffatt. On entend souvent dire que Joseph Edgar est l'hˆ©ritier de Zachary Richard !

ˆÄ la mi-mai, Joseph Edgar partira ˆÝ travers les provinces atlantiques pour promouvoir l'album avec sa ¬´ Tournˆ©e du tounerre ¬ª ˆÝ laquelle s'ajoute le groupe Les PaˆØens. Lors de son arrˆ�t au Thˆ©ˆ¢tre Capitol ˆÝ Moncton le 23 mai, Oumou Soumarˆ©, Georgette LeBlanc, Isabelle Thˆ©riault, Lisa Leblanc et Brian Coughlan s'ajouteront au spectacle. Joseph Edgar devrait ˆ�tre de passage ˆÝ Montrˆ©al en juin.

Les dˆ©tails de la tournˆ©e ainsi que d'autres informations se retrouvent sur le site www.myspace.com/josephedgar ainsi que sur la page Facebook de l'artiste.

¬´ Y'a un train qui s'en vient... ¬ª est distribuˆ© en magasin et sur Internet par Distribution Plages (www.plages.net) et sera aussi disponible sur les sites Internet zik.ca et iTunes.

Announcing Jazz Piano Star Lynn Arriale May 12TH CD/DVD

JAZZ PIANO STAR LYNNE ARRIALE FORMS NEW ALLIANCES TO RELEASE "NUANCE - THE BENNETT STUDIO SESSIONS" FEATURING RANDY BRECKER, GEORGE MRAZ AND ANTHONY PINCIOTTI

CD/DVD ON MOTEMA MUSIC AVAILABLE MAY 12, 2009

Catch Lynne Arriale LIVE - MAY 19 @ NYC Jazz Standard with Randy Brecker, George Mraz and Anthony Pinciotti

Plus MAY 21-24 @ Chicago's Jazz Showcase with Hans Glawischnig and Anthony Pinciotti

and more dates to be announced!

(New York, NY) Motˆ©ma Music proudly announces the release of LYNNE ARRIALE'S "NUANCE - The Bennett Studio Sessions" - featuring RANDY BRECKER, GEORGE MRAZ and ANTHONY PINCIOTTI, on-sale May 12, 2009. In a departure from her ten previous trio recordings, leader/composer/arranger Arriale is collaborating with an extraordinary new lineup of iconic musicians: Grammy winning Randy Brecker on trumpet/flugelhorn; jazz legend George Mraz on bass; and critically acclaimed Anthony Pinciotti on drums. More information, please visit: www.Motˆ©ma.com and at www.lynnearriale.com

(plus www.JazzStandard.net and www.JazzShocase.com )

The project was recorded at the multi-Grammy and Emmy Award winning BENNETT STUDIOS, just outside New York City, and includes video documentation of "behind the scenes" footage of the CD recording, a bonus DVD program of a live, private, "in-studio" audience concert, and up-close and personal interviews with each artist. The release displays a new creative direction for Arriale, as she continues her illustrious musical journey, which began with a ten-year run of her celebrated former trio. Arriale continues to garner praise in every configuration in which she chooses to play as an outstanding leader, including from The New York Times: "brilliant musicianship and bandstand instincts (which) place her among the top jazz pianists of the day." This new release, with iconic jazz masters Brecker and Mraz, brings even more heightened originality to Arriale's sound as evidenced in her six powerful, new compositions and inspired arrangements of covers by composers as disparate as Sting, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie and Tommy Wolf.

"This is music that really transports the listener into the wondrous world of Lynne's imagination," said Jana Herzen, President of Motˆ©ma Music. "I'm proud to say it is really like no other jazz record I have ever heard. What I find most interesting is, if you check out the DVD interviews, Randy and George - these iconic jazz stars who have recorded over 1000 records between them - are so taken with Lynne's completely singular approach to composing and recording."

"It's all about the 'nuance,' and that's what we went for," said Randy Brecker, working with Arriale here, for the first time. "She knows how to tug at the heartstrings (and) I don't think I can compare her to anyone...her music transcends jazz. It's just pure music."

Please visit the "Nuance" EPK - http://www.motema.com/video/LynneArrialeTrio/55

The fulltrack list for "Nuance," a CD & DVD set, includes: Wrapped Around Your Finger (Sting); I Mean You (Thelonious Monk); Longing (Lynne Arriale); Crawfish & Gumbo (Lynne Arriale); Ballad of the Sad Young Men (Tommy Wolf); Carry On (Lynne Arriale); La Noche (Lynne Arriale); Yada Yada Yada (Lynne Arriale); I Hear A Rhapsody (J. Baker, G. Fragos & D. Gasparre); A Night In Tunisia (Dizzy Gillespie) and A Gentle Soul (Lynne Arriale).

Arriale has been capturing the imaginations of jazz and mainstream music lovers with her outstanding CD / DVD recordings and sold out performances for nearly 20 years. Critically acclaimed as having a 'singular voice' as a pianist, leader, composer, arranger and for "putting the heart back into jazz" (London Times), Arriale's consistently excellent recordings have topped every notable jazz chart. With back to back #1 Jazz Week radio hits, a #17 debut on Billboard's Jazz Chart, the top ten "Best Of" lists for The New Yorker, United Press International and a two time winner of The German Record Critics Association, Arriale has earned her place among elite international artists. Arriale has met the mainstream through her featured performances on the PBS nationally televised program, Profile of a Recording Artist, and on multiple NPR programs including Weekend Edition, Jazz Set, and Piano Jazz with Marion McPartland.

Arriale's 2007 release, LIVE (Motˆ©ma), was recorded by BR-TV at Germany's oldest and most prestigious jazz event, The Burghausen Jazz Festival, and won the 2007 German Record Critics Award for best jazz CD/DVD recording. She has toured Japan with the legendary "100 Golden Fingers" group, sharing the stage with jazz legends Hank Jones, Tommy Flanagan, Kenny Barron, Cedar Walton, Ray Bryant, Junior Mance, Harold Mabern, Roger Kellaway and Monty Alexander.

Arriale regularly performs at such internationally acclaimed venues as The Spoleto Arts Festival, Ireland's Cork Jazz Festival, The Montreux Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival, Pori Jazz Festival, the Burghausen and Stuttgart Jazz Festivals, The Montreal Jazz Festival, The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, The Folly Theater, The Gilmore Festival, The Jacksonville Jazz Festival, The San Francisco Jazz Festival, the Monterey Jazz Festival and numerous other festivals, concerts and clubs throughout Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain, Italy, Poland, Romania, Norway, The Czech Republic, Ireland, the UK and Australia.

Leading up to the release, Lynne will tour internationally in the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Poland, Austria, and The Netherlands. RANDY BRECKER, who plays flugelhorn and trumpet on NUANCE, has recorded for more than three decades with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Bruce Springsteen, Steely Dan, James Taylor, David Sanborn, George Benson, Chaka Khan, and Frank Zappa. GEORGE MRAZ (bass) has recorded and performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, Hank Jones, Stan Getz, Bill Evans, Chet Baker, Charles Mingus, Lionel Hampton and Tommy Flanagan. ANTHONY PINCIOTTI is a rising star and drum master who is a first-call sideman for such jazz luminaries as James Moody, John Abercrombie, Kenny Werner, Pat Metheny, Mike Stern, Gary Bartz, Marcus Belgrave, Ira Sullivan and Frank Foster.

Deeply committed to jazz education, Lynne Arriale is currently Assistant Professor of Jazz Piano and Director of the Jazz Combo Program at The University of North Florida at Jacksonville. She also conducts master classes, clinics and workshops internationally for professionals, students and communities at large.

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Motˆ©ma Music, founded in 2003 in San Francisco, is now based in Harlem, New York, The company is a division of the Motˆ©ma Foundation, a private foundation that is dedicated to promoting excellence and humanity in jazz and other creative art forms that promote harmony and enrich the world around us. For more information, please visit: www.Motˆ©ma.com.

This CD recording was produced by Lynne Arriale and Suzi Reynolds. The DVD was produced by Suzi Reynolds of Suzi Reynolds & Associates, LLC. and was made possible, in part, by a grant from Women in Jazz, Inc.

"NUANCE" PHOTO - L to R: RANDY BRECKER, LYNNE ARRIALE, GEORGE MRAZ, ANTHONY PINCIOTTI - (Photo Credit: R. Andrew Lepley)