63 Results for : oratorios
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La Accordoniste
L'Accordéoniste is a tantalizing new recording of cabaret-inspired music from all over the world, featuring three local virtuoso musicians - mezzo-soprano Kimberly Barber, pianist Peter Tiefenbach, and accordionist Mary-Lou Vetere, together with The New Berlin Ensemble: Julie Baumgartel, violin, Paul Pulford, cello, and Carol Bauman, percussion. L'Accordéoniste's eclectic arrangements evoke the smoky clubs of Berlin, the dance halls of Paris, the sunny shores of Naples, and the tango dens of Argentina. At the heart of each arrangement is the poignant, nostalgic quality of the accordion. The program includes the raunchy songs of Kurt Weill and his 1920s German cabaret contemporaries, the legendary Edith Piaf's signature tunes La Vie en Rose, and the CD's title track, L'Accordéoniste, and fresh takes on Italian sentimental favourites. Hypnotic dance rhythms like the tarantella, the tango and the habanera inspired several of the arrangements on L'Accordéoniste. Originally composed for bandoneon, Astor Piazzolla's Fugata is a tango-inflected salute to the fugues of J.S. Bach. Lila Downs' mesmerizing performance of the habanera Alcoba Azul in the film Frida inspired the full ensemble arrangement recorded for this CD. Viaggio Italiano is a thrilling tarantella medley that opens with a musical quotation from the Italian national anthem. Kimberly Barber, Peter Tiefenbach, and Mary-Lou Vetere are known individually for their virtuosity and versatility. Together, their rhythmic energy and ability to improvise freely within these arrangements results in an expressive tour-de-force and a fresh take on classic songs from the early 20th century. Mezzo-soprano Kimberly Barber has sung on some of the great opera house and concert stages of the world. Her career balances the standard repertoire with contemporary and baroque works with smaller, experimental companies. Her discography includes a solo recording of arias by Handel and Hasse (CBC Records), the title role in Handel's Rinaldo (Naxos Records) and Ravel's L'Heure espagnole with the LSO under André Previn (DGG). Peter Tiefenbach enjoys an extraordinarily varied career as a performer, composer and teacher. He has collaborated with many of Canada's leading singers including Maureen Forrester, Isabel Bayrakdarian, Brett Polegato, Sally Dibblee, Kimberly Barber, Russell Braun, and Donna Brown. He also appears frequently with duo-piano partner, Robert Kortgaard. With soprano-comedienne Mary Lou Fallis, he has co-written several shows which have toured throughout Canada, to the U.S., Japan, England and Iceland. Mary-Lou Vetere has performed extensively in three performance areas: piano, accordion, and voice, and is completing her PhD in Historical Musicology. As a mezzo-soprano, she has appeared as soloist in oratorios, operas, and numerous recitals in North America and Europe including her New York City debut in 2001 as the mezzo-soprano soloist in Beethoven's Messe in C and the Chorale Fantasie with the Orchestra of St. Luke's. Recent concert reviews for L'Accordéoniste: An entranced and captivated crowd was transported to the impassioned streets of war-time Europe on Sunday afternoon at Central United Church in Barrie. Led through a series of charming, cabaret-style musical vignettes by the ensemble known as L'Accordéoniste, the audience was touched by the despair of a Germany betrayed by Hitler and both the comedy and desolation of love sought and love lost in Italy and France. Soulful and heart-wrenching or quirky and heart-warming, the music was at all times poignant. Nationalistic flavours were instantly recognizable and were brought forth in arrangements of the group's own making, each performer drawing on vast improvisational skills and immense knowledge of era and style. This was a world-class performance. Bravo. (Marilyn Reesor, The Barrie Examiner, September 28, 2009) 3.5/4 stars for L'Accordéoniste CD If you love Kurt Weill and his contemporaries, as well as Édith Piaf, check out this self-produced album by Toronto-and-area based pianist Peter Tiefenbach, accordionist Mary-Lou Vetere, violinist Julie Baumgartel, cellist Paul Pulford and percussionist Carol Bauman, collaborating with mezzo-soprano Kimberly Barber. Here is the playfully caustic spirit of the late 19th-century salon and early 20th-century cabaret vividly and elegantly rendered in 17 tracks by people who clearly love the material. Instrumental pieces, such as Fugata, pulse with red-blooded zest for life. Barber adds a polished sheen to frothy little gems such as Weill's Berlin i'm Licht-Song, then turns around to apply dramatic force to Weill's tragic Sailor's Tango. (John Terauds, Toronto Star, July 28, 2009)- Shop: odax
- Price: 30.93 EUR excl. shipping
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Sings Cole Porter
Here are your favorite songs of Cole Porter, sung by Stanley Wilson, one of the most exciting emerging artists of today, along with pianist/arranger Ben Cook of the Boston Pops. The best songs of Porter are arranged here with whimsey and pizzazz, variety and imagination. Stanley Wilson displays his amazing versatility and freedom of expression of music from an innocent and carefree age. Most of today's outstanding artists started young, Stanley Wilson is no exception. He started at age six, singing "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" at a Christmas party, and became very serious as a young man. He received his Master of Music from the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts in Opera Performance and continues to learn by keeping up his studies with Douglas Kevin Wilson. Mr. Wilson has amassed an extensive list of opera credits which includes productions with the Commonwealth Opera, Bel Canto Music Festival of New Hampshire, the New England Opera Theatre, and the production of Dona Francisquita at the Jarvis Conservatory in Napa, California. A finalist in the 2002 Boston Region of the NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing) Competition, Mr. Wilson has taken his outstanding voice to Solfest, a festival sponsored by the Key West Symphony Orchestra, in which he assisted Maestra Donna Roll in preparing young, school-age singers to participate in fifteen performances of opera scenes supporting the roles of the adult soloists. Working with top-rated New York City conductors, pianists, coaches, and voice teachers, he recently completed Intermezzo, a month-long opera festival under the direction of Maestro Steven Osgood where he sang the principal roles, Laurie in Little Women, and Tanzmeister in Ariadne auf Naxos. He has also assisted the Provincetown Repertory Theater in their productions of The Trip to Bountiful with their tour of New York City. Popular musicals are included in Mr. Wilson's mastery of varied genres. His roles include Eddie Ryan in Funny Girl with the Jewish Community Center and Sasha in Fiddler on the Roof with Gargaro Productions, both of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He has also been featured in the complex role of the MC in Cabaret. Mr. Wilson's concert experience includes performances of the major oratorios with: Boston Classical Orchestra New Bedford Symphony Salisbury Singers and Arcadia Orchestra Arlington Philharmonic Concord Chorus and Orchestra Manchester Chorale and Orchestra Master Singers of Worcester Oratorio Choir of New Haven Concert Singers of Greater Lynn The most recent full, solo recital given by Mr. Wilson with pianist Malcolm Halliday was entitled "Baroque to Broadway" and displayed his astounding versatility by featuring a varied program of songs of Handel, Fauré, Roger Quilter, Rodgers and Hart, Cole Porter, and Stephen Sondheim. His most recent CD of the songs of Cole Porter is available on many internet retail CD web sites including Amazon.com, CD Baby.com, as well as the Con Brio web site, ConBrioRecording.com. His next CD of lieder by Schumann is in production and is scheduled to be released later in 2006. Although Mr. Wilson spent a few years practicing dentistry, he made the permanent move to the performing stage because of his love for music - both classical and musical theatre. "Even while I was pursuing other careers in my life, I was still studying voice and performing. One day I woke up and realized that to be truly happy in my life, I needed to be singing as a career. While I love having people tell me that they think I have a beautiful voice, I feel the best part of singing is the ability to communicate with the listener and enable them to have an emotional response to the music. That is what makes the performance experience complete for me and worth coming back to on a daily basis." Mr. Wilson currently teaches voice at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, Bancroft School, as well as privately from his home in Worcester, Massachusetts. His philosphy of teaching: "Whether one is singing classical, musical theatre, jazz, pop or rock, a sound technique must come first. From there, a singer can begin to develop the ability to communicate with the listener and to explore what music is truly about." Stanley works out at his local gym, and supplements his regimen with walks with his dog, Sandy, and an occasional dinner at a five-star restaurant in New York City. Contact information: Management: Elizabeth Galagarza Ramon Alsina Artists Management 1400 Benson Street #5A Bronx, NY 10461 781.877.4211 www.ramonalsina.org Publicist: Carol Greenley Con Brio Recordings Carol@ConBrioRecordings.com www.ConBrioRecordings.com Artist: Stanley Wilson www.StanleyWilsonTenor.com.- Shop: odax
- Price: 15.54 EUR excl. shipping
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Ryden, S: Händel: Duetti
The supreme master of the chamber duet genre was Agostino Steffani, recently celebrated by Cecilia Bartoli, and it is no coincidence that Handel had a manuscript copy of Steffani's famous duets with him at the beginning of his stay in Rome. The Italian composer's work was a model for the young musician from Saxony, an inspiration that left tangible traces in those very duets. There is a distinct network of connections between Handel's duets, his other compositions and those of several of his contemporaries that bears witness to consistent borrowing. The duets are a case in point, revealing a criss-crossing of musical loans from one composition to another. Apart from Steffani, Handel also borrowed musical ideas from colleagues such as Giovanni Maria Clari and Pietro Torri, Dietrich Buxtehude and Antonio Caldara.The duets continued to charm the world of music even after Handel's death, when, with the exception of the grand oratorios, the rest of his output faded somewhat into the background. Each duet in this collection is preceded by a compatible instrumental piece, which acts as a sort of prelude. Although these latter compositions were originally written for the keyboard, they were also transcribed for various basso continuo instruments, which is how they are performed here. The practice of alternating instrumental and vocal pieces was typical of court and academy performance during the 1700s, and is well suited to Handel's duets.Harmonices Mundi and Claudio Astronio have made fine recordings for Brilliant of several other Baroque composers. Here they are joined by two bright stars of the Baroque opera and vocal scene.Other information:- Recordings made in 2009, previously unreleased.- Two wonderful voices, ranking among the best in this particular field (Italian vocal baroque music): Gemma Bertagnolli and Susanne Rydén, backed by the period instruments ensemble Harmonices Mundi/Claudio Astronio.- Shop: odax
- Price: 12.53 EUR excl. shipping
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Duets
Alessandro Stradella led a particularly colourful life worthy of a sumptuous Hollywood costume drama. Born in Nepi in around 1639, he had become a successful composer in Rome by the time he was 20 years old. Among his more adventurous day-to-day pursuits were his attempt to embezzle money from the Catholic Church, his affairs with the wives and mistresses of important members of the aristocracy, and his occasional need to flee cities in order to escape his would-be aggressors. Unbelievably, Stradella still found time to write more than 300 compositions including operas, oratorios, instrumental music and chamber works.This special collection brings together the vocal duets of this audacious and prolific composer. The duets - each of which is difficult to pinpoint in the chronology of Stradella's output - are written for varying pairs of voices, sometimes at the same pitch and sometimes at differing pitches. Rather than adopting a hard and fast rule for the composition of the works, Stradella has let the text govern the manner in which the vocal lines are played out, and many of the works include imitation between the two voices (Si, quella tu sei che il mio cor sempre adoro is unique in that it presents a dialogue between the two characters). Also featuring Trionfate, invitti colli, the trio for two sopranos and bass, the collection brings together esteemed singers Susanne Rydén, Emma Kirkby, Sergio Foresti, Christine Marsoner and Alessio Tosi interpret the repertoire in varying combinations. The instrumentalists are the acclaimed early ensemble Harmonices Mundi, directed by Claudio Astronio.Other information:- Recorded 2013.- Two Early Music Divas in Duets by Stradella: Emma Kirkby and Susanne Rydén!- The music by Alessandro Stradella is gaining rapidly in recognition and popularity. The composer's extremely adventurous life (he was a lady-killer, who himself was murdered in the end by a revengeful rival) and his equally adventurous music presents a forceful image of a fascinating and important figure of the Italian Baroque.- Kirkby and Rydén sing duets on secular texts, mini cantatas dealing with the eternal topics of love, sorrow, bliss and betrayal.- Baroque specialist Claudio Astronio leads his own ensemble Harmonices Mundi, playing on original instruments.- Contains notes on the composer and about the historical violone and transcriptions used for the recording.- Shop: odax
- Price: 11.54 EUR excl. shipping
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Oratorio della SS Vergine
Oratorio della SS Vergine - Jonas : Oratorios- Shop: odax
- Price: 15.44 EUR excl. shipping
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Music of John Hopkins
Olivia Robinson Originally from Salisbury, Olivia Robinson has sung with various consorts, ensembles and choirs, including the Sixteen, Polyphony and The English Concert under Trevor Pinnock, performing all over the UK and Europe. She has been a full-time member of the BBC Singers since 2003 where she works with conductors including Pierre Boulez, Gianandrea Noseda and Richard Hickox, performing a huge breadth of repertoire ranging from Byrd and Tallis to new commissions by Sir Harrison Birtwistle and James MacMillan to name two. Highlights of her solo work for the BBC include singing the role of Procula, Pilate's Wife, in the world premiere performance and broadcast of Francis Grier's The Passion of Jesus of Nazareth, and Mozart's C Minor Mass live on Radio 3 and across the European Broadcasting Union. She has also recently recorded Judith Bingham's Irish Tenebrae on CD. Outside the BBC, her solo repertoire includes Handel's Messiah and Dixit Dominus and various oratorios, Bach's B Minor Mass, St John Passion, Magnificat and Christmas Oratorio, Haydn's Creation and The Seasons, Mozart's Solemn Vespers, Requiem and C Minor Mass, Mendelssohn's Elijah, Szymanowski's Stabat Mater and Verdi's Requiem. John Hopkins John Hopkins was born in 1949, at Polegate in Sussex, and educated at Lewes Grammar School and University College, Cardiff, where his teachers included Alun Hoddinott and Arnold Whittall. John took his B.Mus in 1973 and M.Mus in 1974, and then went on to study at the Dartington Summer Schools with Peter Maxwell Davies, who commissioned The Cloud of Unknowing for the Fires of London in 1979. From 1976 - 78, John Hopkins worked as music organiser at the Arnolfini Gallery in Bristol, before becoming composer-in-residence for Eastern Arts. Following a period of free-lancing, He now teaches music for the Education Faculty of Cambridge University and also works as Director of Music at Homerton College, where he is a Fellow. In 1983, his piano concerto The Magic Mountain was chosen for the ISCM Festival in Denmark, and the BBC commissioned White Winter, Black Spring for the 1985 Huddersfield Festival. Faustus, for large orchestra, was also commissioned in 1986 for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Other works have been commissioned by the Kings Lynn and Aldeburgh Festivals. The Double Concerto for trumpet, saxophone and orchestra was written in 1994 for John Wallace, John Harle and the City of London Sinfonia, who premiered it, conducted by Richard Hickox. From 1996, John studied for a D.Phil with Martin Butler at Sussex University, graduating in 2000. The central work of his submission, The Floating World for mezzo-soprano is scheduled for performance in November 2008 by Olivia Ray and the K.239 Chamber Orchestra. The University of Hertfordshire commissioned Akhmatova Songs in 2005, and featured this along with the other works on this disc in the University's annual festival of performances and commissions-Mayfest 2008.- Shop: odax
- Price: 21.48 EUR excl. shipping
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Blessed
These two outstanding musicians found each other through their love for music. Sandra and Gregory Maytan perform regularly together and give diverse programs and workshops on a high level. Välsignad" (Swedish for "blessed") features some of the oldest prayers, with and without words, of our Western civilization. Having been endowed with powers that transcend imagination, music is one of the most exalted blessings we possess. In the world's Holy Scriptures, music has been compared with being a "ladder for the soul". Depending on the motivation and skill of the composer, the artist and the audience, it has been given the power to heal and beautify, to refine, inspire and uplift. In order to truly grasp and experience the power and uniqueness of music, we need to allow for times of complete silence and meditation, even solitude, just as we need periods of fasting to enjoy the finest repast. Being somewhat remote from this physical world, music can also remind us of the mysterious state of "pre-existence" that many claim pre-dated all creation. The role of music in creation is expressed most beautifully in this ancient Arabic legend: When God created Adam, he first created his soul - pure, beautiful and radiant. He then bowed down and took red clay and dust from the earth into both of His hands, forming Adam's body. Adam's soul, with it's holy and refined nature, rejected the dirt and dust it was now expected to embrace. In order not to disrupt the purity of Adam's soul, God ordered a group of Angels to descend into Adam's body and to perform a heavenly concert. The moment Adam experienced the first sounds of their ethereal melodies, he fell into an ecstatic trance. Soon afterwards, the Angels ascended to their heavenly home, leaving Adam's divinely enchanted soul to bless and accompany him as he fulfilled his earthly destiny. Sandra Maytan is an emerging young singer and pianist with a richness of vocal expression. She currently teaches voice and piano at the Valparaiso University Partners for Music Program. Born and raised in Germany she studied Music Education, majoring in piano with Prof. Herbert Schmidt at the Franz Liszt Music Conservatoire in Weimar where she worked and performed repeatedly as an accompanist and soloist. She continued her voice studies with Countertenor Alejandro Garri in Frankfurt, Germany, where she appeared as a featured soloist at the Kronberg Summer Festival. During that time she premiered several contemporary oratorios and appeared as a soloist in Germany, Luxembourg, Austria, Sweden and England. Upon moving to the United States with her husband, Gergory Maytan, she continued her vocal studies with Prof. Patricia Stiles at Bloomington IU and Tracy Watson at Roosevelt University. This coming fall, Sandra Maytan will be performing among others Mahler's "Songs of a wandring wayfarer" with the LaPorte Symphony Orchestra. Gregory Maytan joined the Valparaiso University faculty as Assistant Professor of Music in 2006. He performs regularly as a soloist chamber and orchestral musician. Maytan has performed extensively in Europe and the US, playing about 50 recitals a year. Upcoming engagements include multiple performances of the Paganini Violin Concerto no 1 with orchestras in Nevada, Indiana, Sweden and China and participation in the prestigious chamber music festivals 'Musikveckan' in Junsele, Sweden and the InterHarmony International Music Festival in Schwarzwald, Germany. Maytan's recent CD, consisting of music from his native Scandinavia was lauded by the Classical Voice of North Carolina for it's 'great artistry' and noted that the performance is 'as polished as any listener could desire'. It was selected by The Strad is the top recital CD of April, 2009 and highly praised by Strings Magazine. Maytan was recently a semi-finalist in the Schadt competition in Pennsylvania. He has participated in the International Chamber Music Festival in Vienna, Austria, where he was a featured prize winner and has placed and been awarded significant cash awards in the Swedish Royal Academy's competition for post-graduate violinists during the years 2006, 2007 and 2008. He has performed and toured with numerous orchestras, and his concerts have been broadcast on radio and television in the U.S. and Europe. He has participated in masterclasses with Zakhar Bron, Leonidas Kavakos and Michela Martin. He earned his doctorate in violin performance from the Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington, where he studied with the renowned violinists Miriam Fried and Paul Biss. Other teachers include Igor Petruschevski (London), Federico Agostini (Bloomington) and Alexander Kerr (Bloomington). He performs on a Stefano Scarampella violin from 1896.- Shop: odax
- Price: 25.49 EUR excl. shipping
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Handel In Italy-Cantatas,Arias,Serenata
This 14-CD set showcases works from Handel's short but astonishingly productive time in Italy in his twenties, just before he settled in London. His travels around the country provided him with the opportunity to meet a number of influential contemporaries, and the results of this compositional flourishing are wide-ranging, from opera via instrumental music to secular cantatas. This release focuses particularly on the latter, affording the listener a fascinating glimpse into the first appearance of many melodic ideas which would later resurface in Handel's mature dramatic works. Indeed, listeners might well feel as though they are listening to scenes from operas - cantatas were a means, at the time, of circumventing the ban on opera in Rome. The familiar theme of the joys and sorrows of love pervades much of the music, but the pieces are richly varied, particularly in their scoring: we hear flutes, recorders, oboes, bassoons, trumpets and the full contingent of strings, including viola da gamba, in numerous different combinations. Often, the orchestral forces for a particular piece are modest, but the emotional depth that Handel draws out is always striking. A high-calibre, international roster of soloists and ensembles performs the works, with many of the compositions for soprano sung by Stefanie True, whose "vocal agility, accurate intonation and stylish ornamentation are spot-on in this repertoire" (Music Web International). Meanwhile, early music specialists Contrasto Armonico bring "soft and warm sonorities" to the set (Gramophone). This set presents an extensive collection of works which George Frideric Handel wrote during his short but astoundingly fruitful stay in Italy. Here he met the great composers of the day, imbuing the rich Italian style, full of drama, cantabile and instrumental brilliance. The set's focus is on the secular Cantatas, all of them mini-operas in scale and substance, dealing with human emotions of love, jealousy, hope and despair. The influence of Handel's stay in Italy can be found in many of his great operas and oratorios he later wrote in London. Apart from the Cantatas the set includes a selection of Italian Duets, and the Serenata Aci, Galatea & Polifemo. Excellent performances in Historically Informed Performance Practice, by Contrasto Armonico, Musica Perduta and specialist vocal soloists. Recorded between 1988 and 2014. Contains liner notes written by Philip Borg-Wheeler.- Shop: odax
- Price: 47.33 EUR excl. shipping
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