Various Artists - Black Pierrot - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

With InchPremière PortraitsInch Capriccio set an example for the support of young and talented artists and invite them to their première album for a worldwide audience. Melba Ramos, Puerto-Rican Soprano, studied at Pablo Casals Conservatory of Music in San Juan, capital city of her home country. She distinguished herself by winning several opera singing prizes. After being active at the Opera Studios in Cologne and in Wuppertal, she made her way as coloratura soprano to the Ensemble of the Volksoper in Vienna in 2003 to which she is still dedicated today. In parallel, numerous guest engagements led Melba Ramos to esteemed places to work at as the Komische Oper Berlin, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden and further Opera Houses in cities such as Bonn, Mannheim, Bremen, Kassel, Hamburg, Hannover, Saarbrücken, Nuremberg and many more.

Ten years of Revue Blanche. That's ten years of making music together. At the occasion of this anniversary, the ensemble is going back to their roots to vibrant turn-of-the-century Paris, where a luscious body of music emerged that has occupied a central place in Revue Blanche's repertoire since the very start. Misia Sert became our guide. Walking in her tracks, Revue Blanche paid a call on Villa Servais in Halle - where she spent her childhood - and played a Polish song by her grave in Samoureau, near Valvins. While they encountered many iconic masters enchanted by her, she also put them on the track of lesser-known composers. With every step and every gem their curiosity grew, Misia seducing them to go beyond what they'd initially imagined. The present recording is Revue Blanche's homage to this fiery, unbridled spirit who - by devoting her life to the arts - perennially inspires others to do so as well. The ensemble found working on this album a challenge as well as a saving grace in a year without concerts. The involuntary break from the stage allowed them to focus on the recording process, where they applied ourselves to making Misia a perfect tribute. Now it's finally here, our hope is that the soundsketch of this grande dame, who truly mastered the art of bringing people together, will help answering to the profound need for beauty and connection felt by many.

Mezzo-soprano Kitty Whately trained at Chetham's School of Music, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and the International Opera School of the Royal College of Music. Having won both the Kathleen Ferrier Award and Royal Overseas League Award in the same year, she attended the prestigious Academy of the Verbier Festival. She writes of this project 'It has been my great pleasure to record with Joseph once again. We have long shared a mutual passion for early-twentieth-century-romantic Lieder and talked of making a disc including songs by Mahler and Strauss. The opportunity to discover and research lesser-known composers from their era has been thrilling and fascinating. As the world endured the pandemic, we all experienced fear and danger and loss in a way that most of our generation never did before, on such a global scale. Joseph and I felt drawn to reflect on grief, mortality, and bereavement.' The two lesser-known composers featured in the recording are Johanna Müller-Hermann (who studied with several of the most prominent teachers in Vienna - Josef Labor, Guido Adler, Alexander Zemlinsky, Josef Bohuslav Foerster, Franz Schmidt) and Margarete Schweikert, who's upbringing and life in Karlsruhe and studies with Joseph Haas in Stuttgart could hardly provide a greater contrast - clearly audible in their music.