The artists in Chimera - violinist Iva Bittova, bassist-composer Michael Bisio, flutist Steve Gorn, and singer-guitarist-composer Timothy Hill are all master musicians, innovators, and improvisors. They have deeply immersed themselves in multiple traditions and genres: streams of avant-garde jazz, Indian raga, Moravian folk music, overtone singing, as well as early and modern European classical and American folk music. Individually they have performed with a stunning array of influential creative artists, such as Fred Frith, Bang-on-a-Can All-Stars, ETHEL, Paul Winter, Jack DeJohnette, Paul Simon, David Hykes, Pauline Oliveros, Bill Frisell, Matthew Shipp, Tani Tabbal and Joe McPhee, to name a few. All this they leave at the door as they enter the shared space to meet in the moment, sharing a deep respect of each other's experience and perspective, anticipating fresh expressions of deep feeling, awestruck beauty and sheer delight. Together they explore new territory to create music that defies description.

Violinist Miranda Cuckson has achieved an international reputation as a leading champion of contemporary music and living composers in a remarkably wide range of styles. Known for her organic expressivity, dexterous virtuosity, musical insight, brilliant programming, and love for music, she is acclaimed internationally as a soloist and collaborator. In addition to frequent performances throughout the United States and high-profile appearances in Vienna, Berlin, and other European cultural centers, she has gained an international fan base through her many recordings for Urlicht AudioVisual, ECM Records, and Centaur. In her eponymous first release on vinyl, Miranda plays a new work written for her by a rising star among composers, Stewart Goodyear. "Solo: A Suite for Solo Violin" is an engaging and accessible work that incorporates traditional classical forms with elements of jazz and music that draws on the sounds of his Trinidadian roots. The other side of the LP contains two twentieth century avant-garde masterpieces: "Mikka S" by composer and architect Iannis Xenakis, a challenging virtuoso work incorporating microtonal glissandi and a range of sonorities that push the technical limits of the instrument, and Franco Donatoni's "Argot", which fuses minimalism, mutation, and gestures that conjure the many influences that shaped him, from folk music to the music of John Cage and Pierre Boulez. Drawn from ultra high definition digital sources and prepared for mastering by Urlicht AudioVisual's Gene Gaudette, Miranda's first LP is being issued in a Direct Metal Mastered, audiophile-quality 180 gram limited edition pressing.

The legendary cellist and the greatest Bulgarian violinist of her generation play masterpieces by a twentieth century giant. First release of Starker's 1986 performance of the Kodaly Duo with Elmira Darvarova, recorded days before her daring escape from communist Bulgaria. New Remastering of Starker's 1950 recording of the Kodaly Sonata for solo cello

Vilag is a Hungarian word meaning "world" or "illumination". It also resembles the word "village" in English. In Sanskrit, "vilag" means "to cling to"; in Hindi, "separated". "In my frequent work with composers, I had noticed quite a few drawing upon the music of their native countries - the tunes, native instruments, characteristic rhythms. Thinking about what the many cultures of the world mean to people today, I chose for this album to program the Bartok Sonata together with pieces I had recently commissioned from my friends: Aida Shirazi, from Iran, and Stewart Goodyear, from Canada. I also selected two works, one each by Manfred Stahnke and Franco Donatoni, that I've recently been playing regularly. While these don't draw from the composers' own ethnic cultures, they explore ideas inspired by folk music and un-formalized language." - Miranda Cuckson. Miranda Cuckson delights listeners with her playing of a remarkably wide range of music and styles, from older eras to the newest creations. Known for her organic expressivity, dexterous virtuosity, musical insight, brilliant programming, and love for music, she is acclaimed internationally as a soloist and collaborator. A violinist and violist, she performs at venues large and small, concert halls, and informal spaces. While remaining very dedicated to the Western classical repertoire, Miranda has emerged as a major champion of contemporary and living composers. She has played countless concerts and premieres of new works, and is widely acknowledged for the far-reaching inspirational role she has played in bringing new creations more to the center of concert life. Miranda has released four recordings on Urlicht AudioVisual, and her recording of Luigi Nono's "La lontananza nostalgica utopica futura" was named a Best Recording of the Year by the New York Times. Her newest recording, VILAG, juxtaposes four recent works for unaccompanied violin with Bela Bartok's iconic Sonata for Solo Violin. Three works receive their recording premieres: Aida Shiraz's Saniya, Stewart Goodyear's Solo, and Manfred Stahnke's Capra 4. Franco Donatoni's Argot rounds out a program that showcases a wide variety of traditional and "classical" styles along with extended sonorities.

A Grammy®-nominated recording artist, a concert violinist since the age of four, and an award-winning performer (GOLD MEDAL at the 2017 Global Music Awards), Elmira Darvarova caused a sensation, becoming the first ever (and only so far) woman-concertmaster in the history of the Metropolitan Opera in New York. With the MET Orchestra she toured Europe, Japan and the United States, and was heard on the MET's live weekly international radio broadcasts, television broadcasts, CDs and laser discs on the Sony, Deutsche Grammophon and EMI labels. As concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera she has performed with the greatest conductors of our time, including the legendary Carlos Kleiber. She studied with Yfrah Neaman at the Guildhall School in London (on a British Council scholarship), with Josef Gingold at Indiana Universtiy in Bloomington (as one of his assistants), and, privately, with Henryk Szeryng.

Miranda Cuckson is today's pre-eminent interpreter of new and contemporary violin music. She records for ECM and UAV: Her newest recording for Urlicht showcases some of the most challenging music for solo violin composer in the late 20th century. Of particular note are the two works by Brian Ferneyhough - Unsichtbare Farben and Intermedio alla ciaccona - two rarely=played works of formidable intensity and complexity.