Alexandria, 48 BC: Caesar lands in Egypt and is handed the severed head of his rival Pompey. What follows is an opera of power, revenge, and seduction; Cleopatra and her brother Ptolemy at war for the throne, Pompey's widow and son bent on vengeance, and Cleopatra winning Caesar by disguise, appearing as Virtue among the Muses to sing him into love. The English Concert and Harry Bicket continue their Handel series on Linn with this full, unabbreviated Giulio Cesare, written in 1724 for the castrato Senesino and the soprano Cuzzoni, and rarely recorded complete. Christophe Dumaux sings Caesar and Louise Alder is Cleopatra, with Beth Taylor, Paula Murrihy, John Holiday, Morgan Pearse, Meili LI, and Thomas Chenhall. This recording is the culmination of an international tour. After the ensemble's Carnegie Hall performance, The New York Times wrote: 'This ensemble sets a standard for Handel performance.'

Sandrine Piau and David Kadouch are reuniting for a project that the French soprano conceived as the second part of a diptych begun with Voyage intime (Alpha 911). This time we enter the world of childhood, but even though this album is called Contes, 'these aren't stories for children,' says David Kadouch. Actually, these stories might even present themselves in a way that provokes anxiety-dark and menacing Sandrine Piau continues: 'Folk tales and legends often serve as an initiation, and they also act providentially as pebbles that guide us through the forest of our most secret atavistic fears.' With their well-known and recognised expertise, Piau and Kadouch bring together composers from a variety of linguistic and artistic backgrounds-Hahn, Debussy, Ravel, Wolf, Strauss, Zemlinsky, Poulenc, Shostakovich-and introduce us to fascinating female composers such as Jeanne Bernard (1895-1965), Wally Karnevo (1914-2015), Louise Didier (1872-1955), and Ilse Weber (1903-1944).

(summary) Laura Lootens' deeply sensitive tribute to music of Romantic essence ranges from Frederic Chopin, in transcriptions by guitarists Jerzy Koenig and Tariq Harb, to La Chanson des vieux amants as sung by Jacques Brel and the sumptuous lyricism of Agustin Barrios Mangore. (complete blurb) As a teenager, Laura Lootens discovered a song by Sting that deeply moved her. From the 1993 album Ten Summoner's Tales, Shape of My Heart has remained her favourite song, to this day. She includes it as an epilogue on her second album for Naive, which she conceived as a heartfelt tribute to music of Romantic essence. At it's core lies Frederic Chopin-the epitome of Romanticism-who with his Waltzes, Mazurkas and Nocturnes delighted the salon society of the nineteenth century, those refined spaces that straddled aristocracy and bourgeoisie. He remains the ultimate embodiment of a Romanticism both profound and exquisitely elegant. Gone, then, is the demonic spirit that haunted the German guitarist's first album, 'Diabolico' (2025, V 8672), which was steeped in mysterious narratives where pacts with the devil and ghostly apparitions abounded. Yet Laura Lootens's playing retains the same poetic incisiveness in this new journey between France and the Americas. From music by Frederic Chopin, presented in subtle arrangements by her seniors, Jerzy Koenig (b. 1956), Tariq Harb (b. 1981) and Agustin Barrios 'Mangore' (1885-1944)-the latter an absolute legend among guitarists, often dubbed the 'Chopin of Latin America', in whom the refined elegance of the Polish composer lives on amid daring harmonies and richly spiced rhythms-the young Lootens, female musician and First Prize winner of the Andres Segovia Competition in 2022, offers a complete map of romantic sensibility, leading all the way to more recent times. She then traces the influence of the 'master of the mazurka', right up to the modern French chanson, including the timeless Hymne a l'amour by edith Piaf and La Chanson des vieux amants by Jacques Brel and Gerard Jouannest, and extends it further into a different aesthetic realm with one of the 24 Preludios Chopinianos (undoubtedly a 'homage') by Brazilian guitarist Sergio Assad (b. 1952). She then also includes the Assad's transcription of the Notturno by John Field, the early-nineteenth-century Irish composer who himself inspired Frederic Chopin in the development of the nocturne as a genre. A gem of the guitar repertoire, the expansive Elegie by Johann Kaspar Mertz (1806-1856), which is imbued with lyricism as haunting as it is intense, marks the culmination of a journey that boldly affirms it's guiding credo. Within these enduring resonances of Romanticism, Laura Lootens communicates a style that alternates between restraint and incandescent intensity, making this album the ideal companion for autumn evenings by a crackling fire.

Following the huge success of it's first Delos recording ('hallmark powdery blend and intonation so pure' - The New York Times), the GRAMMY Award-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer, under the leadership of Music Director Tim Keeler, is now turning to fourteenth-century's most celebrated composer Guillaume de Machaut. Although born in obscurity around 1300, Guillaume was to enjoy a stellar career that saw him hold various prestigious positions, including at the Cathedral of Reims. This album presents music from both facets of the composer's life, which today we might see as incompatible. With the Messe de Nostre Dame, we see Machaut the devout cleric of a major cathedral. Conversely, songs such as Douce dame jolie and Riches d'amour, among others, show Machaut the courtly poet-composer who sings of the emotional experience of secular love for his noble patrons.

Kotaro Fukuma presents a magnificent collection of piano transcriptions combining virtuosity and lyricism. In addition to popular plays such as Bach-Gounod's Ave Maria, Schumann-Liszt's Widmung and Wagner-Liszt's Liebestod Isolde, the program includes Fukuma's own transcript of Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik and a potpourri of French songs, "Chanson Medley". by his admirers.

Monteverdi's 1610 Vespers is the landmark work of early Baroque music. It sits at the crossroads of Renaissance polyphony and the new dramatic style heard in his first opera, L'Orfeo. 'The Vespers' redefined what sacred music could sound like - emotionally immediate, virtuosic, both looking back to the past and driving forward into the future. Monteverdi specialists I Fagiolini and Robert Hollingworth have waited until their 40th birthday to record the 1610 collection. This is a lifetime's work with every nuance of drama and colour brought out in their one-to-a-part performance.

Zampa enjoyed a triumph at the Opera-Comique on 3 May 1831. This was probably because Melesville's libretto displayed some resemblances to Mozart's Don Giovanni: a godless and lawless protagonist, the pirate Zampa, attempts to force Camille, betrothed to Alphonse, to marry him, but the statue of Alice Manfredi, one of his earlier victims, comes to life and carries him off to Hell. The action skilfully combines tragic and comic elements. In musical terms, Herold responds to the Romantic sensibilities of his time: he incorporates a few discreet 'Gothic' touches, plays on local colour (the plot unfolds in Sicily), and exploits the dramatic resources of orchestration and harmony (Berlioz noted 'chords of a wild, fantastical appearance'). Zampa amplifies the opera-comique through borrowings from grand opera: vocal styles blending French and Italian elements, spectacular events such as the eruption of Mount Etna (recalling the denouement of La Muette de Portici in 1828), and the contrast between collective and intimate scenes. The work is clearly a response to the concurrent gestation of Meyerbeer's Robert le Diable.

In a triumph of creative teamwork, the UK's Phaedra Ensemble presents the group's Cantaloupe Music debut Realms - recorded and produced in collaboration with renowned composer and singer Meredith Monk. The album collects, for the first time, Monk's only stand-alone string quartet (Stringsongs), together with one of her rarely performed instrumental works for small ensemble (Backlight), and the multi-layered Realm Variations, scored for six voices and mixed ensemble.

On her Cantaloupe debut, Rebekah Heller explores the full range of capabilities of the bassoon-not just as a solo instrument, but also, through careful and precise multi-tracking, as a percussive and regenerative source of sound that suggests infinite musical possibilities. The album opens with a blistering take on Julius Eastman's legendary The Holy Presence of Joan d'Arc, which Heller arranged for ten bassoons based on the painstaking transcription of Eastman's 1981 live performance at The Kitchen (NYC) by cellist and composer Clarice Jensen. From there, Steve Reich's original Cello Counterpoint is reworked into Grand Street Counterpoint-again, for ten bassoons, with bassoon soloist-with Reich himself collaborating as co-producer. Heller also commissioned three composers, all of whom have explored the modern intersection of avant-garde, jazz, experimental, and classical music, to contribute their distinctive voices to the project. Jessie Cox's Sonic Cartographies and Fay Victor's Nurture (for Ingram) both tap into a wellspring of deep inspiration (with Cox drawing from his fascination with sound and movement, and Victor from her poignant memories of jazz musician Ingram Washington), while Green's piece Righteous Rage gives the album it's title: a fiery and fierce exposition on the world we're leaving for the next generation.

Conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste has been conducting the symphonies of Sibelius all over the world throughout his conducting career. Thirty-five years after his first recording of the complete cycle, Saraste returns to the symphonies of Sibelius with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra-the orchestra with which Sibelius conducted the premieres of his symphonies back in the day.

Following the 2025 release of Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2 and Intermezzi Op. 117 - an album that received rave reviews worldwide - Francesco Piemontesi, conductor Manfred Honeck, and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig continue their Brahms journey with a compelling new recording of the composer's Piano Concerto No. 1. A work of striking emotional force and symphonic grandeur, it was born from a profound personal and artistic crisis. Composed in the aftermath of Robert Schumann's tragic collapse, the concerto reflects Brahms' struggle for artistic identity, as well as his confrontation with grief, responsibility, and expectation. From it's monumental opening - once likened to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony - to the deeply introspective slow movement, often understood as a portrait of Clara Schumann, this interpretation reveals the work's extraordinary psychological depth. Complementing the concerto are Brahms' Six Piano Pieces, Op. 118, works of introspection, farewell, and concentrated expression. Composed more than three decades after the concerto, these miniatures distil a lifetime of experience into music of remarkable intimacy and emotional restraint. From the consoling warmth of the Intermezzo in A Major to the desolate introspection of the Intermezzo in E-flat minor - often regarded among Brahms' darkest utterances - these pieces form a poignant counterpoint to the youthful turbulence of the concerto. Together, they trace a path from struggle to reflection, offering a profound insight into Brahms' artistic evolution and inner world. Francesco Piemontesi, one of today's most-cherished pianists, presents the sixth release in his exclusive collaboration with PENTATONE, following the widely praised Schubert - Last Piano Sonatas (2019), Bach Nostalghia (2021), Schoenberg, Messiaen & Ravel (2022), Liszt Transcendental Etudes & Piano Sonata (2023), and Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2 & Three Intermezzi Op. 117 (2025).

The San Diego Symphony Orchestra is one of the United States' leading orchestras. Led by Music and Artistic Director Rafael Payare, the Orchestra has experienced an explosive artistic expansion, transforming it's repertoire and forging a distinctive sound. The recent renovation of Jacobs Music Center - a premier concert hall and architectural landmark - now allows that artistry to be heard in all it's power, color, and nuance. Launching a new collaboration with Delos, the musicians have recorded live at Jacobs Music Center Shostakovich's monumental Symphony No. 7. Known as the 'Leningrad' - the symphony was composed during the notorious and brutal siege of the city - the work is emotionally and historically supercharged. As the first recording captured in the hall's newly renovated acoustics, it sets the tone for an exciting new partnership!

Benjamin Britten's three Cello Suites rank among the most important solo works for the instrument since Bach. Written for Mstislav Rostropovich, they unite references to early music traditions with a distinctly modern voice, combining formal mastery, dramatic imagination and profound emotional depth. In this recording, Pieter Wispelwey brings his new reading of a 45 year long engagement with these remarkable works for cello solo.

Roland de Lassus composed more than eighty masses, of which only two are Requiems; it is not possible to link them to the funerals of any particular individuals. The four-part Missa pro defunctis was published in Paris in 1577. The library of an abbey in Augsburg, however, contains a transposed manuscript copy intended for an ensemble of male voices (tenors, baritones and basses); what is more, this manuscript copy includes a Dies Irae that does not appear in the Paris edition. The five-part Requiem was published in 1589, five years before Lassus's death. Here, Vox Luminis presents both compositions, highlighting the contrasting colours of the two vocal ensembles: the gravity of the four-part Requiem against the light of the five-part setting.

Signum Quartett presents the album the earth trembled, recontextualising the visionary string quartets of Leos Janacek alongside the striking String Quartet Op. 8 by Vitezslava Kapralova. Janacek's lifelong engagement with folk traditions shaped these works profoundly; he lays bare an extraordinary spectrum of feeling, exposing the innermost reaches of his psyche with an almost unsettling immediacy, music in which the earth really does tremble. Set against this, Kapralova's quartet offers balance: a strikingly youthful yet assured voice emerging from the same cultural milieu, opening an equally compelling emotional range. Interspersed throughout are fragments of Janacek's folk song arrangements and intimate miniatures from his album for Kamila Stosslova, whose absent voice subtly haunts the programme, weaving a fragile, imagined narrative between the works. This recording offers a fresh perspective on works that have accompanied the Quartett for many years and remain among the most emotionally overwhelming in the repertoire. Signum Quartett is frequently hailed as one of the most adventurous and outstanding ensembles of today. This is the quartet's fourth album with PENTATONE, after the Schubert cycle including Aus der Ferne (2018), Ins stille Land (2020), and Lebensmuth (2023).

The Doric String Quartet continues it's cycle of Beethoven quartets with this third volume, featuring a mixture of works from the composer's early, middle, and late periods. Notable for the piano start of each of it's four movements, Op. 18 No. 3 also displays a more even distribution of thematic material among the four instruments than is normal for that time. Op. 59 No. 3 is the last of Beethoven's second set of quartets, dedicated to Count Razumovsky, the Russian ambassador to the Viennese court, and also a fine violinist. Op. 74 is famous for the pizzicato, arpeggio passages in the first movement, giving rise to it's nickname - the 'Harp' Quartet. The final two quartets in this CD set, Op. 132 and Op. 135, date from Beethoven's late period. The late quartets are widely acknowledged as some of the most extraordinary music Beethoven wrote. Misunderstood and confusing to their first audiences, they have gone on to inspire countless composers and musicians, and are considered some of the greatest music ever written. As with the previous issues in the series, this double album is sold at two CDs for the price of one.

Cellist Julian Schwarz makes his debut on Delos with a trailblazing album featuring Arthur Foote's complete cello works, including the world premiere commercial recording of his cello concerto. As the only composer of the Boston Six to have been entirely trained in the United States, Arthur Foote could be viewed as the United States' first homegrown talent. Albeit largely, and inexplicably, unperformed and undercelebrated, his refined sense of melody and lush harmonic language are bewitching; he produced a wealth of music for cello and piano which is here performed by GRAMMY-nominated cellist Julian Schwarz, pianist and partner Marika Bournaki, and the internationally acclaimed conductor Gerard Schwarz with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.

True Concord's newest album, HERE I AM, features two world-premiere recordings of works by Jocelyn Hagen. The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci has been performed more than 50 times around the world since 2019, incorporating visuals, sound, light and movement. Here I Am was inspired by conductor Eric Holtan's suggestion that Hagen should write a piece celebrating the women's suffrage movement and the centennial of the 19th Amendment in 2020. This piece is performed with live-concert projections of portraits of 47 inspiring women from across the world and across time, whose words form the libretto. HERE I AM was recorded in outstanding fidelity by engineer John Polito and produced by GRAMMY-award winner Peter Rutenberg of Los Angeles. Recorded May 28-31, 2024.

Georg Nigl and Alexander Gergelyfi present Die schone Mullerin in a version that is quite different from what we usually hear. Thanks to the use of a Tafelklavier (square piano) built around 1810 by Carl Withum, the baritone says he has 'renewed his experience of singing the Lied,' as the piano's range of timbres opens up new perspectives. Since the publication of Schubert's famous song cycle in 1824, the way the work is interpreted and received has changed drastically, due to the power of modern grand pianos' sound and the exponential growth in the size of concert halls. Whereas in Schubert's time, the intensity of expression and the power of the words themselves took precedence, 'to such an extent that one might think the instrument-that is, the accompaniment-becomes the starting point of the musical message,' says Nigl, who decided to add and recite Wilhelm Muller's texts that were not set to music, notably the prologue, the epilogue, and a few other poems. Following in the tradition of the 'Liederspiel' (song play), which was very popular in 19th-century Berlin salons, Nigl and Gergelyfi offer a profoundly renewed listening experience.

Following the critical and public success of Mahler's Symphony No. 9, Philipp von Steinaecker and the Mahler Academy Orchestra continue their recording of Mahler's symphonies on period instruments with the Fifth Symphony. For this recording, the new Breitkopf & Hartel Urtext edition was used, which includes the composer's numerous corrections. The Mahler Academy Orchestra is part of the Gustav Mahler Academy in Bolzano, founded by Claudio Abbado. It brings together young professional musicians and experienced instrumentalists from Europe's leading orchestras. Under the artistic direction of Philipp von Steinaecker and with an ensemble of instruments carefully replicating that of the Vienna Philharmonic around 1900, they return to the roots of Mahler-era performance practice and shed new light on these masterpieces. The Gustav Mahler Academy's originalklang project is a co-production of the Busoni-Mahler Foundation in Bolzano and the Euregio Kulturzentrum Gustav Mahler Toblach Foundation. It is held under the patronage of Marina Mahler, the composer and Alma Mahler's granddaughter, for whom the famous Adagietto from the Fifth Symphony was written after her meeting with Gustav in 1901.

A tireless adventurer and eclectic soul, Joseph Bologne de Saint-George is revisited here through a unique portrait that reveals the many facets of his talent. A true polymath born in Guadeloupe, he combined the arts and arms: an outstanding fencer, military adviser and violin virtuoso, he was even Marie Antoinette's teacher. Theotime Langlois de Swarte and the Orchestre de l'Opera Royal thus shine a light on this flamboyant personality who rose above the societal constraints of the 18th century.

Having made numerous recordings for BIS both as a clarinettist and as a conductor, Michael Collins had yet to offer us one of the masterpieces of the clarinet chamber repertoire: Johannes Brahms' Clarinet Quintet. Here he performs alongside the Escher Quartet, whose latest recording devoted to Janacek's quartets (BIS-2670) has earned critical acclaim. While the combination of clarinet and string quartet offers rich potential, Mozart's glorious clarinet quintet cast a long shadow that few composers dared to enter. Composed at the twilight of his career, Brahms's quintet is an elegiac masterpiece. It radiates aching nostalgia and a poignant sense of lost love, ultimately settling into a melancholy serenity. It's emotional directness is occasionally surprising yet never sacrifices subtlety. Max Reger modelled his own Clarinet Quintet on those by Mozart and Brahms. In this final composition before his untimely death, Reger pushes tonal limits without compromising structure. Seamlessly integrating the clarinet, he creates a beautifully balanced ensemble capable of both powerful outbursts and delicate textures. Straddling the dawn of the 20th century, Reger's remarkably rich work pays profound homage to the past.

Macedonian pianist Simon Trpceski continues his critically acclaimed piano concertos series on Linn Records with a 'spectacular' (Bachtrack) live recording of Saint-Saens' Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 5, both performed at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall with Thomas Sondergard conducting the colourful and energetic Royal Scottish National Orchestra. It took Saint-Saens just seventeen days to compose the Second Concerto and practice for the premiere under the baton of Anton Rubinstein! A feat as impressive as the quality of the work itself whose well-balanced movements look back on Faure and Bach. The Fifth Concerto is the composer's answer to Wagner mania. Indeed, the work can almost be taken as a hint to his compatriots that there were plenty of other sources of inspiration available, such as the Nubian love song that Saint-Saens had heard sung by boatmen on the Nile and the sound of croaking frogs, which feature in the second movement and give the work it's title: 'The Egyptian'. This Concerto is a showcase of virtuosity for both composer and pianist.

Hailed by Fanfare magazine as 'one of the major artists of our time' Ukrainian violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv continues to give voice to her country's rich musical heritage in Music of Resilience. The album explores her homeland's ongoing war and features new works: Victoria Vita Poleva's searing lament, Bucha. Lachrimosa, and two pieces by Bohdan Kryvopust, the powerfully commemorative On the River and the folk-music inspired Ukrainian Suite. Hanna Havrylets' Ex Libris dates from 1993 and employs folk music techniques that draw on ornamentation more than development. Representing an earlier generation, the richly Romantic works by Osyp Zalesky and Roman Prydatkevych are heard here in arrangements by Bohdana Frolyak. As an encore, Ivakhiv plays Yuriy Shevchenko's arrangement of Ukraine's national anthem.

The internationally renowned pianist Yulianna Avdeeva presents Metanoia, a profound exploration of the late piano works of Franz Liszt, tracing his radical transformation from virtuoso to visionary. Liszt's late works mark a decisive break with traditional musical language and form, opening the door to 20th-century modernism through bold harmonic experimentation, compressed structures, and strikingly dissonant sonorities. Stripped of conventional melodic development, these brief but intense works convey deep existential reflection, touching on themes of faith, mortality, and the human condition. Initially met with resistance, they would later become a major influence on composers such as Bartok, Scriabin, Debussy, and Ravel. The album unfolds in reverse chronology, culminating in Liszt's Sonata in B Minor and Legende No. 2. The Sonata in B Minor stands as one of the most important works in the piano repertoire: a single-movement structure of extraordinary dramatic and philosophical scope, where contrasting themes emerge, collide, and transform into a journey from darkness to transcendence. For Avdeeva, Liszt's music is never purely virtuosic, but an existential inquiry into the deepest aspects of human experience - light and darkness, faith and doubt, life and death - revealing a composer who continually expanded the possibilities of musical thought and expression. Yulianna Avdeeva returns to PENTATONE after a string of critically acclaimed releases: her label debut Resilience (2023), followed by Chopin: Voyage (2024) and Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues Op. 87 (2025). Together, these recordings have garnered international awards and widespread acclaim across the globe.

Whether as a phone ringtone, in hotel lobbies, or in commercials for luxury goods, Antonio Vivaldi's Four Seasons have achieved a presence in everyday life today that the composer could not have imagined 300 years ago. However, it would be a shame to overlook the innovative testament to Baroque inventiveness that these violin concertos are, given their enormous popularity. With this recording, the Berliner Barock Solisten and Daishin Kashimoto invite listeners to rediscover the atmospheric nuances of The Four Seasons - and to listen to it with fresh ears.

Hans Werner Henze is one of the outstanding composers of the 20th century. To mark his 100th birthday, this edition will contain all the recordings released on the WERGO label, some of which were produced under his supervision - an extensive collection that does not claim to be complete, yet serves as an impressive testament to a versatility that echoes Henze's open-mindedness and cosmopolitan outlook: in terms of cultural history, politics and society, as well as form and composition. Regrouped and divided into groups of works in this edition, the recordings, some of which are no longer available, will be released in five CD box sets in 2026, starting with the symphonies, followed by orchestral works and instrumental concertos, chamber music and piano music, vocal music, and concluding with stage works, including the previously unreleased recording of 'Der Prinz von Homburg'. Almost 50 years passed between the composition of Hans Werner Henze's First Symphony in 1947 and the Tenth, which was completed at the turn of the millennium. The literary and political references are wide-ranging, stretching from ancient mythology to the Cuban Revolution to the Ninth as great choral symphony based on 'The Seventh Cross'. From work to work, one can trace Henze's development as a composer up to the sublime mastery of his late works. With his 10 symphonies, Henze created one of the monumental symphonic cycles of the 20th century.

The Holy Liftoff (2024) is the 11th installation of Claire Chase's 24-year Density 2036 project, an initiative to create a bold new repertory for the flute by the 100th anniversary of Edgard Varèse's seminal 1936 flute solo, Density 21.5. Density 2036 has been called "one of the great musical undertakings of our time" by The New York Times, and "a quarter-century journey that has little precedent" by The New Yorker. Terry Riley began composing The Holy Liftoff in 2022 as an open score sketchbook brimming with colorful drawings that were intended to be played by Chase with any number of collaborating musicians. Over the following two years, the sketches evolved into a multidimensional work that now combines extensive through-composed material as well as graphic notation, evocative artwork, and Riley's signature open-form scoring that can be freely interpreted by the performers in variable durations and ensemble formations. Samuel Clay Birmaher's 60-minute realization of the work, which he composed in close collaboration with Riley and the performers, is scored for multiple flutes and string quartet. "When I improvised the first 16 bars of 'The Holy Liftoff' the melody and the chords whispered it's name while simultaneously urging me to make drawings of the experience. The drawings had angels and flying creatures and all the energies were rising up into a surrealistic skyscape... This piece could only have been written for Claire Chase." -Terry Riley

LEGENDS: Rebellion is the next installment in a series of recordings celebrating women as storytellers and bearers of cultural memory. Featuring world-premiere recordings, Grammy-nominated, long-time collaborative duo soprano Laura Strickling and pianist Joy Schreier return to add to the evolving legend of modern art song in an album exploring rebellion in many forms: political, emotional, erotic, maternal, and spiritual. From Afghan women's landay poetry composed in defiance of oppression, to mythic heroines reclaiming their own narratives, to an unflinching portrayal of new motherhood and a powerful meditation on love as resistance. Pushing against conventional expectations of what art song 'should' be, this album offers a kaleidoscopic array of harmonic and rhythmic languages alongside compelling, deeply human texts; a program that fascinates, challenges, informs, and delights - inviting both devoted listeners of art song and those less familiar with the genre into a richly expressive sonic world celebrating contemporary song as a space for courage, vulnerability, witness, and transformation.