Countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński Breakdances & Sings For Pepsi Beat

Breakout opera-star Jakub Józef Orliński dances and adds vocals to a new track called "Never Alone" (Nigdy Sam) in a newly-released music video from Warner Music Poland. Known for his high-flying vocal ornamentations of undiscovered Baroque music, the young countertenor is also a well-skilled breakdancer. He puts his beat skills to the test in the high-energy track. Launched to fame with a YouTube performance that went viral (currently at nearly 6 million views...) of Vivaldi's "Vedrò con mio diletto" from Il Giustino, the Juilliard School of Music alumni has become a darling of Europe performing on several tours with Il Pomo d'Oro with whom he has recorded two albums. Check out the discs here. During the time of COVID-19, the Polish singer has done a recital for Aix-en-Provence and concerts with Capella Cracoviensis in Świdnica. Upcoming engagements include a pastiche project staged by Robert Carsen at Dans les Jardins de William Christie Festival in Thiré, France, and a charity concert at Teatr Wielki Opera Narodowa in September.

"Never Alone" (Nigdy Sam) is the second, after the hit 'Where You,' the musical version of the Pepsi Taste The Beat project. Sir Mich again took up the production  and invited a line-up that could only be created on this platform. The first element of this surprising puzzle is Sarius, a top Polish rapper who has taken the Polish scene by storm in recent years. Another is BARANOVSKI, a discovery and great hope for ambitious pop. This absolutely magical trio is complemented by the participation of the repeatedly awarded and delighting countertenor - Jakub Józef Orliński. 'Never Alone' is a pulsating kaleidoscope of talents infecting with positive energy. The publisher of the song is Warner Music Poland and Papaya Films is responsible for the production of the clip directed by  Marcin Starzecki."

"Pepsi Taste The Beat is a timeless music project for those who love music, have their own taste, value their taste and are energized by the energy that lies in beating. This is where we break with the routine, discover the undiscovered, appreciate our sights, cultivate spontaneity and follow our passions! Meet the non-obvious collaborations of artists and a surprising mix of sounds over genres. Get to know a new phenomenon on the Polish music scene. Get carried away by the urban sound. Try this unconventional approach to the subject. This is lifestyle. This is what the city sounds like. This is what Pepsi sounds like. Listen to your taste."

Watch the full video for "Never Alone," the famous "Vedrò" clip, and other videos Jakub has worked on during the quarantine time, after the jump.

[Source, Source, Source]

Warner Classics Capitalizes On Natalie Dessay Discography

As Natalie Dessay makes the decision to exit the opera stage forever, her record label searches the archives to release a compilation pulled from her career over the last 15 years of singing Bach, Händel, Rameau, and Monteverdi with Emmanuelle Haïm and William Christie. The 2-CD set also comes with a DVD featuring Ms. Dessay in Händel's Alcina. The release is set for November 6. You can pre-order your copy by clicking here. See the complete track list after the jump.

Sabine Devieilhe Follows The Love Mozart Had For Weber Sisters

Mozart was in love with three sisters of the Weber family: Josepha, Aloysia and Konstanze. He wrote music for all of the muses (and their high tessituras) during the last 14 years of his life. This new recording, Sabine Devieilhe's second solo disc for Erato, features conductor Raphaël Pichon and Pygmalion creating a journey of Mozart's amorous awaking for these women as told through music that is bold, dangerous, naive and tormented. Some of the featured tracks include: "Der Hölle Rache" from Die Zauberflöte; "Non so d'onde viene" K.294; "Io non chiedo, eterni Dei" K.316; "Nehmt meinen Dank" KV 483; "Ah, vous dirais-je maman"; and more. Due out November 6, you can pre-order this limited edition disc by clicking here. Watch a video of the recording session after the jump.

Warner Classics Marks 100th Birthday Of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf

In honor of the late German soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf's 100th birthday this year, Warner Music is releasing a deluxe edition box set of her complete recitals recorded between 1954-1974 with original cover art: "Die große Elisabeth Schwarzkopf schrieb nicht nur fast vier Jahrzehnte Gesangs- und Schallplattengeschichte. Sie war auch eine der ersten Sängerinnen überhaupt, die die Platte als eigenständiges künstlerisches Medium nutzten. Zusammen mit ihrem Ehe-mann, dem legendären EMI-Produzenten Walter Legge, konzipierte sie das Repertoire ihrer Schallplatten so akribisch wie Konzertprogramme. Zum 100. Geburtstag der Jahrhundert-Sängerin erscheinen diese Recitals nun erstmals in ursprünglicher Programmgestaltung und originalem LP-Artwork als Deluxe-Edition - remastert anhand der Originalbänder unter Leitung des Tonmeisters der Callas-Edition. Generationen von Musikliebhabern kennen Elisabeth Schwarzkopfs berühmte Aufnahmen, die sie bei ihrem Stammlabel EMI produzierte. Doch fast niemals waren die Originalprogramme der LP-Recitals auf CD erhältlich, da meist durch Füller erweitert. Bis jetzt! Zwischen 1952 und 1974 nahm die 2006 verstorbene Künstlerin eine Fülle von akribisch konzipierten Programmen auf – jedes einzelne ein diskografischer Meilenstein: Vertreten sind ihre berühmten Strauss-Orchesterlieder, Klavierlieder von Schubert, Schumann, Wolf und Strauss, dramaturgisch aufgebaute Programme großer Opernarien von Gluck über Mozart bis Wagner, einige wie die Brahms-Volkslieder oder Wolfs Italie-nisches Liederbuch interpretiert an der Seite des großen Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. Besonderer Höhepunkt dieses Vermächtnisses, das mit einem Schubert-Album aus dem Jahre 1952 beginnt, ist der Live-Mitschnitt des legendären Konzerts zu Ehren von Gerald Moore in der Royal Festival Hall 1967 – mit Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau und Victoria de Los Angeles." [Source] See more about the Maria Callas box set released by Warner Classics last year by clicking here. Learn more about Elisabeth Schwarzkopf by clicking here and to pre-order the new box (set due for international release on November 13, 2015) click here. If you can't wait for the box set, perhaps this tasty morsel will whet your appetite. See details of the Warner Classics box set contents after the jump.

Watch Anja Harteros Record "O Patria Mia" For Warner Classics

"This magnificent recording of Aida, made in Rome, rises to all the musical and dramatic challenges presented by Verdi’s richly-coloured Egyptian epic. Antonio Pappano, once again proving his mastery of Italian opera, moves between sumptuous grandeur and touching intimacy. The responses of the Orchestra e Coro dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia are both immediate and vibrant, while the singers – Anja Harteros, Jonas Kaufmann, Ekaterina Semenchuk, Ludovic Tézier and Erwin Schrott – do justice to every facet of their roles." [Source] Watch Anja Harteros sing "O Patria Mia" from Aida, as well as more excerpts from the recording session along with interviews with the artists, after the jump.

Natalie Dessay Rejoins Philippe Cassard For "Fiançailles pour rire"

The Happy Couple: Natalie Dessay and Philippe Cassard
make a musical "marriage" made in heaven for Erato. 
Pre-order the disc by clicking here.

"For their second Warner Classics album of French song - a follow-up to the Debussy CD they released in 2011 - soprano Natalie Dessay and pianist Philippe Cassard have adopted the title of Francis Poulenc's song cycle Fiançailles pour rire (A betrothal for fun). Poulenc's compact, charming and touching cycle, composed in 1939 to poems by Louise de Vilmorin, is programmed with some of the best-loved mélodies in the repertoire, such as Fauré's 'Après un rêve', 'Mandoline', and 'En sourdine', Duparc's 'Invitation au voyage' and 'Au pays où se fait la guerre', and Chausson's 'Le temps des lilas' and 'Chanson perpetuelle'. In 2013, Natalie Dessay announced that she was leaving the opera stage, but since then her inimitable vocal and dramatic talents have been showcased in the music of Michel Legrand - in concerts of his songs (and the Warner Classics CD 'Entre elle et lui') and in a semi-staged version of Les parapluies de Cherbourg (available on a Warner Classics DVD) - and in further live recitals with Philippe Cassard....On this new disc she can also enjoy the company of some old friends: in Chausson's 'Chanson perpetuelle' she is joined by the Quatuor Ebène (who welcomed her as a guest artist on their best-selling Fiction album back in 2010) and by the bass-baritone Laurent Naouri - who is, as it happens, her husband. Naouri also duets with her on the final track of the album, Poulenc's haunting 'Colloque', a setting of words by Paul Valéry. 'There can be no doubt as to Natalie Dessay's intelligence as an interpreter and her finesse as a musician,' wrote the French magazine Diapason when the Debussy album was released, also praising Philippe Cassard for playing that was 'warm and eloquent, and not prone to the

Single Lady: Dessay last month in a monologue of Howard Barker
 directed by Jacques Vincey with sets by Mathieu Lorry-Dupuy.
 She will reprise the character at the Festival Paris Quartier
d'été starting July 21, 2015.

mistiness of would-be Impressionism or to outbursts of sentiment.' 'Dessay has a real relationship with Cassard,' wrote the American magazine Opera News, 'He is the rare pianist, in Debussy's songs or in his piano music, who understands that Debussy wrote genuine contrapuntal lines that are not meant to be negated by washes of pedal.' The magic of the Dessay-Cassard partnership was captured by The Telegraph after they gave a recital at Wigmore Hall in London in 2012: 'The second half began with Chabrier's hesitantly beautiful 'Chanson pour Jeanne' [also on the new CD] and Chausson's rapturous 'Le temps de lilas'. But the highlight was Dessay's veiled and shimmering account of Duparc's masterpiece 'L'Invitation au voyage', in which her vision of Baudelaire's 'luxe, calme et volupté' dissolved into the deep velvet cushioning of Philippe Cassard's wonderfully soft-textured pianism ... Like Shakespeare's Cleopatra, Dessay makes hungry where most she satisfies. Her singing never moves straight forward; it avoids the obvious, the clear-cut, it treats words as if they were paint. And in her throat, these mélodies remain a mystery, a realm in which shadow counts for more than light.'" [Source, Source] The complete track list is after the jump.

Anne Sofie Von Otter Leads New CD Releases For Spring 2015

"Aida" With Kaufmann And Harteros Gets 8-Month Lead Time Hype

Australian magazine Limelight discusses the most recent recording of Verdi's Aida for Warner Classics, featuring Jonas Kaufmann, Anja Harteros, Ekaterina Semenchuk, and Erwin Schrott under the baton of Antonio Pappano, due in October 2015. Those lucky enough to be in Rome can attend a concert on February 27 of the opera with the cast. Tickets available here. "Over the past two decades the number of studio recordings produced by the world’s biggest record labels of grand operas has dwindled. However a new studio recording of Verdi’s epic masterpiece Aida being produced by Warner Classics and featuring an all star cast proves that the tradition of recording large scale operatic works in the studio is still alive. What’s more, the new recording, due for release in October this year, will boast an authentically Italian provenance with conductor Sir Antonio Pappano at the helm. Pappano, who since 2005 has been Music Director of the Orchestra and Chorus of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, featured on this new recording, is a seasoned hand with Verdi repertoire. This will be the conductor’s second studio recording of a Verdi opera, after his 2002 release of Il Trovatore. His Warner Classics catalogue also contains an award-winning Santa Cecilia version of Verdi’s monumental Requiem. Pappano has assembled an extraordinary cast of similarly experienced Verdi performers, although two notable leads will be making their Aida debuts. In the title role, German soprano and former Cardiff Singer of the World champion

Anja Harteros has firmly established her Verdi credentials having appeared in productions of La traviata, Il trovatore, Simon Boccanegra, La forza del destino, Don Carlo and Otello. This will however be her first time performing the role of the Ethopian princess. Starring opposite Harteros will be superstar tenor Jonas Kaufmann, who is no stranger to Verdi’s heroic leads himself, although this too will be the tenor’s Aida debut in the role of the Egyptian warrior Radamès." [Source] Read the full article here. See an interview with Maestro Pappano, and a video of the recording session, after the jump.

Diana Damrau Fans Flames With Vocal Pyrotechnics For Erato

The artwork and track listing was previously revealed for Diana Damrau's forthcoming release Fiamma del Belcanto. Now the Warner Classics label gives us an inside look at the recording process in a new EPK. "In her first recital album devoted entirely to Italian opera, soprano Diana Damrau takes the golden age of bel canto, the early 19th century, as the starting point for an exploration of theatrical and musical passion that leads to the high-octane verismo drama of the 1890s. Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi, Puccini and Leoncavallo are lit up by her coloratura pyrotechnics and dramatic prowess." [Source] Watch the EPK in full, and see two new publicity photos for the album, after the jump.

New Orleans Tenor Bryan Hymel Returns Home To Celebrate

Tenor Bryan Hymel (center) with conductor Emmanuel Villaume (right) during the recording session for Héroîque

"Bryan Hymel returns to New Orleans for a free mini-recital and major label CD-release party at Loyola University on March 1. The superstar tenor and New Orleans native is fresh from similar events in London and Paris where he previewed material from Héroïque, his debut recording for WarnerClassics. Hymel's New Orleans appearance will be the first CD promotional event in North America, with further appearances planned for Philadelphia and New York (where he is a Metropolitan Opera regular). 'I can't wait to sing these French arias in New Orleans -- it's the kind of repertoire that makes me think of the old French Opera House in the Quarter,' Hymel said. 'It fits my voice, and it fits my throat. Maybe it's genetic. It's New Orleans music from the era when the city was the capital of opera in the U.S.' Sadly, the French Opera House went up in flames a century ago..." [Source] Click here for more information about the album Héroïque. Watch Bryan Hymel recording a high note shattering version of 'Amis, amis, secondez ma vengeance,' from Guillaume Tell, and a behind-the-scenes video of the recording session that features his wife, Greek soprano Irini Kyriakidou, after the jump.

New King of the High C's: Bryan Hymel recording his album of French arias in Prague

Natalie Dessay Basking In The Glow Of Her Second Singing Career

No High Notes Required: Natalie Dessay sings with the band at Château de Versailles

"This new collection showcasing 20 years of recordings from this most versatile of artists including classical, opera and songs from musicals – includes previously unreleased track 'Bebe'. Natalie Dessay defies categorisation. Over a 20-year career the multi-faceted soprano has risen to the most diverse challenges, brilliantly fleshing out the great Romantic coloratura roles,

savouring the delights of the Baroque, and moving with equal aplomb from comic opera to bel canto and from French art song to French (and Brazilian) pop song. An uncommonly human Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte, she has sparkled lovingly in Lakmé and descended into harrowing madness as Ophélie and Lucia di Lammermoor; and just as she has brought Manon to vivid life, she has experienced all Violetta’s passion and pain in La traviata. With her shining eyes, Dessay is a tiny slip of woman who radiates charisma. She has often taken a stand against operatic convention and diva clichés, impudently daring to talk about the trials of her profession, including stagefright and the frantic demands of juggling the roles of star, woman and mother. Then there is her recurring frustration at the essential mismatch between a dramatic temperament suited to the great tragic heroines and a voice predisposed to the roles of singing doll or willing victim. But though her voice has always been light, it has never been lacking in juice, and the purity of her top notes – cleaving like daggers – her quicksilver virtuosity, and her supreme musicianship have given her the power to cast an irresistible spell. It took years for her to accept herself for what she had always been. In 1997, when she told an interviewer that 'There is more

to life than top notes', people thought she was being precious; she was in fact expressing profound disquiet. Over the course of a career that imposed operations on her vocal cords in 2003 and 2005, Dessay has come to the conclusion that 'the interplay of physiological skills and characterisation is as about as thrilling as something can get.' A perfectionist who is also prone to impulse, this great French singer has brought something new to her roles through her still unfulfilled passion for the straight theatre, an art form that remains a defining force for her: it was, after all, as a student actress that she first discovered her talent as a singer. She has now succeeded in resolving the dichotomies within her, uniting her personality and her voice by choosing to move away from opera. Since 2013 she has reinvented herself with recitals of French art song (notably Debussy with the pianist Philippe Cassard), with popular song and musicals (above all in her collaboration with the pianist and composer Michel Legrand), and even with Brazilian music (in the company of three sisters-under-the-skin, the singers Helena Noguerra and Agnès Jaoui and the guitarist Liat Cohen). Her commitment to each genre has been characteristically unreserved. Of one thing we can be sure: Natalie Dessay, in all her

infinite artistic variety, has many more delicious surprises in store." [Source] And out soon is a new DVD of the chanteuse in concert: "Two icons of French song – Natalie Dessay and Michel Legrand – follow the huge worldwide success of their album Entre Elle et Lui with a DVD of the very special concert on the 11th June 2014 at the Orangerie of the Château de Versailles. This is a unique collaboration from two giants of French music. The CD release in 2013 was hotly anticipated and received great critical acclaim upon its release. Natalie Dessay brings her lyrical voice and fresh interpretations to a selection of some of Michel Legrand’s best-loved songs including 'La Valse des Lilas', 'Les moulins de mon cœur' (Windmills of Your Mind), 'Duo de Guy et Geneviève', 'Papa Can You Hear Me' and many more." [Source] Watch highlights from the concert, and see a few more photos, after the jump. 

Dessay à la Streisand: The soprano sings "Papa can you hear me?"

Warner Classics Gives Inside Look To Callas Remaster Process

See the earlier feature about Maria Callas and Warner Classics by clicking here. 

Learn more about the remastering process by clicking here.

Decca Veteran Charged With Remastering Complete Callas Catalog

Maria Callas with Nanni Ricordi in 1958. She recorded
Cherubini's Medea at La Scala with Tullio Serafin for
Dischi Ricordi on Mercury label equipment flown in
from New York. Warner Classics now owns the rights.

When the compact disc revolution began to hit the classical music world in the early 1980s, many labels looked to their back catalogs for a treasure trove of riches. The process by which they went about reviving some of the great masters was a bit painstaking to say the least. First the old analog master tapes had to be located and transferred into a new digitally encoded master. "The digital process merely translates everything on the old tape - hiss, bumpy splices, bad balances and mixes, deterioration of tape oxide - onto a new tape. Sometimes the sound is beefed up with added reverberation, filtering of high and low frequencies (to eliminate hiss and rumble) and occasionally a touch of compression (ostensibly to protect your home system from the shock of dynamic extremes)....After the recording to be reprocessed has been designated, the balance engineer assigned to the project goes back to the original

The original British cover art has been faithfully reproduced.
For more information about the release, click here.

master tape to see what shape its in. First he determines what sort of equipment it was recorded on, so it can be played back on the same system (otherwise, hiss becomes intolerable). He then looks it over for oxide deterioration, for weak or sticky splice joints, and other signs of age and/or wear. It must be remembered that producers and engineers counted on certain flaws on the master tape - poor splices, extraneous noises such as subways or outside ground and air traffic, musicians coughing, even distortion - vanishing in the general swooshing of the vinyl on the turntable....If the splice is too sticky, the tapes has to be thoroughly cleaned. If the oxide has fallen off, another copy of the master must be raided to supply the affected area. If a

Maria Callas with EMI producer Walter Legge during a break recording Ponchielli's La Gioconda. Legge is one of the few people whom could try to produce on vinyl what the Callas voice sounded like in person. An engineer working on the project today, would be working with a ghostly memory of the soprano if they had heard her live at all.

splice is too crude (as occasionally happened), it has to be targeted for attention later in the process. Then the analog master is converted to digital. Any digital cleaning up of poor

Kiri Te Kanawa Celebrates Over 50 Years Of Recording

"New Zealand soprano comes up with a staid celebration of 50 years in the recording studio. Te Kanawa's creamy lyric soprano was not made to evoke the malevolent sea monsters of Te Taniwha. Max Cryer's liner notes for Dame Kiri Te Kanawa's Waiata make an engaging read. He provides another succinct introduction to the thorny issue of "Maori song" (as he did for Te Kanawa's 1999 Maori Songs) followed by notes on individual tracks. This is a celebration of the soprano's half-century recording career, enlisting the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the University of Auckland Chamber Choir, in arrangements by Carl (Piano by Candlelight) Doy. In time for Christmas, Waiata is an unabashed stocking-stuffer, offering minimal rewards for those with a respect for the achievements of this singer. Beside it, her earlier Maori Songs CD, which occasioned a few giggles and squirms in its time, takes on classic status. It had stronger songs and Te Kanawa's voice was 14 years younger. Its ethnic trimmings of kapa haka groups (including Mahinarangi Tocker and George Henare) and a wash of taonga puoro now seem positively piquant. Waiata is a staid affair. Doy's arrangements have fleeting moments of inspiration, with a few impressive Mantovani string clusters, but tinkling piano and churning rhythmic ostinati try the patience, along with overlooked production glitches."[Source] In addition to the new release of Waiata by Sony (set globally for March 2014), other labels such as Warner Classics (featuring former EMI Classics material) and Decca (featuring former Philips Classics material) are reissuing box-sets of their own to commemorate the occasion. Check out the beautiful editions after the jump.