Milestones is a cross-genre project by violinist Hugo Ticciati and the O/Modernt Chamber Orchestra, bringing together music by Josquin des Prez, Igor Stravinsky, and Miles Davis. Conceived around shared anniversary years, the album reflects O/Modernt's practice of placing music from different periods and traditions into direct conversation. Instrumental arrangements and collaborative performances draw attention to common ground between Renaissance polyphony, early modernism, and jazz, particularly in approaches to rhythm, texture, and improvisation. Recorded in Germany and the UK in 2021, the project documents an ensemble-led approach that emphasises attentive listening, flexible roles for soloists, and collective music-making across stylistic boundaries.

Winner of the Dame Joan Sutherland Audience Prize at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition, the British mezzo-soprano Katie Bray has become known for her magnetic stage presence and gleaming, expressive tone. Katie writes: 'Youkali, It is the land of our desires, It is happiness, it is pleasure... But it is a dream, a folly, There is no Youkali! This song was my first encounter with Kurt Weill, more than twenty years ago, and that yearning, mesmerising tango has been a constant companion ever since. The sentiment behind 'Youkali' touched me deeply, and seemed to echo Weill's own search for a place of personal and artistic freedom, a German Jew forced into exile in 1933 owing to the rise of the Nazi regime. He moved around the world, and with each new country came a reinvention of himself and some more miraculous musical shape-shifting. 'Youkali' is Weill's 'Somewhere over the rainbow', an idea that resonates strongly with me, and seems painfully relevant to us all as I write this, in 2025, yet again living in a world at war. My performances of Weill's songs have always centred around 'Youkali' and Weill's search for a place to belong and to be free. I have wanted to make this album for many years, and am thrilled finally to have had the chance to do so with such a special team of collaborators and friends. It is my tribute to Kurt Weill, the chameleon, in all his glory, and a tribute to us all in our search for kindness, love, and peace.'

SOMM Recordings is delighted to collaborate again with I Musicanti, directed by virtuoso double-bass player Leon Bosch and praised by The Strad for their 'performances of passion and insight.' This latest release features the Brazilian-born, London-based pianist Clelia Iruzun, whose frequent SOMM collaborations include the International Classical Music Award-nominated Piano Concertos by Albeniz & Mignone with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jac van Steen. This release highlights five notable Brazilian composers from generations that succeeded the singular Brazilian composer, Heitor Villa-Lobos. While their names might not be as familiar as their famous compatriot, the musical qualities of their compositions-all scored for the forces of Schubert's 'Trout' Quintet-are revelatory. The programme opens and closes with works by Edmundo Villani-Cortes (b. 1930) who acknowledges the early influence of Shostakovich and French Impressionism. He composed his 5 Miniaturas brasileiras in 1978 for flute and piano, and their immediate success led to no fewer than seventeen transcriptions for a variety of instrumental combinations. Caratinguê, a municipality in the Southeast Region of Brazil, lends it's name to the work by Villani-Cortes that closes this programme. It combines art and folk music to conjure the lively rhythms and irresistible musical atmosphere of Brazil. Joao Guilherme Ripper (b.1959), who received his D.M.A. in Composition at Catholic University of America, in Washington D.C., later served as composer-in-residence at Kean University in New Jersey, which commissioned From My Window No. 3 in 2011. Ripper describes this three-movement work-heard here in it's first recording-as portraying aspects of his native city, from the Carnival in Rio de Janeiro to feelings of nostalgia. A short Song Without Words, Cancao sem palavras, is by Arrigo Barnabe (b. 1951), one of the first and most talented adherents from a movement of urban classically trained musicians in the city of Sao Paulo who added erudite experimentations to pop music. His varied output also includes soundtracks for around half a dozen Brazilian movies. The works of pianist-composer Jose Carlos Amaral Vieira show his ability to write brilliantly for the piano and his intense involvement with the music of Franz Liszt. His Piano Quintet Fronteiras (Frontiers), a reflection on cultural and sonic boundaries, is characterized by Amaral Vieira's distinctive blend of rigorous technical structure and profound emotion. Like Amaral Viera, Marisa Rezende (b.1944) began her musical life as a pianist. She started composing when she was a piano student at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she later returned to complete a doctorate in composition. Cismas (Schisms) lives up to it's name, evolving as it does through contrasting segments of gloom, luminosity, and energy.

The music of this album derives from the stage work SEMMELWEIS, whose initial creation and development came about with the generous help of the American Opera Project, Budapest Operetta Theater, The Bartok Plusz Opera Festival, the Charles P. Sloan Foundation, Ensemble Studio Theater, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Edward Andrews, Dr. Laszlo Rosivall, Dr. Ana Berlin, Dr. Warren Widmann, and many others listed in the thank-you section. It premiered at the Bartok Plusz Opera Festival in a production directed by Martin Boross, which ran in Budapest and toured throughout Hungary. The music of SEMMELWEIS underwent significant artistic development with help from director Martin Boross, music director Dániel Dinyés, dramaturg Diána Eszter Mátrai, and assistant director Julia Jakubowska. This album has deep roots and owes it's thanks to so many who have supported it, informed it, encouraged it, critiqued it, coached it, lent a listening ear to it, brought it to stages, performed in earlier live versions of it, helped find opportunities for it, etc. Much gratitude to: Ana Berlin, Eva Berlin-Lustig, Dr. Daniel Seidman, Luigi Porto, Matt Gray, Dániel Dinyés, Mila Henry, Charity Wicks, Hans Tashjian, Peter Thall, Tara Khozein, Troy Germanow Alejandro Berlin, András Tucker, Audrey Jakab, Bartók Béla Chamber Chorus of Szolnok, Carola Timmel, Chaitanya Sangco, Charles Jarden, Conrad Cummings, Daisy Press, EMI Ferguson, Erwin Maas, Éva Molnár, György Lorinczy, Hermann Szabolcs, John Corigliano, Joy Tamayo, Karmina Šilec, Katelan Terrell, Nina Colosi, Ryan McAdams, Sandcastle New Music, Szilveszter P. Szabó, The Streaming Museum, Veronika Nádasi, Maryna Abigail Fisher, Ákos Podráczky, Alice Lustig, Amy Justman, András Juhász, Angel Orensanz Center, Balassi Institute, Bill Jones, Brett Umlauf, Brian Meece, Bryan P. Hurley, Ph.D., Carolyn Stem, Catherine Hancock, Charlotte Dobbs, Christopher Botta, Dániel Patkós, Dina Rose Rivera, Dora Halas, Dóra Tési, Dr. Bernhard Küenburg, Dr. Jonathan Miller, Dr. Sherwin Nuland, Edward Bilous, Elaine Larson, Elena Kieffer, Elena Kowalsky, Eniko Lévai, Eszter Nemethi, Evan Fein, Ferenc Kumin, Gábor Csonka, Galapagos Art Space, Gary Shapiro, Gertrúd Andrási, Glenn Fleshler, Glimmerglass Opera, Greg Knowles, Greta Berman, Guadalupe Peraza, Guy Coolen, Howard Lieberman, Ildiko Eri, Inge Ivchenko, James Paulk, James Schaeffer, Jennifer Panara, Jenny Horváth, Jessica Miller-Rausch, Jessica Savage, JoAnn Dolan, Joanna Ebenstein, Joel Kalow, Joerg Ahlgrimm, John Brown, Mary Brown, John Lustig, Joseph Keckler, Josh Mertz, Júlia Hadi, Julianne Zahl, Julie Nagel, Kate Maroney, Kelly Horsted, Kendall Briggs, Kerry B. Grennan, N.P., Kiara Duran, Laura Kaminsky, Lee Streby, Lili Raubinek, Lisa Romain, Luke Canterella, Maeve Höglund, Marcy Richardson, Marguerite French, Martin Verdrager, Matthew Curran, McGinn Educational Center at Staten Island University Hospital, Megan Schubert, Michael Marcotte, Michelle DiBucci, Miron Kováts, Moirae Ensemble, Molly and Marvin Brooks, Music Theater Now, Musiktheatertage Wien, National Arts Club, Ned Canty, New York Academy of Medicine, Nissa Kahle, Norman Ryan, Opera Grows in Brooklyn, Opera on Tap, Operadagen Rotterdam, Patricia Price, Patrick Porter, Paul Dolan, Paul Haas, Paul Schneider, Paula Mlyn, Peter Flint, Phil Simmons, Raymond Lustig Sr., Regina Lustig, Robert E. Lee III, Ryan Andes, Samantha Martin, Samuel Katz, Samuel Zyman, Sára Zalányi, Sarah Small, Sophie Delphis, Stephanie Griffin, Steven Osgood, Susan Jakab, Tamás Keller, Tara Geer, Thomas Campbell Jackson, Thomas Desi, Tünde Frankó, Zita Vadasz, Gerd Kühl, Ildikó Barabás, József Dreiszker, Kelly Guerra, Marton Szegedi, Máté Vincze, Megan Ketch, Olivia Baseman.