"I have always leaned towards this repertoire," says Jonathan Gunn. This album represents Gunn's love for French music, which he programs on almost every concert. Gunn's love for this music is made clear in his sensitive, probing performances. Jonathan Gunn is a versatile artist with a varied career as educator, soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral performer. Currently, Mr. Gunn serves as the Assistant Professor of Clarinet at the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas, Austin. Born in Sheffield, England, Mr. Gunn started his musical career playing violin and piano and began studying the clarinet after moving to the United States at age eleven. He received a Bachelor of Music from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University and a Master of Music from the Mary Pappert School of Music at Duquesne University. Jonathan is married to Jennifer Gunn, who plays piccolo and flute with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

The three great Brahms Sonatas for Violin and Piano certainly need no introduction. These are superb performances by violinist John Fadial and pianist Andrew Harley. Violinist John Fadial serves as Professor of Violin at the University of Wyoming. At the age of eleven, he performed for President Gerald Ford and since has appeared around the globe as chamber musician, soloist and pedagogue. His performances have been praised by the critics. “Sparkling Technique,” (L’Est Republicain) “Wow! Great Stuff,” (The Washington Post.) He has toured internationally for the US State Department as a United States Artistic Ambassador, and has served as Concertmaster of the North Carolina Opera, the Colorado Festival, ProMusica Colorado, the Menuhin Festival Orchestra of Saumur (France), the Heidelberg Schloss-Spiele (Germany), and Greensboro (NC) Symphony Orchestra (eighteen seasons). English pianist Andrew Harley enjoys an internationally recognized performing and teaching career. Specializing in instrumental chamber music and song literature, he has been heard in live broadcasts on national radio and television, as well as on numerous recordings.

The music of Green-born composer Dinos Constantinides has been performed throughout the world. He is the recipient of many grants. Commissions and awards, including first prizes in the Brooklyn College International Chamber Competition, the First Midwest Chamber Opera Conference, and the Delius Composition Contest Grand Prize. His music has received rave reviews when it has been performed by ensembles such as the English Chamber Orchestra, the American Symphony Orchestra, and many others. He was educated in Greece at the Ioannina, Green, and Athens Conservatories and in the USA at the universities of Indiana, Michigan State and the Juliard School. His teachers included Tony Schultze, Marios Varvoglis, Yannis Papaioannou, Leda Kouroukli, and others. He is presently Boyd Professor, the highest academic rank at Louisiana State University, head of the Composition area, and Music Director of the Louisiana Sinfonietta. The songs on this new release focus on his output for flute and flute with mixed accompaniment.

Internationally acclaimed soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and educator, Sophia Agranovich is “a bold, daring pianist in the tradition of the Golden Age Romantics…A tigress of the keyboard” – Fanfare. Her performances are captivating audiences by the “orison of uncommon beauty” – Audiophile, “the extraordinary dramatic urgency”, “the ideal balance she achieves between the intellectual and the emotional” – Fanfare, “interpretation that dares to be different”, “magnificent shading and superior musicianship” – American Record Guide. Her previous releases for Centaur have been met with wide critical acclaim. On this new album she performs the works of Frederic Chopin and Franz Liszt, two artists who are among her specialties.

Sophia Agranovich adores the piano works of Chopin, and it shows in these deeply-felt performances. Internationally acclaimed soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and educator, Sophia Agranovich is “a bold, daring pianist in the tradition of the Golden Age Romantics…A tigress of the keyboard” – Fanfare. Her performances are captivating audiences by the “orison of uncommon beauty” – Audiophile, “the extraordinary dramatic urgency”, “the ideal balance she achieves between the intellectual and the emotional” – Fanfare, “interpretation that dares to be different”, “magnificent shading and superior musicianship” – American Record Guide. Sophia Agranovich is an esteemed pedagogue, lecturer, master class clinician, adjudicator, and is a recipient of numerous teaching awards. Her students are consistently winning top prizes in regional, national and international competitions and are performing at prestigious venues. Ms. Agranovich is active member of various professional music organizations, listed in Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in the World, a voting member of NARAS, Artistic Director of ‘Classicals at the Circle’ music series at the Watchung Arts Center, Program Chair and Board member of Music Educators Association of New Jersey.

This is an album of contemporary chamber works for double bass and other instruments. All three works are immediately appealing, accessible works. Best known as PDQ Bach, Peter Schickely is a truly amazing composer. Best known for his comedy albums, he is also a remarkable composer of serious works. Skowaczewski is a major Polish-American conductor and composer, known for his complete recordings of Bruckner’s symphonies. A bold, incandescent talent, composer Laura Karpman creates powerful, imaginative scores that push the boundaries of storytelling. Her award-winning music, spanning film, television, theater, interactive media and live performance, reflects an audaciously creative, prodigious, fresh spirit.

A former winner in the national “Flute Talk” Magazine Competition, the UArts Concerto Competition, the New York Flute Club Competition and the Mid-South Young Artist Flute Competition, Dr. Snizek performed with the ESO (National Orchestra of Taiwan) and was an active freelance orchestral and chamber musician in the Philadelphia region before receiving her DMA at UBC (Vancouver) in 2011. Her teachers include Maralyn Prestia-Schaub, Carol Wincenc, Peter Lloyd, Julius Baker, David Cramer and Lorna McGhee. Currently an Associate Professor at the University of Victoria, Dr. Snizek joined the UVic faculty as a visiting assistant professor in 2011. “Chamber Music (Re)Discoveries,” garnered Dr. Snizek the 2017 REACH award for "Excellence in Creative Expression" from the University of Victoria.

Whole Note Magazine writes: “Snizek’s artistry both as a soloist and as a collaborator is evident throughout, but nowhere more so than in her “dialogues” with tenor Benjamin Butterfield in Eben’s Drei Stille Lieder. She has spent a decade researching this lost, forgotten and neglected generation of composers. Her research, coupled with the artistry of all the performers on this CD, makes it an important addition to our knowledge and the repertoire of the mid- 20th century….

The selections on this album reflect Willis Delony’s fascination with finding connections between musical styles. In a performing career spanning over four decades, pianist Willis Delony has won acclaim as one of the nation’s leading classical/jazz crossover artists. His innovative concert explorations of the two musical worlds are showcased in a series of solo piano recordings on the Centaur label. Delony has appeared as piano soloist, guest pianist/arranger or conductor with orchestras throughout the United States as well as orchestras in Canada, the former Soviet Union and China. As a solo and collaborative recitalist, he has performed classical and jazz concerts throughout the U.S. – including a solo recital at Carnegie Hall (October, 2014) – as well as France, Germany, the former Soviet Union, Mexico, Costa Rica, Brazil and Argentina.

Benjamin Carr (1768-1831) was born in London. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1793. Carr was prolific as a composer, writing operas, pantomimes, masses, sacred hymns and anthems, many songs, and a prodigious amount of music for organ and pianoforte. Kirsten Johnson is a pianist, composer and recording artist of international acclaim. She has recorded 18 albums of solo piano music with Centaur, Nimbus, Delos and Guild. This includes the complete piano music of Arthur Foote, James Hewitt and Amy Beach, and world premiere recordings of Albanian piano music and Dmitri Kabalevskys op. 1. Kirstens compositions have been played around the world. Brno, for cello and piano, was performed at the Festival OSMOSE in Brussels, Belgium. Flute Vibes was premiered at Exeter College, Oxford, U.K. The premiere of Remembrance, Journey and Dance (in a version for clarinet, bassoon and piano) was given in New York City by Vent Nouveau. Dr. Johnson received her Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, conducting much of her research in Albania and in the Bodleian Library, Oxford University.

This is the second volume in Centaur's complete edition of flute works by contemporary composer Salvador Brotons. This is a great program of modern flute works, superbly played by Roberto Alvarez. Dr. Salvador Brotons was born into in a Barcelona family of musicians. He studied flute with his father and continued his studies at the Barcelona Conservatory of Music, obtaining superior titles in flute, composition and orchestra conducting. In 1985 he was awarded a Fulbright scholarship and moved to the United States where he received his Doctorate in Music from Florida State University. He has been a student of X. Monsalvatge and R. Johnson in composition, and A. Ros-Marbà and P. Spurgeon in conducting. Diversity of styles is a hallmark of Roberto Alvarez’s concerts and recitals. As a matter of fact he feels just as comfortable performing classical, baroque or avant-garde music as well as celtic, jazz or rock. He has received various international prizes, such as the Diploma of Honor in the Torneo Internazionale di Musica, Concurso Internacional de Música “Paper de Musica” de Capellades, the Ángel Muñíz Toca Award and the Ciutat de Manresa Prize.

This is a first-rate program of works for clarinet and strings. Tasha Warren brings these works to life, aided by a superb group of instrumentalists. Tasha Warren, assistant professor of chamber music at the Michigan State University College of Music, is an avid teacher and international performer. She has premiered numerous solo clarinet and chamber works working closely with composers and conductors including Shulamit Ran, Augusta Read Thomas, Cliff Colnot, and Oliver Knussen. She has recorded with Innova, Alba, and SCI Records, the I.U. New Music Ensemble, Hal Leonard Productions, CBC Radio, and PBC Korea Television. Crystal Records released her album, The Naked Clarinet, in December 2009, which garnered praise in reviews from International Record Review, Fanfare Magazine, The Clarinet Magazine and others.

Praised by critics and audiences for her imaginative programming and compelling performances, pianist May Phang enjoys discovering and performing a wide range of repertoire from Bach and Liszt to Libby Larsen and Alexina Louie. Described as “vibrant”, “colorful”, and “evocative,” May strives to deeply understand and bring fresh insights into the masterpieces of composers such as Beethoven and Chopin while equally committed to discovering and championing the works of today’s living composers. She premiered the works of Armando Bayolo, Jaroslaw Golembiowski and Geoffrey Gordon, and also worked with composers such as Aaron Jay Kernis and Joan Tower. She brings all of this to her interpretation of the Diabelli Variations.

Pianist Charles Foreman made his debut in 1972 with the Chicago Civic Orchestra conducted by David Gilbert, playing the Brahms B-flat Concerto. Since then, he has won prizes in Canadian and U.S. piano competitions, received two Canada Council grants for study and performance in Europe, performed over 30 times with orchestras, and played over 750 solo and chamber recitals in Austria, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, Canada, and the U.S. Praised for his superb musicianship, his formidable technique, his vast repertoire, and his imaginative programming, Foreman has created several recital series, concluding Canada’s first complete cycle of the solo piano works of Chopin in March, 2009. He completed his first cycle of the thirty-two Beethoven piano sonatas in 2005, to sold-out houses and standing ovations, a series he repeated from February, 2015 to May, 2016. In 2001, Foreman concluded his two-season “Sounds of a Century” project, ten recitals of twentieth-century piano music, one for each decade. On this release he presents works by Beethoven.

Alban Berg’s Jugendlieder (Youth songs) were written early in his own career. They are, nonetheless, substantial songs that may not be dismissed as being juvenilia. These are beautiful performances of songs that deserve to have a wider hearing. Suré Eloff began her vocal studies in Cape Town, South Africa with renowned master teacher Marita Napier. In the United States, she received a Graduate Diploma in vocal performance from the University of Texas at Arlington, followed by a Fellowship Diploma in Singing from Trinity College London. Specializing in concert and chamber music, Ms. Eloff has performed at festivals and master courses, including SongFest (Malibu, California), Scotia Festival of Music (Halifax, Nova Scotia), Tafelberg Klassiek (Cape Town, South Africa), Ardingly IMS (Sussex, United Kingdom), where she first met British composer Gregory Rose, and Mountain View International Festival of Song and Chamber Music (Calgary, Alberta), where she studied art song and chamber music with renowned Dutch collaborative pianist Rudolf Jansen.

Mary Hellmann presents a program of works by Beethoven, Scarlatti, Christopher Cook, Thomas Harrison, and James Paul Sain. Mary Hellmann studied first at the University of Louisville before receiving Masters degrees from the University of Illinois and her DMA from the University of Alabama. is Chair of the Department of Music at Chowan University. In addition to this role, she teaches various piano courses and maintains an impressive performing and recording schedule. The title track, Firebreak by James Paul Sain, was written specifically for Mary Hellmann.