Michael Spyres - Amici E Rivali - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Having met as McGill University students in the mid-2000s, Ryshpan, bassist Nicolas Bédard and drummer Mark Nelson have spent the past decade forging their own careers as active bandleaders and freelancers. Bédard won the Rimouski Jazz Festival Grand Prize in 2012, and is a member of the award-winning Emie R Roussel Trio. He also teaches in Rimouski and Quebec City. Nelson has appeared on the drum throne with artists as varied as Elizabeth Shepherd, Parc-X Trio and Cordâme, in addition to leading his own band, Sympathetic Frequencies. He is a frequent collaborator with Ryshpan, appearing in the song cycle Alicuanta. Since forming Trio Bruxo, Ryshpan has developed a notoriety in the Brazilian music community at large, having toured in Jorge Ben Jor's band and recorded on Cézar Mendes' highly praised debut album (produced by Marisa Monte and Mario Caldato Jr.). He has toured extensively with Haitian MC Vox Sambou. Trio Bruxo have served as a rhythm section for vocalists Rael, Jean Rohe, Rômmel Ribeiro, and Isaac Neto as well as trumpet luminary Brownman Ali. The album is bookended by a set of variations on InchCheguei, meu povo,Inch the anthem of Maracatú Nação Estrela Brilhante de Recife. InchThe initial catalyst of this project was to understand what made these traditional songs work on a melodic level,Inch Ryshpan says. Trombonist and composer Jean- Nicolas Trottier urged Ryshpan to use theme and variations as a process of discovery and research. The final InchElectric VariationInch was the result of extra studio time and complicity with his fellow bruxos. The maracatú influences are equally present in the title track, with a nod to the flag iconography in many toadas (call-and-response chants) and the one-man percussion section of special guest Sacha Daoud. Ryshpan composed the majority of this repertoire during a tumultuous time in Brazilian politics the final mon

Michael Spyres's new album, recorded with the fabulous Il Pomo d'Oro under Francesco Corti, features works by Handel, Hasse, Mazzoni, Pergolesi, Porpora, Sarro, Scarlatti, Vinci, Vivaldi, and more - spanning even to Mozart. He states, InchIn truth, this album's concept was born out of my research to find the absolute extremes of the human voice whether it be yodeling, tuvian throat singing, overtone singing, or the many categories of the classical voice. There has never been an album dedicated to this era of vocal history which is by all accounts uncategorizable by the fach system not to mention virtually unsingable to most singers in the present dayInch.

An album with a mission to defy classification, BariTenor is a tour de force for Michael Spyres. It ranges wide, encompassing repertoire normally assigned to both tenors and baritones. Programming 18 arias by 15 composers, it covers three centuries of opera in Italian, French and German, setting mainstream works beside relative rarities, and rediscovering Étienne Méhul's Ariodant, first heard in 1799. Michael Spyres has achieved renown as a multi-faceted tenor, but 'baritenor' is the term he uses to describe his voice, which balances brilliant high notes with a robust lower register. InchHaving started off as a baritone, I spent 10 years turning myself into a tenor. Voices like mine have existed as long as opera has existed, and the entire programme of this album is linked by the baritenor technique. I am making an honest attempt to explore the baritenor as a forgotten vocal phenomenon... For me, this album is more than a dream come true.Inch Joining Spyres are the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg under it's Chief Conductor Marko Letonja, and the male singers of the chorus of the Opéra du Rhin.