This is an album of Baroque works, arranged for and performed on Accordion by master accordionist William Popp. The great Baroque works are magnificent in many different mediums, and this album is a great example of this. William Popp began his studies on the piano at the age of six and on the accordion at the age of eleven. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in performance from the University of Denver where he studied accordion with Robert Davine. He has performed and toured extensively on accordion and harpsichord with the United States Air Force Strings and has appeared with this group at such prestigious venues as The White House, the State Department, and the Kennedy Center. William Popp has also performed in concert with members of the National Symphony Orchestra, the Denver Symphony Orchestra (now the Colorado Symphony Orchestra), the 21st Century Consort, National Musical Arts, and Colorado Chamber Players. He has toured throughout the world with the USAF Strings and has appeared as a soloist in Beijing, China.

This new release is a program of Russian Traditional Folk Songs and Romances, beautifully performed by Russian singer Elona Krasavtseva. Elona (Ilona Krasavtseva) is a classical crossover soprano and a songwriter. She sings Traditional Songs, Broadway, Jazz, Classic Pop, and Oldies. Elona was classically trained in Moscow, Russia, where she had started her musical career in 2006 as a perfomer of traditional songs of varoious nations. She had performed at Moscow concert halls, TV and radio shows, and many other events in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Belarus, Cyprus, Canada, Romania and other countries. In 2014 she had relocated to Florida, USA and now sings for music lovers arriving from all over the world. Elona as a songwriter composes music similar to Russian traditional songs.

This album features a group of contemporary art songs by Korean women composers, all commissioned by The Korean Society of Women Composers. These songs are brought to life by Korean soprano Kyoung Cho, and Korean-Canadian bass Won Cho. Internationally acclaimed Korean soprano Kyoung Cho has established a reputation in diverse regions of Asia, Europe, The Mid-East, and North America. Critics praised her performances as “Sublimely beautiful, transcendent, serene, dazzling, and heavenly” and “Refined tone color and dignified sound, which effectively expressed an appeal that penetrated the heart.” Korean-Canadian Bass Won Cho is in demand in both concert and operatic repertoire worldwide thanks to the unique range and beauty of his voice as well as his outstanding acting ability and strong stage presence, appearing with many of the opera houses and orchestras of the US, Canada, Europe, Mid East, Asia, and his native Korea. Critics hailed Cho’s performances as “expertly played whose deep tones vibrate the seats,” “one wished the score let him sing his overcoat aria twice,” “Won Cho steal(s) the show,” “deep resonant mellifluous sound," "he sang with a grave, classic beauty," “a particularly dark, melodic yet rafter-ringing bass that is worth the price of admission all by itself.”

Classical Music

Classical Music

After Anastasia Seifetdinova's Carnegie Hall debut in 2006, the New York Concert Review wrote: "For a critic, hearing a new pianist with a truly warm, luscious tone is like breathing in the scent of jasmine blooming - a pleasure to be recalled again and again - and so I'm happy to report did from the first not she touched at her Weill Hall recital, she was a genuine pleasure to listen to every piece, every measure, every note..."

This new collection of contemporary works for flute and piccolo, performed by Leonard Garrison, features works by Robert Dick, Ian Clarke, Gergely Ittzes, Kaija Saariaho, Robert Aitken, Harvey Sollberger, Betsy Jolas, Salvatore Sciarrino, Stockhausen and Takemitsu. Mr. Garrison is Assoc. Prof. of Flute and Assoc. Dir. of the Lionel Hampton School of Music. “(He) combines great virtuosity, superb control of musical expression, and high energy with lyricism. He makes the most difficult technical passage seem easy and extreme dynamics and wide leaps appear effortless.” - The Flute Network

The Bach Legacy is an album of works by multiple members of the great Bach family: J.S. Bach, C.P.E. Bach, W.F. Bach, and J.C.F. Bach. Charlotte Mattax loves these works, and it shows clearly in her beautiful performances on harpsichord. Harpsichordist Charlotte Mattax Moersch has performed worldwide as a soloist and chamber musician. Since capturing First and Third Prizes in basso continuo and solo playing in the International Harpsichord Competitions in Paris, France and Bruges, Belgium, she has appeared in solo recitals in New York, London, Edinburgh, Rome, Geneva, Paris, and Amsterdam, and at historic venues, among them Carnegie Hall, the Royal Albert Hall, the Mozarteum, and the Palazzo della Cancelleria. Called a "nonpareil harpsichordist" by Early Music America, she has received critical acclaim for her playing, at once "dashing yet intelligent" (Classical Times, London), and "fluent and expressive" (Fanfare Magazine). As a guest artist, she has performed at the Festival of the Associazione Musicale Romana, Festival Estival de Paris, Tage alter musik Regensburg, and the Bethlehem and Boulder Bach Festivals, and has toured Europe with San Francisco's American Baroque and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

Bent Frequency is a performance ensemble possessing a vision to redefine the traditional music experience- ushering it from the strict formality of the concert hall into the fresh air of contemporary artistic expression and experimentation. Founded in 2003, the group brings the avant-garde music tradition to life through adventurous programming, the promotion of New Music, and a creative synthesis of music and media. Gramophone Magazine hailed them as “one of the brightest new music ensembles on the scene today.” Percussionist Stuart Gerber and Saxophonist Jan Berry Baker both perform in Bent Frequency, and have now begun The Bent Frequency Duo Project. They have commissioned over twenty new works for their duo and have given more than thirty performances of this new repertoire across the United States and Europe since 2014. All of the works featured on this new release were composed specifically for the duo. Composers featured include Devin Maxwell, Christopher Burns, Amy Williams, Jeff Herriot, Amelia S. Kaplan, and Robert Scott Thompson.

Mario Lamar Hunter is an award-winning Woodwind Performer and seasoned music educator. He is known internationally as a top-notch professional musician with more than three decades of experience. After winning a concerto competition sponsored by the Winston-Salem Symphony Orchestra when he was sixteen years old, he began appearing as a soloist with various orchestras across America. He is the founder, music director, and featured multi-woodwind performer with the group featured on this recording, the “Laid Back Jazz Ensemble.” He has chosen jazz standards for this release, including familiar works from Freddie Hubbard, Duke Ellington, Jimmy Van Heusen, John Coltrane, and Thelonius Monk.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

The Los Angeles New Music Ensemble was formed in 2007 with the purpose of promoting new classical music, collaboration within the arts, the commissioning of new works, and the creation of multimedia presentations within innovative live performances. + Commissioning new classical chamber works and preserving chamber music written after 1900 is the Ensemble’s focus. + This Centaur release captures five years of recording activity for the ensemble, and features several newly commissioned works along with O King, a work by the late Italian composer Luciano Berio.