This album features great piano works by Prokofiev and Sibelius. Pianist Tatiana Shustova was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and studied there at the Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatory. Moving to the U.S., she earned a Doctor of Music Arts degree at the University of Illinois. She is currently on the faculty of the Millikin University School of Music

Pianist Mira Gill is of East-Indian descent. Born in Salt Lake City, she is now based in New York City. The piano works of Samuel Barber are a specialty of hers, and it shows in these superb performances.

This album features three first-rate, greatly underperformed, Italian Sonatas for Violin and Piano. Respighi, Martucci, and Rota are all three wonderful composers, and it shows clearly in these works. Italian artists Fabrizio Falasca and Antonio Pompa-Baldi infuse these three great works with the life they deserve.

Cellist Sophie Shao is a winner of the Avery Fisher Career Grant. She has been described by The New York Times as "eloquent and powerful." This is a beautiful program of great works from the past and the present, from Couperin to Chopin to Adès.

Sonatas is an album of great contemporary works for soprano and alto saxophones, with piano accompaniment and solo.

Missa Criolla, by Argentine composer Ariel Ramirez (1921-2010) is a Spanish vernacular setting of Roman mass liturgy. Navidad Nuestra, composed in 1964, is subtitled"A folk drama of the nativity based on rhythms and traditions of Hispanic America"

This is a wonderful program of works for cello and piano by composers such as Libby Larsen, Samuel Barber, and George Walker.

David Loeb, a remarkably prolific contemporary composer, composes works for a variety of solo instruments and ensembles. His numerous albums on the Centaur label have all been very well received.

In the pieces under this title, I sought to convey the complexity of our relation with the Divine. Inner Temple is that sacred place in our soul, heart and mind which contains the most precious spiritual treasures of each of us, a kind of a personal Holy of Holies. The Day of Atonement for all Jews is the most important, somber annual Holiday, a day of reflection, during which we ask Almighty’s forgiveness (and people’s forgiveness) for all our transgressions, mistakes and misdeeds during the past year. The two movements of this composition are filled with ritualistic fervor, with intensity of the searching spirit, and the mystery of connection to the Divine through repentance. At the very end of the 2nd movement, there is a moment of light – a token of forgiveness.

–Alla Elana Cohen

Based in the Philadelphia area, James Freeman has a long reputation as a superb pianist and conductor. Here he plays a great program of works by Chopin, Schumann, Brahms, and Debussy.

Enoch Arden is an important work by Richard Strauss that is unfortunately seldom performed. Set to words by Alfred Lord Tennyson, it was originally composed with a German translation of the text. Here, the original Tennyson text is untilized, and wonderfully narrated by Marina Sirtis, who was a star of Star Trek: The Next Generation, as counselor Deanna Troi.

This is Volume 2 in the anticipated complete set of Cantatas of JS Bach, performed by Cantata Collective, a period instrument vocal and instrumental ensemble based in San Francisco.

This is a wonderful new jazz album. Composer and guitarist Juan Calderón had this to say about the recording of the album: I wanted to record in Bogota because of the cultural debt I owe the city for the period of wandering I spent in it before leaving Colombia. It was a short; yet deeply influential; time where I studied classical guitar; but mostly explored the city in all its cultural facets. This recording serves as my window back in time to explore what could have been had I chosen to stay behind.

Multi-award-winning pianist, recording artist, educator and artistic director, 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 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). A Steinway Artist, Ms. Agranovich has performed in USA, Europe, Israel, and Canada. Recently she played solo concerts at the Pennautier Festival and Juan-les-Pins in France where she premiered compositions dedicated to her by Françoise Choveaux, and was invited to China and Brazil. Some of her prestigious venues are David Geffen Hall, Bruno Walter Auditorium and Paul Hall at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Hall, Roerich and Metropolitan museums, Steinway Hall and gal­leries, Bargemusic, Tenri Cultural Institute, Polish Cultural Foundation, Lambert Castle, Watchung Arts Center, Salle Cortot, Théâtre Na Loba, Ehrbarsaal, Gesellschaft für Musiktheater, Kaiser Hall. She also performed at libraries and numerous colleges and universities, such as the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Rubin Academy of Music, National Music Academy of Ukraine and Lviv State Conservatory. Ms. Agranovich has collaborated with Mark Peskanov, Shlomo Mintz, Christopher Collins Lee, Andrew Litton, Alexander Mishnaevsky, Andrew Lamy, Brett Deubner, Gregory Singer, Anatole Wieck, Rupam Sarmah, Lili Haydn, Hamid Saeidi, Kathleen Supove, award-winning Emmy, Grammy, and Billboard top ten musical artists, and members of the major orchestras. Sophia Agranovich has released ten solo albums from 2010 through 2022, including seven on Centaur label. Her albums are charting in top 10 across all musical genres on One World Music Radio and on World Top Radio Airplay Charts. Her discography received outstanding reviews and includes ‘Romantic Virtuoso Masterpieces’ (works by Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Schumann, Scriabin), ‘Franz Liszt – Bicentennial Tribute’ (‘Un Sospiro’, ‘La Campanella’, Rhapsodie Espagnole, Sonata in b minor); ‘Passion and Fantasy’ (Beethoven: ‘Appassionata’, Chopin: Fantaisie and Sonata in b minor); complete Brahms-Paganini Variations; Schumann: Symphonic Etudes, Schumann-Liszt: ‘Widmung’; Schubert: ‘Wanderer’ Fantasie and Chopin: 4 Ballades; Schumann: Carnaval and Fantasie; Chopin: Polonaise-Fantaisie and Nocturne Op. 48 No.1, Liszt: complete Sonnetti del Petrarca, ‘Dante’ Sonata, Hungarian Rhapsody No. 14; Chopin: Sonata in B-flat Minor, 4 Scherzi, Polonaise ‘Héroïque’; ‘In Celebration of 250th Anniversary of Beethoven’ (Fantasie Op. 77, Sonatas ‘Pathétique’, ‘Moonlight’, ‘Tempest’): ‘Liszt: Rhapsodies, Études and Transcriptions’ (Hungarian Rhapsodies No. 6 and No. 13, Études d’exécution transcendante ‘Ricordanza’ and ‘Mazeppa’, Schubert/Liszt Ständchen. Erlkönig, Die Forelle). Ms. Agranovich was awarded 3 Gold and 12 Silver Medals from Global Music Awards, Winner of The American Prize in the Piano Solo division, 2 Gold Medals from Prestige Music Awards, Best Classical Solo / Best Classical Album / Hall of Fame from Akademia Music Awards, 4 Best Classical Piano Albums from Clouzine International Music Awards, Best Classical Artist (2) /Best Female Classical Artist/Best Classical Recording (3) /Best Instrumental Recording from Radio Music Awards, Best Classical Recording and Hall of Fame from Indie Music Channel, 4 Platinum awards in Best Classical Pianist/Best Instrumental Artist/Best female Artist/Best Classical Music categories, 3 Gold Awards in Best Female Instrumental Artist, Best Instrumental Music, Best Performance categories and Instrumentalist of the Year from LIT International Talent Awards, Best Classical Album from One World Music Radio, Steinway Top Teacher Award, Best Classical Album – Gold at One Earth Awards, Best Instrumentalist from InterContinental Music Awards, Industry Leader and Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Awards and more. Her albums and live concerts are broadcast worldwide, most recently in Brazil on Universidade FM 106.9 “Company of the Music”, in Canada on CKWR ‘Women in Music’, Berlin, Munich, Rome, New Zealand, London, Tokyo, Osaka, Paris, Tel-Aviv, WMNR Fine Arts Radio, NPR WLPR-FM “Art on the Air”, WQXR Greene Space live with Elliott Forrest, on WWFM “Between the Keys” with Jed Distler, WWFM “Piano Matters” and WQXR “Reflections from the Keyboard” with David Dubal. A native of Ukraine, Sophia Agranovich won the Ukrainian Young Artists Competition–currently Mykola Lysenko International Competition–at ten, being the youngest participant. At thirteen she performed Concerto in E minor by Chopin in Chernivtsi, Lviv and Kyiv. Her concerts were broadcast on national TV and radio stations. Her teachers in Ukraine were professors Anna Stolarevich and Alexander Edelmann, peers of Vladimir Horowitz in the class of Felix Blumenfeld and disciples of Heinrich Neuhaus. At fifteen, Ms. Agranovich entered the Juilliard School in New York City as a student of legendary professor Sascha Gorodnitzki, who himself was a student of Josef Lhevinne (peer of Sergei Rachmaninoff and Alexander Scriabin). While at Juilliard, she also studied with Nadia Reisenberg, a disciple of the St. Petersburg piano school of Leonid Nikolaev and student of Hofmann and Alexander Lambert – student of Franz Liszt. Ms. Agranovich earned Bachelor and Master Degrees from the Juilliard School, holding full scholarship and a Fellowship teaching Piano Minor at Juilliard. She won First Prize in the Bergen Philharmonic Competition. After graduating Juilliard, Ms. Agranovich began working towards her Doctorate at the Columbia University, but deferred that pursuit to raise a family, which led to her additional 23-year career in Information Technology. Having earned a certification in Computer Science, she worked as a systems analyst for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company where she received the Presidential Quality Award for Computer Systems Design and Support, and later as a senior programmer/analyst/project manager/vice president at Merrill Lynch. Ms. Agranovich also studied naturopathy, traditional Indian medicine and traditional Chinese medicine, receiving certifications in Yoga, Pilates, and other holistic disciplines. She taught Yoga and Pilates at the YMCA branch. Sophia Agranovich is an esteemed pedagogue, lecturer, master class clinician, adjudicator, and is a recipient of numerous teaching awards. Her students often win top prizes in regional, national and international competitions and are playing at prestigious venues and internationally. They had been accepted to Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, New York University, Mannes College and other notable universities. Their performances were broadcast on radio and TV, including WWFM “Kids on Keys” and WQXR “Young Artists Showcase”. Ms. Agranovich is an 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 (GrammysR) and GrammyU mentor, 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 featuring favorite piano works by Ravel, performed beautifully by Taiwanese-American pianist Stephanie Shih-yu Cheng. She currently is Chair of the Keyboard department at the Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver.

Argentine violinist Tomás Cotik now resides in the U.S. He is a professor of violin at Portland State University. Here, he performs his own arrangements for violin of the J.S. Bach Six Cello Suites. This is, of course, some of the greatest of all of the solo cello literature, beautifully arranged for and performed on violin.

This is a collection of superb works for viola d'amore and small chamber ensemble performed on period instruments by Paul Miller and Chatham Baroque. The viola d'amore has six to seven strings, unlike the four of the modern viola, with each string paired with a string that is played sympathetically.

This album features a selection of African Art Music songs for voice and piano. The genre typifies the creative convergence of Western Art Music with African Folk Music traditions.

With this set, Centaur completes its traversal of the complete Beethoven String Quartet cycle, performed by the superb St. Louis based Arianna String Quartet. This is one of the truly great Beethoven String Quartet cycles.

American composer Richard Burchard (b. 1960) has established himself as an internationally renowned composer with his innovative and unique choral compositions. His compositions merge the styles of Renaissance polyphony with modern dissonance and mixed meter. Burchard draws text sources such as the texts and rites of the Roman Catholic Church, and poets such as Rainer Maria Rilke.

Established by pianists and Lamar University faculty members Sujung Cho and Jacob Clark, Duo Korusa is a versatile piano duo/duet team dedicated to the performance of lesser-known works of the 19th and 20th century, as well as new works of the 21st century. Started in 2012, Duo Korusa has been performing composed piano duet works throughout the United States. Their recording of Diabelli’s Sonata in C major for Piano Four Hands has been published by Symposium, the peer-reviewed journal of CMS and is available in the recording archives of Symposium’s online journal. Duo Korusa has worked closely with the composer Thomas Dempster, premiering his work “Congaree Voices” for piano duet and electronic track at the South Carolina Music Teachers State Conference at Anderson University and then performing it at the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival at the Abrons Arts Center and Electroacoustic Barn Dance at the University of Mary Washington.

Pianist Jacob Clark received his musical education primarily in Texas, completing his BM, MM, and DMA in piano performance at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Clark has been awarded prizes in several competitions, mostly notably being named a prizewinner in the Bradshaw and Buono International Piano Competition, Sidney Wright Accompanying Competition, the Janice K. Hodges Contemporary Piano Performance Award, and the Mid-Texas Symphony Concerto Competition.

Pianist Sujung Cho is a native of Korea, where she was an honor scholarship graduate at Ewha Womans University in Seoul. She holds her master’s degree in Piano Performance and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music. Her formal teachers include Awadagin Pratt, Elisabeth Pridonoff, Eugene Pridonoff, and Sandra Rivers.

With sparkling articulation reminiscent of the remarkable Alicia de Larrocha, pianist Pola Baytelman probes deeply to the heart of whatever music she plays. Keeping the composer’s intent foremost, she plays with effortless technique, listening always. The press has called her playing “formidable” and having “a diaphanous touch.” Baytelman is an active recitalist with a broad repertory that covers from the 18th to the 21st century. She has toured extensively in China, Europe, Hong Kong, South America, and across the United States.

Pola Baytelman is Distinguished Artist-in-Residence at Skidmore College, in Saratoga Springs,N.Y. where she was chosen to present the Moseley Lecture-Recital in 2006, the highest honor Skidmore faculty confers on a colleague. Her latest compact disc, “From Chile to Cuba,” was released by Albany Records in 2009. Baytelman’s recording of Robert Schumann’s Humoreske (2002 Centaur) was listed by American Record Guide as one of the top three performances of the classic work.

Young Steinway Artist Han Xiang David Xu is an active Chinese-Canadian concert pianist, who maintains deep interest and extra-musical possibilities in other art forms, including ballet, painting, and Taichi. As a martial art practitioner, Xu is heavily influenced, his MMus dissertation was on Taichi Principals and Piano Performance Techniques. For the past few years, Xu has studied many other styles of martial arts and even received his certificate as a professional instructor for Functional Range Conditioning. To go further with his research on the subject, Xu took another Master of Science degree from Royal College of Music. His thesis is on Experience of Fundamental Martial Arts Training for Young Concert Pianists.

After moving to Vancouver, David began studies with Ian Parker, before eventually graduating and studying at the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Professor Rebecca Penneys. He continued his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London, under the tutelage of Pascal Nemirovski, and graduated with high honors. Xu has given several recital tours across China over the past few years, with stops in Beijing, Tianjin, Shenzhen, Chongqing, Xiamen, and Guangzhou.

His album Sonatas on Canvas received prizes in three categories in the Global Music Award: Classical Solo Piano, Album, and Emerging Artist. He is a prize winner in many competitions including the Rome International Piano Competition, International Music Competition Paris Grand Prize Virtuoso, and Canadian Music Competition. In 2019, he was invited to feature in a new Jaguar commercial for their new XFL sedan. Aside of being a concert pianist he is also an educator. In the past few years Xu has adjudicated in many major international piano competitions.

Assistant Professor of Double Bass George Speed enjoys a career that combines teaching with solo, chamber, and orchestral performing. He joins the College of Music faculty after 14 years as Associate Professor of Double Bass at Oklahoma State University, where he received the 2009 Wise-Diggs-Berry Award for Teaching Excellence. For the past four summers, Mr. Speed has served on the artist faculty of the Brevard Music Center in Brevard, North Carolina. He joins with pianist Heidi Louise Williams for this new release, showcasing a program of Bass favorites and transcriptions, including works by Beethoven, Boccherini, Dragonetti, and Sperger.

A superior post bop soloist, tenor saxophonist, composer, and educator David Detweiler is influenced by early John Coltrane and Michael Brecker but has a sound and style of his own within the mainstream of modern jazz.

Currently Assistant Professor of Jazz Saxophone, David joined the faculty at Florida State University in 2016 after serving as Director of Jazz Studies at Nazareth College (Rochester, NY). He has performed at many of New York City’s premier live-music venues such as The Blue Note, Birdland, The Knitting Factory, and The Iridium.

His first record as a leader, New York Stories, featured Leon Anderson, Clarence Seay, Chris Pattishall, and Rick Lollar. His second record as a leader, The Dave Detweiler Trio was released in August 2015. Celebrating Bird with bassist Fumi Tomita was released September 2020 and The Astoria Suite was released in 2021.

Bassist, composer, and educator Fumi Tomita was active in the New York jazz scene for over fifteen years. His 2019 recording, The Elephant Vanishes: Jazz Interpretations of the Short Stories of Haruki Murakami, was released to critical acclaim by Origin Arts records and was listed in the top ten records of 2019 by Jazziz. He is currently Associate Professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.