On this album David Loeb features his compositions that attempt to reconcile the seemingly incompatible combinations of viols with traditional Japanese instruments and voice. The result is a truly unique and satisfying musical experience. David Loeb was born in 1939 in New York into a family which took music and painting very seriously. He studied composition with Peter Pindar Stearns at the Mannes College of Music in New York, and then completed a master's degree at Yale. 1964 became a critical year for his future. He began teaching at Mannes and has remained on the faculty there ever since, simultaneously teaching at the Curtis Institute from 1973 until 2000. Receiving a commission to compose a piece for an early music ensemble resulted a continuing involvement with writing for historical instruments, especially viols. Later that same year he began studying traditional Japanese music with Shinichi Yuize. This also resulted in a permanent and intense involvement (not only as a composer) and a succession of collaborative projects with Yuize-san until his recent passing away.

Ukranian-born pianist Natalya Shkoda resides in Chico, California. As a recording artist she has introduced piano music of Ukranian composer Viktor Kosenko worldwide. She brings committed, impassioned performances to the Tchaikovsky works on this album. Natalya Shkoda is considered to be one of today’s most dynamic and exciting young artists, master teachers and competition adjudicators. Dr. Shkoda holds degrees and diplomas from Arizona State University, Kharkiv State National Kotlyarevsky University of the Arts, and Kharkiv Special Music School for Gifted Children in Ukraine. Since presenting her first solo recital and winning the National Young Composers Competition in Kiev, Ukraine, at the age 13, Natalya Shkoda performed numerous solo, accompanying and chamber music recitals in Ukraine, Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, France and throughout the U.S.A. She has also appeared as a soloist with the orchestras nationwide including the MasterWorks Symphony, the Southwest Symphony, the Paradise Symphony and the North State Symphony. She is an Associate Professor of Piano and Coordinator of Keyboard Studies at California State University, Chico.

The �tudes by Fr�d�ric Chopin are three sets of �tudes (solo studies) for the piano published during the 1830s. There are twenty-seven compositions overall, comprising two separate collections of twelve, numbered Op. 10 and Op. 25, and a set of three without opus number. They are some of the most performed works in the piano repertory, and hardly need any introduction. These sublime works are beautifully performed by Polish pianist Diana Jaworska. Born in Poland in 1968, Diana Jaworska now lives in lives in Southern France, where she teaches the piano, performs concerts, makes recordings, and composes her own works.

This release showcases great Telemann works, beautifully performed on period instruments with the incomparable Julianne Baird. Julianne Baird, soprano, has been hailed as "one of the most extraordinary voices in the service of early music that this generation has produced. She possesses a natural musicianship which engenders singing of supreme expressive beauty." She maintains a busy concert schedule of solo recitals and performances of baroque opera and oratorio. With over 100 recordings to her credit on Decca, Deutsche Gramophone, Newport Classics and Dorian, Julianne Baird is considered one of America's most recorded women. Julianne Baird is an active teacher and scholar, with degrees from the Eastman School and a Diploma from the Salzburg Mozarteum in performance. She also earned a PhD in music history from Stanford University.

This is a beautiful program of art songs by Francis Poulenc, performed by soprano Alissa Deeter and pianist Arlene Shrut. A nationally recognized performer with firm footing in both classical and musical theatre circles, she is an active recitalist with a penchant for French mélodie as well as the treasured compositions of Gershwin, Porter, Berlin, and Weill. She was a founding member and co-director of The Miscreants Cabaret, a fringe theatre troupe in San Francisco that wrote, produced, and performed original works. Dr. Deeter is the co-author of The Mélodies of Francis Poulenc: A Study Guide (Scarecrow Press, 2014) and has several articles published in the Journal of Singing. She recently presented the lecture recital “The Gender Gap in Francis Poulenc’s Mélodies” at the College Music Society’s International Conference in Stockholm and Helsinki.

The two pieces chosen for this new recording are based around a central theme: healing. Beethoven’s String Quartet in A minor, Op. 132 was written after Beethoven had recovered from a serious illness which he, at the time, worried would be fatal. He had been afflicted during the entire winter of 1824-25, and headed the third movement with the words “Heiliger Dankgesang eines Genesenen an die Gottheit, in der lydischen Tonart” (Holy song of thanksgiving of a convalescent to the Deity, in the Lydian Mode). The Mendelssohn quartet is inspired by a different kind of healing, and was composed a few months after the death of Ludwig van Beethoven. It is heavily inspired by Beethoven’s late works, and is one of the most significant examples of cyclic form in music. The DaPonte Quartet is based in Maine, and has a mission to connect audiences to composers and their influences by bringing to life the human context of each score’s creation.

Marc Satterwhite's music has been performed in diverse venues all over the United States, as well as in Europe, England, Australia, the Americas, South Africa, Japan, Hong Kong, China and South Korea. Among the groups that have performed and recorded his works are the Boston Symphony, the Utah Symphony, the Louisville Orchestra, the Verdehr Trio, eighth blackbird, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, the Core Ensemble, Tales & Scales, the Chicago Chamber Musicians, the London Composers Ensemble, Percussion Group Falsa, tubist Gene Pokorny, and clarinetist Richard Nunemaker. He has received residencies at many artist colonies, including the MacDowell Colony and Yaddo, and lectured at colleges and conservatories both in the US and abroad. He is a graduate of Michigan State University and Indiana University and was for several years a professional orchestral bassist before switching his emphasis to composition. He has taught in Texas, Indiana and Michigan and is Professor of Composition and Music Theory at the University of Louisville School of Music where, in addition to his teaching duties, he directs the Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition. He draws his inspiration from various sources, including nature, his travels, life events, politics, and, as this release demonstrates, art.

Headcase is an opera written by Brett William Dietz, based on his real-life experiences. At the age of 19, Dietz suffered a stroke, leaving him temporarily mute along with partial paralysis. Doctors believed that Dietz had little hope for full recovery but he miraculously proved them wrong had a full recovery.

Scot LaGraff is a Professor of Voice at Stephen F. Austin State University. He is a graduate of the Tri-Cities Opera Resident Artist Training Program in Binghamton, New York, where he sang title roles in Don Giovanni and Le Nozze di Figaro. He is an advocate of contemporary American song, and his first album- Songs by Stephen Lias, Michael Patterson and Lee Hoiby- was released by Centaur in 2009. Incline Thine Ear and Other Sacred Songs is his second album. A number of composers are featured on this album, including Carl F. Mueller, Oley Speaks, Albert Hay Malotte, and more. LaGraff is joined by pianist Andrew Hudson, and his wife Kimberly performs alongside him on the Hal Hopson arrangement of the traditional English melody, “The Gift of Love.”

This is Volume 10 in Centaur's complete traversal of the keyboard works of Francois Couperin, performed by Mark Kroll. This is a landmark edition of these complete works. Mark Kroll has made a specialty of Couperin throughout his long and distinguished career. Mark Kroll has performed on four continents as a harpsichordist and fortepianist, in both solo recital and as a collaborative chamber musician. Highlights include an appearance as the official guest of the city of Barcelona; featured soloist in Germany's Regensburg Early Music Festival, France's Festival Ambronay and the Bordeaux Hummel Festival; two concerts for the Czech Republic's Prague Spring Festival; and recitals at Lisbon's Gulbenkian Foundation, Rome's Conservatorio Santa Caecilia and Associazione Musicale Romana, Poland's Dni Bachowski, and Slovenija's Radovljica Festival.

Selmer Paris endorsed artist Cory Barnfield enjoys a busy and successful career. His playing has been described as: “having a warm and expressive sound that speaks melodies easily with complete control of the full range of his instrument. There is a unique intimacy to his playing that is a delight to the listener. His fingers are precise, and rapidly allowing the music to flow unimpeded to the listener’s imagination no matter how difficult or easy. His articulation on saxophone is superb.” (Saxophone Journal) He frequently performs with the Kentucky Opera and the Louisville Symphony Orchestra, and his recordings can be heard on multiple labels. He is a champion of new music and has commissioned several pieces from composers. One such work is included on this album: Peter Felice’s “Shadows of Paris.”

Koan collections are public records of the notable sayings and actions of Zen disciples and masters. These stories, dialogues, questions, or statements are used in Zen practice to provoke the “great doubt” and test a Zen student’s progress. Alexandre Danilevski is a contemporary composer who has used these texts as the basis for this work, which is scored for small vocal and instrumental ensembles. The Russian-born French composer, lutenist, and Vielle player is based in Metz, France and serves as the artistic director of “Syntagma,” an early music ensemble noted for their interpretation of Russian and Ukranian baroque composers. They can be heard on this release.

Liviu Marinescu is a contemporary composer who writes music that deserves a serious hearing. This album includes Harmonic Fields, Shadows, Focus, Echoes, and Sway. Nimbus Ensemble, Young Riddle, Dzovig Markarian, Daniel Kessner, Aaron Smith.

Violinist Lin He and pianist Gregory Sioles’ recital features the violin and piano sonatas of Debussy, Ravel and Poulenc. +Mr. He serves as the Assoc. Prof. of Violin at the LSU School of Music. +As a soloist and chamber musician, Mr. He has performed in America and China. +Mr. Sioles is Assoc. Prof. of Piano at the LSU School of Music. +He has performed on three continents at such venues as the Kennedy Center, the Purcell Room on London’s South Bank and the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in China.

Centaur’s Embers features six compositions by four 21st c. composers, including three works by Southeastern Louisiana University music theory and composition teacher Philip Schuessler, as well as one work each by Ray Pizzi, Stephen Suber and Kari Besharse, whose piece gives the album its name. + Saxophonist Dr. Richard A. Schwartz has been a freelancing musician throughout the US and Europe for over 20 years, and has commissioned and/or premiered nearly thirty new works. + Mr. Schwartz and pianists Mr. Schuessler and Kenneth Boulton appear in different combinations throughout the album.