Schubert: Symphony in C Major, 'The Great'

2022 release. Rbb Kulturradio says: "Jan Vogler sings with his instrument". For "Pop Songs" he takes them by their word and recorded the most beautiful and popular vocal pieces from Monteverdi, Vivaldi, Bizet, Mozart to The Beatles, Gary Moore or and Micheal Jackson, spanning a period of almost 500 years. For this special project he teams up with the BBC Philharmonic and conductor Omer Meier Wellber. The pieces were specifically arranged for cello and orchestra and make them come alive in an unheard new splendor. The BBC Philharmonic accentuates Jan Vogler beautifully while conductor Omer Meier Wellber features on the accordion on a beautifully arranged version of Monteverdi's "Pur ti miro". Vogler chose the most delightful pieces from operas such as Dido and Aeneas, Carmen or the Magic Flute. He also does not shy away from 20th centuy favorites such as "Summertime" from Porgy and Bess, "It was a very good year" ironically performed by Frank Sinatra or Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean".

Classical Music

R. Strauss - Elektra, Chor der Deutschen, Staatsoper Berlin and Saatskapelle Berlin directed by Daniel Barenboim.

Gioachino Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia performed by Chor de Grand Theatre of Geneve and Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne directed by Jesus Lopez-Cobos.

From Mozart to Rossini, from Bellini and Donizetti to Verdi, the soprano Olga Peretyatko has proven her versatility on the world's great opera stages and on studio recordings. Her Rossini recital was awarded an Echo Klassik Prize in 2016. Now she turns to the Russian repertoire with her fourth album for Sony Classical: Russian Light. Here the St Petersburg soprano sings opera arias by the leading Russian composers Mikhail Glinka, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Igor Stravinsky and Dmitri Shostakovich. Rounding off the programme is a selection of orchestral songs by Sergey Rachmaninoff, including the famously mellifluous Vocalise. She is accompanied on this, her first purely Russian album, by the Ural Philharmonic under the baton of Dmitry Liss.

BEETHOVEN: SINFONIE NR. 5/TRIP

2018 release. Since 1939, the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's Concert has become a tradition and the world's most famous classical music event. The list of names of leading conductors who have led the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's Concerts reads like a veritable who's who of great maestros: Herbert von Karajan, Lorin Maazel, Claudio Abbado and Gustavo Dudamel to name a few. For the New Year's Concert 2018 world-renowned conductor Riccardo Muti returns to conduct the New Year's Concert for the fifth time. He has conducted the Vienna Philharmonic for over 500 concerts, has a very close connection to the orchestra and is one of the most engaged New Year's Concert conductors. Italian conductor Muti holds two music directorships: the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini. A prolific recording artist, Muti has received dozens of honors, titles, awards and prizes throughout his career. The Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's Concert is unique and has often been imitated, but not equaled, with a live broadcast on television in over 90 countries around the world with over 40 million viewers. The repertoire for the New Year's Concert features works by members of the Strauss Family - Johann Strauss, father and son, as well as Eduard and Josef Strauss. Old favorites from their works are played alongside others that have never been recorded or are rarely heard. All of them programmed around two fixed points in the concert, The Blue Danube Waltz and the Radetzky March.

Ssewakiryanga James Jr., also known as SSEWASSEWA, is a Ugandan multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, innovator and educator. He leads his audiences into the soulful African music culture with traditional instruments, songs and stories from his homeland, weaving these traditions together with a modern and global sound. Ssewa Ssewa's music is about social and global issues, diversity, economic development and empowerment. Ssewa Ssewa's music is a cross-cultural marriage between Uganda, Africa and the world. He seeks to promote Ugandan traditions while modernizing and interweaving them with other international genres to renew the spirit of his indigenous culture. The janzi is a Ugandan instrument created and designed by Ssewa Ssewa. It has 22 strings, eleven on each of it's two long, wooden necks. The strings on the left-hand neck are tuned in the diatonic scale, and the strings on the right to the pentatonic scale.

This exciting quintet of young Scottish Gaels, DLÙ, are winners of the ‘Danny Kyle Open Stage 2018’, and were nominated for the MG Alba Scots Trad Award, ‘upcoming artist of the year’, in 2019. Their debut album Moch champions the Gaelic language and culture while blending progressive arrangements, eclectic musical influences and youthful energy. The result – face-paced traditional Scottish tunes with funk, rock and pop – a sound that is uniquely their own. “The greatest reward for those mostly unsung champions of Gaelic language, music and culture is that bands like DLÙ are in the world today.” -Mary Ann Kennedy

Hossam Ramzy, Egypt’s Ambassador of Rhythm, was born in Cairo. His musical career began early, when at the age of three he was given his first drum- an Egyptian table. His passion for percussion was noted by his family (many of whom were themselves involved in the arts), who encouraged him to master his craft by studying with the leading music teachers of Egypt. A move to Saudi Arabia introduced Hossam to many of the Bedouin tribes who gave the young Hossam a rich insight into the cultural origins of Middle Eastern music that became the inspiration for many of his later rhythmic directions. This album of beautiful Egyptian love songs for belly dancers and lovers of Egyptian music also features the incredible quarter tone accordion player Mohsen Allaam.

Vigüela showcase various regional styles within traditional Spanish music, all originating from their home-land Castilla-La Mancha, the southern part of the Iberian plateau. Their ninth album A la manera artesana focuses on how ‘artisanal creativity’ differs from the globalization of ‘handicraft culture’ which has become more about following templates and repetition, rather than unique original craftsmanship. According to the band’s founder, Juan Antonio, the style is more important than the repertoire – “Repertoire you can learn, but it’s the local style that makes it authentic.” This approach makes Vigüela quite unique and has gained them Spanish audiences in both rural and urban areas. For modern Spain, and the rest of world, this is a new and exciting style which has been previously unrecognized. Yet for the more rural Castilla-La Mancha audience, it has a moving nostalgic feel that resonates with the local culture.

Khöömei Beat are five outstanding musicians who excel in khöömei - Tuva’s unique style of throat singing. They layer traditional and modern instruments with their distinctive vocals to create powerful arrangements with modern rhythms and electronic sounds. Exhilarating and foot-stomping - a musical art that stretches back to the dawn of humanity, while simultaneously reaching forward to new horizons. An exhilarating mix of khöömei singing with razor-sharp drumming and earthy cello sounds that rush through the soul like the wind from an eagle’s wing. With the authentic Tuvan sounds of the doshpuluur, byzaanchyand igil, Khöömei Beat layer traditional and modern instruments with their distinctive vocals to create powerful arrangements with modern rhythms and electronic sounds.

After MANdolinMAN's successful first album "Old Tunes, Dusted Down" - a concept album devoted to the impressive field work of folklorist Hubert Boone - and a second album on which they explored the bossa nova style, MANdolinMAN return to their roots. The band digs even deeper into Flemish folk music and once again breathe new life into old tunes and melodies from the province of Flemish Brabant. Played on four mandolins, the music takes on new forms and teh historic melodies are injected with a modern and contemporary vigour, merged with various styles: African, polka, waltz, bluegrass and more. "...Passionate and polished playing...It's also refreshing to hear mandolins outside of bluegrass and Celtic folk settings..." - Rhythms, Australia

Egyptian master percussionist Hossam Ramzy presents this album of Egyptian rhythmic dance. The first part of the album explains the Egyptian dance rhythms, and gives examples of each, such as the Masmoudi, Maqsoum, and Saaidi. From track 25 on, Hossam presents a drumming workshop. He explains the drums, which include the table, darabuka, mazhar, and duf, then plays simple examples as well as how the drums fit into a full percussion section.