Choose artist...
Home   >   Projects

Projects

Artist: All Artists
Projects per page:
Kian Soltani:

Home

A protegé of Anne-Sophie Mutter and Daniel Barenboim, 25-year-old cellist Kian Soltani releases his debut DG album performed with pianist Aaron Pilsan, Home. Reflecting his Austrian and Persian roots, Home features Schubert's Sonata in A Minor (Arpeggione) and Schumann's "Du bist wie eine Blume," as well as world premiere recordings of Iranian composer Reza Vali's Seven Persian Folk Songs, written for Soltani, and the young cellist's own composition, Persian Fire Dance. 

Clement Ducol & Camille:

Emilia Perez OMPS

Sony Music Masterworks releases EMILIA PÉREZ (ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK) featuring original songs and score music written by CLÉMENT DUCOL and CAMILLE for the award-winning musical drama from Jacques Audiard. Acclaimed composer Clément Ducol and chart-topping French singer Camille have crafted an expansive body of music covering multiple genres, each tailored to the onscreen story and its cast of characters. Included within the album are 16 Spanish-language vocal tracks featuring performances by the film’s ensemble cast including Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz. With music supervision by Pierre-Marie Dru, who also acts as the album’s executive producer, the soundtrack captures the complexity of each character’s innermost thoughts and feelings, further immersing viewers into the onscreen story while complimenting Audiard’s bold filmmaking vision. Following an award-winning festival run, Emilia Pérez debuts in select US theaters today before making its streaming debut in the US, UK and Ireland exclusively on Netflix beginning Wednesday, November 13.

INSTAGRAM

Samara Joy:

Portrait

“I’m still speechless,” says Samara Joy, reflecting on her 2023 Grammy win for Best New Artist. When the Bronx-raised jazz vocalist, 24, tries to place herself back in that historic moment today, she feels nothing but gratitude.

At the same time, Joy understood then that she couldn’t let the award define her. She still had a lifetime of music to explore, a tight-knit crew of extraordinary collaborators to guide, and a passion for songwriting to nurture. So Joy did what any committed, eternally curious jazz musician would do: She hit the road. For her and her band, a seemingly endless run of sold-out tour dates became a nightly opportunity to reach new creative heights. “I just got back to work, doing what, in essence, got me the Grammy in the first place,” she says. 

Joy’s new Verve Records release, Portrait, is the proper follow-up to Linger Awhile, her 2022 breakthrough LP, and it represents the next phase in her continuing artistic evolution — unbound by expectations. 

Portrait documents the immersive, seemingly telepathic rapport she’s developed with her touring band, which includes musicians she learned the jazz craft alongside while earning her undergraduate degree; in fact, it wasn’t until college that Joy began to pursue jazz singing. On the strength of that cozy dynamic — on the road, "I'm among friends, which explains personal chemistry that translates to our live performances,” Joy says. The vocalist offers an album that both honors jazz heritage while staking out bold, singular territory. Whatever a rote, singer-with-sidemen record is, Portrait is not.  

Jon Batiste:

Beethoven Blues

Multi-Grammy and Oscar Award winner Jon Batiste today announced his eighth studio album, Beethoven Blues (Batiste Piano Series, Vol. 1), out November 15 via Verve Records / Interscope. Marking the first installment in Batiste’s new solo piano series, the project showcases his interpolations of some of Beethoven’s most iconic works, which he has reimagined through an expansive lens. These reimagined classics embody the indomitable spirit of the blues, and – true to Batiste’s “message of open-armed inclusivity” (New York Times) – embrace a broad genre spectrum.  

The inspiration for Beethoven Blues gained momentum after a 2023 interview with CNN’s Chris Wallace, where Batiste demonstrated music’s ability to transcend genre borders by transforming Beethoven’s Bagatelle No. 25 (“Für Elise”) at the piano (watch HERE). The profound response from audiences across social media helped signal the timing was right to make this long-held album idea a reality. For years, Batiste has incorporated interpolations of classical music into his albums, TV performances, and live shows, but Beethoven Blues marks the first time he’s dedicated an entire album to this practice.

“For each work on the album, the starting point was one of Beethoven’s original compositions,” Batiste shared. “From there, I created something new at the piano, in real time. Spontaneous composition is a practice that’s all but lost in classical music, which can sometimes feel overly canonized.  Recording this album was a deeply spiritual experience. It allowed me to honor Beethoven’s transcendent artistry while bringing his work into dialogue with my own creative journey.”

Batiste has been variously described as “a certified musical genius” (The Guardian), “a protean pianist and megawatt personality” (Variety), and “a once-in-a-generation talent, with a passion for … connecting people through a shared love of music-making” (Classic FM). Born into a long line of Louisiana musicians, he trained as a classical pianist and received both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in piano from New York’s Juilliard School. He now works with students and faculty as an inaugural Juilliard Creative Associate, as well as serving on the Juilliard board.  Additionally, Batiste is on the Board of Trustees at Carnegie Hall as an Artist Trustee.

He returned to his classical roots in the 2021-22 season, when he curated a multi-concert “Perspectives” series at New York’s Carnegie Hall. This was crowned by the world premiere of his American Symphony (2022), a Carnegie Hall commission, on the venue’s main stage. Classical Source welcomed this large-scale orchestral work as “a joyous and beefy blend of orchestral sounds, funk, Dixieland, Latin, gospel, country, cool jazz, swing, hip-hop, R&B, as well as other styles and genres,” while Variety reported: 

Labeques / Dessner / Chalmin:

Sonic Wires

“Several years ago as we were finishing our album ‘El Chan’ which my dear friends Katia and Marielle Labèque made for Deutsche Grammophon, Katia and Marielle asked me if I would consider adding a piece in which I also play on the album (the record consists of music I had written for Katia and Marielle including a two piano piece and the large double concerto which they have performed very widely.) I thought it was a great idea and I composed ‘Haven’ for two pianos and two electric guitars that we would record along with guitarist and producer David Chalmin. This piece was the start of the Dreamhouse Quartet and a several year journey which has included many concerts and premieres and new commissions.

Prior to ‘Haven’, Katia, Marielle and David had been working on several installments of their ‘Minimalist Dreamhouse’ project which dedicates their incredible musicianship toward the various strands of the American minimal movement in music. Katia and Marielle have a long personal history playing new creations by many of the 20th century’s greatest composers including Berio, Boulez, Messiaen, Bernstein. Their passion and dedication to music transcends genre and has brought a whole new repertoire for two pianos to life.

Prior to meeting Katia and Marielle and David in 2014, I had spent the better part of 20 years living in New York City. My own experience of minimal music began in my early twenties just after finishing music school at Yale, I was asked to tour and record with the great American composer Steve Reich. Some of my first trips to Europe as a twenty five year old were performing with him. This was a highly influential time for me and Steve was also very supportive of my own compositions. Around that time I also toured with Philip Glass performing on stage with him several of the early Glass compositions from the 60s and 70s including ‘Music in Fifths’ and ‘Music in Similar Motion’.

Jean-Michel Blais - Lara Somogyi:

desert

Jean-Michel Blais and Lara Somogyi collaborate on an entirely improvised new album désert, to be released 28th February 2025 through Mercury KX. Pioneering electronic harpist Lara Somogyi and award-winning pianist/composer Jean-Michel Blais have joined forces for a groundbreaking album project, désert. The album emerged from a serendipitous encounter at Lara’s remote studio amidst the serene expanse of Joshua Tree. Entirely improvised, it captures the natural, organic interaction between the two artists, reflecting both their intuitive musical connection and the true essence of the moment in which they recorded it.

Inspired by the passage from dawn to dusk, their improvisation distilled into eleven tracks – mirroring a journey from illumination to obscurity, from simplicity to intricacy, and from strangers to kindred spirits. Melodies convey transcendence and harmonies channel synchronicity – weaving an unforeseen, timeless narrative. 

Mao Fujita:

72 Preludes - Chopin Scriabin Yashiro

Following his “consistently impressive” (Gramophone) traversal of Mozart’s complete Piano Sonatas for Sony Classical - winner of an Opus Klassik Award - Japanese pianist Mao Fujita presents a similarly ambitious project: matching sets of 24 Preludes by three composers, Frédéric Chopin, Alexander Scriabin and Akio Yashiro. In so doing, Fujita unites the Europe in which he now lives with the Japan where he was born and raised. His new Sony Classical Album - 72 Preludes - is set for release on September 6, 2024. Accompanying today’s news is the new track 24 Preludes: No. 8. in F-Sharp Minor - Andante tempo di Barcarolle

Chopin’s landmark set of 24 Préludes, completed in 1839, was the first work to treat the piano prelude as a self-contained work capable of standing alone. After the model laid down in Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier, the set traverses every key from C major to D minor, alternating major tonalities with their relative minors.

On his new album 72 Preludes, Fujita treats Chopin’s expressive yet elusive cycle as the basis for a dialogue that traverses borders and epochs. In 1884, Russian visionary Alexander Scriabin began work on his own set of 24 Preludes, directly inspired by Chopin’s. Scriabin’s pieces build on the grace and fluency of Chopin’s - also using his key scheme - while showing glimpses of the composer’s emerging radical harmonic and rhythmic character. They suggest that Scriabin, known for music on a huge scale, was an exquisite miniaturist.

Kian Soltani:

Schumann

For his new Deutsche Grammophon album, cellist Kian Soltani is focusing on the music of Schumann. The cornerstone of Soltani’s much-anticipated follow-up to Cello Unlimited – winner of the 2022 OPUS KLASSIK Innovative Listening Experience award – is Schumann’s masterful Cello Concerto in A minor, op. 129. This is a work Soltani has played to enormous acclaim many times (“The cello bow seemed to be a mere extension of his arm, his fingers flying over the fingerboard as if it were the most natural thing in the world … an unforgettable musical experience” – Seen and Heard International on his performance with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich in September 2023). 

Joined here by the players of Camerata Salzburg, led by concertmaster Gregory Ahss, Soltani directs the ensemble from the cello in the Concerto and in orchestrations of four other works by Schumann. The album also features Soltani’s own transcriptions for cello and piano of music by both Robert and Clara Schumann, in which he is accompanied by French pianist Julien Quentin. Kian Soltani – Schumann is released digitally and on CD on today. The orchestrated version of “Abendlied” from the 12 Klavierstücke, op. 85 is available to stream or download, complete with performance video, and the Sehr lebhaft finale of the Cello Concerto.

In the detailed analysis of the Cello Concerto he has written to accompany the album, Soltani considers the skill with which the composer combines the boundaries of form with lyrical freedom, as well as giving space to the two sides of his artistic personality: “the fierily tempestuous Florestan and the bashful and introvert Eusebius”. As he notes, the work “performs a high-wire act as it moves between these two extremes, which confront one another right from the outset: on the one hand, we have the free flow of the music, the compositional skill and the interiority of Eusebius, and on the other, Florestan’s propulsive passion.”

The fact that Schumann takes so many diverse elements and builds a concerto of such finely balanced architecture is all the more remarkable given that he sketched and orchestrated it within the space of a fortnight in October 1850. Four years later, in early 1854, he spent time revising the proofs of the work sent to him by the publisher Breitkopf & Härtel, despite the fact that by this time he was suffering terrible aural hallucinations. Six days after finishing his revisions, he attempted suicide. He died in 1856 having never heard the Cello Concerto performed. It finally received its public premiere in 1860 but only established its rightful place in the repertoire decades later, after being championed by the legendary Pablo Casals.

Igor Levit:

Brahms w/Vienna Philharmonic-Christian Thielemann

“Feel-good vibes effervesced, while applause resounded around the stage: that’s amore!” This is how the Viennese newspaper Der Standard described the audience’s enthusiastic reaction after Igor Levit, Christian Thielemann, and the Vienna Philharmonic performed Brahms’s First Piano Concerto at Vienna’s famous Musikverein in April 2024: “During these fifty minutes, an irresistible dose of emotion was conveyed – but at the same time the sophisticated structure of Brahms’s masterpiece remained crystal-clear.” Levit and Thielemann had already performed the Second Piano Concerto with the same orchestra in December 2023; the headline in Die Presse at the time ran: “Igor Levit sets a new gold standard for Brahms.” 

These two concertos make up the first joint recording by Levit and Thielemann, which will be released as a triple album with Levit’s recording of Brahms’s well-known solo works opp. 116–119. Levit’s and Thielemann’s first meeting was quite unplanned, although both had been curious about each other for a long time. In 2015, Levit spontaneously stepped in for a colleague who had fallen ill and performed Mozart’s C major Concerto K 467 with Thielemann and the Staatskapelle Dresden in Munich. Despite an extremely short rehearsal period, the two hit it off straight away: “We have such a similar way of thinking that it is not necessary to discuss many things,” says Thielemann. And Levit adds: “When the piece begins, I simply have complete confidence in you. I know I can’t take a wrong turn. Having such unconditional trust is extraordinary.”

Musica Viva NY:

Crimson Roses w/Choir, Orch. von Stade, Sensenig

New York City’s leading chamber choir, Musica Viva NY, today announced its forthcoming album Crimson Roses: Contemporary American Choral Music. On its first release for Naxos, due out Nov 22nd, Musica Viva NY reveals why it has recently been hailed as a treasured institution. The album showcases the choir’s gifts as performers and interpreters and bridges its deep and far- reaching exploration of the full contemporary choral spectrum. Led by Musica Viva NY’s artistic director/conductor, Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez, celebrating his 10th year at the choir’s helm, 30+ singers and orchestra perform an indispensable compilation of contemporary American choral music by three living composers: Joseph Turrin, Richard Einhorn, and Gilda Lyons.

ALL PRESS SECURED BY April Thibeault - Amt Public Relations

Donald Vega:

All is Merry and Bright

Echoing the traditions of holiday albums by Oscar Peterson and Nat King Cole, and taking inspiration from Vince Guaraldi’s holiday classic, Donald Vega has set out to make an album that families will enjoy for years to come. The album was recorded in both stereo and immersive sound by Multi GRAMMY-Winner Engineer & Producer Jim Anderson. Here the 2023 Guggenheim Fellow and Juilliard Professor shares his inspiration behind the album: 

“The holiday season, for me, is one of the happiest times of the year. Every family has their unique traditions, whether it be holiday dinners, gathering around the Christmas tree, lighting the menorah, or moments of reflection," Vega shares. "The holidays are a time of fellowship and laughter, where we reminisce fondly on years gone by while continuing to create new memories with friends and loved ones. My hope is this album becomes part of each family’s holiday tradition as they take time to cherish and celebrate one another.”

“All is Merry and Bright" finds Donald Vega teaming up once again with GRAMMY award-winning engineer/producer Jim Anderson. They recently collaborated on Vega’s last album, “As I Travel”, (Imagery Records, 2023). The recording of “All is Merry and Bright” renders every inflection of Vega’s piano with such presence and clarity, perfectly complementing Donald's art which is defined by his melodic phrasing and signature light touch. The sessions for “Merry & Bright", recorded, mixed, and mastered in Digital eXtreme Definition (352.8kHz/32bit), are among Anderson Audio's finest engineering achievements with Ulrike Anderson overseeing the technical production. The immersive version was mixed at Skywalker Sound, Marin County, California, and mastered by 2L’s Morten Lindberg in Norway.

Laila Biali:

Wintersongs

3 years in the making, the new album from multi-award-winning vocalist, pianist and composer Laila Biali offers a cinematic set of winter-themed original songs that feature JUNO-winner & GRAMMY-nominee Jane Bunnett, the Venuti String Quartet and chamber orchestra.

18 months after the release of her critically acclaimed and JUNO-nominated jazz standards album, Your Requests, Laila Biali is back with an entirely fresh and original offering, marking her 10th recording as a bandleader. Composed from a cabin surrounded by snow-capped mountains during a writing retreat in the heart of Canada’s Rocky Mountains, Wintersongs is Biali’s musical love letter to winter.

Biali comments, “Rob Mathes has been on my dream-list since I first heard his early work.. There was magic in his writing. He and (GRAMMY nominee) Drew Jurecka really brought grandeur and a spirit of play to Wintersongs through their string treatments.”

Vonn Vanier:

Dawn

Bright, new composers offer the best kind of promise for American music, and Vonn Vanier – at the age of 17 – is well on his way. With his quiet confidence, thoughtful ambition and rapidly evolving talent, he is an emerging voice within the world of classical music. The proof is in the remarkably varied compositions Vanier has written in his recording debut on the new album Dawn from Montclair Records.

Dawn introduces listeners to the young composer's initial orchestral, chamber and solo works that reflect his interest in bringing together the intellectual innovation of contemporary music with the sounds of classical tradition.

Vanier discovered his future early, as an inquisitive member of the century-old Grace Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys in San Francisco. By the time he was in the eighth grade at the Cathedral School for Boys, he had composed a hymn the choir performed, and, in his words, his direction began to “bloom and develop to where I am today.”

When the pandemic lockdown hit, Vanier took advantage of the isolation to immerse himself in theory and orchestration books and in learning repertoire, as well as honing his improvisatory skills as a pianist. Three succeeding summers as an invited participant in the Boston University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI) introduced him to more a formal course of study and development, chiefly with Dr. Martin Amlin, Boston University’s Chair of Composition, and Drs. Len Tetta and Justin Casinghino.

Alexis Ffrench:

Classical Soul Vol. 1

Renowned classical-soul pianist & composer Alexis Ffrench is thrilled to announce the release of his latest album, Classical Soul Vol. 1, arriving today via Sony Classical. This much-anticipated project marks Ffrench's first brand new studio recording in two years and promises to be a nostalgic journey through the timeless sounds that have shaped his unique musical DNA.

Drawing inspiration from his late father’s cherished record collection, Classical Soul Vol. 1 masterfully blends Ffrench’s signature classical sound with his early influences from soul icons, such as Roberta Flack and her unforgettable 'Killing Me Softly,' which won the Grammy for Record of the Year 50 years ago.

The album includes the recent single "Soar", an uplifting multi- cultural anthem featuring Congolese singer-songwriter Fally Ipupa and Pentaonix' cellist and beatboxer Kevin Olusola, celebrating people coming together at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

Recorded at the legendary Miraval Studios in France, owned by Brad Pitt and Damien Quintard and known for hosting some of the most incredible names in music; the studio served as the perfect environment to create Alexis’ deeply personal, nostlagic and reflective album.

Classical Soul Vol. 1 is a continuation of the poignant and avant- garde music that has defined Alexis Ffrench’s career, solidifying his status as one of the UK’s most distinctive and groundbreaking artists. As the pioneer of the 'Classical Soul' genre, Ffrench has captured the hearts of millions worldwide, with over one billion streams across his catalogue. His previous chart-topping albums, Dreamland and Evolution, have established him as the fastest-growing classical artist worldwide, resonating with a diverse audience that spans generations.

Joshua Bell | Steven Isserlis | Jeremy Denk:

Mendelssohn Piano Trios

Violinist Joshua Bell reunites with two of his favorite collaborating artists and friends – cellist Steven Isserlis and pianist Jeremy Denk – for Sony Classical’s new recording of the piano trios of Felix Mendelssohn, available now digitally and on CD on October 25 – presave and preorder here.  

The new recording follows a unique all-Brahms collection For the Love of Brahms – released by Sony Classical in 2018 – that was also a collaboration of Bell, Isserlis and Denk.

Of the new Mendelssohn Piano Trio recording, Joshua Bell notes: “Steven Isserlis and Jeremy Denk have been my most cherished chamber music partners for decades.  They bring seemingly limitless imaginations and uncanny musical intelligence to every work I have had the privilege of exploring with them. It is my hope that our mutual joy for playing chamber music and, in particular, our shared deep love for the genius of Felix Mendelssohn comes through in this recording of these Piano Trios. I am forever grateful for having the opportunity to make this album.”

The two Mendelssohn trios – No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 49 (1839) and No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 66 (1845) – are regarded as being among the composer’s masterpieces.

Maurizio & Daniele Pollini:

Schubert

Maurizio Pollini passed on his deep love for the music of Schubert to his son and fellow pianist Daniele Pollini. A few years ago they began working together on a joint Schubert project and, in June 2022, recorded a carefully chosen programme at the Herkulessaal in Munich. Sadly, Maurizio Pollini died in March 2024, aged 82. This, his last recording, serves as a fine memorial to a groundbreaking musician who was an exclusive artist with Deutsche Grammophon for over five decades. 
On the album, Pollini senior performs the Piano Sonata in G major, D 894, Daniele Pollini plays the Moments musicaux, D 780, and they join forces for the Fantasia in F minor for four hands, D 940. Maurizio Pollini · Daniele Pollini – Schubert comes out digitally and on CD on 25 October 2024, with an accompanying booklet featuring a note on the repertoire by Paolo Petazzi. The first movement of the Fantasia is available to stream/download now, and the third movement of the Sonata will be released on 4 October. 

John Eliot Gardiner:

Bach - Christmas Oratori w/Monteverdi Choir | ebs

“the evening was pure joy“ - Telegraph

John Eliot Gardiner - Monteverdi Choir | English Baroque Soloists

PRESENT

Johann Sebastian Bach: Christmas Oratorio 


“The Range of his art, his imagination, and his creative response to different stimuli, is apparently endless. Although nearly 300 years have now passed since it was first heard, Bach’s work remains irresistible in its energy and inspiration.”

Over 35 years after his legendary first recording of Johann Sebastian Bach’s famous ChristmasOratorio -  which is divided into six cantatas, each based on a different biblical scene - for ARCHIV Production in 1987, Sir John Eliot Gardiner performed this piece, first heard at church services in Leipzig between Christmas Day 1734 and Epiphany 1735,  live with his ensembles Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists at the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields in London on 2 evenings in December 2022 called by The Times: “a festive triumph”

The Knights:

Anna Clyne - Shorthand

Described as a “composer of uncommon gifts and unusual methods” by The New York Times and “fearless” by NPR, GRAMMY®-nominated composer Anna Clyne and inimitable orchestral collective The Knights, led by Eric Jacobsen, release their new album SHORTHAND today on Sony Classical. Available now, the digital  release features performances by an illustrious group of soloists including mandolinist Avi Avital, violinists Colin Jacobsen and Pekka Kuusisto, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. SHORTHAND is available in Dolby Atmos format, recorded by close collaborator, GRAMMY® Award-winning audio engineer Jody Elff.

SHORTHAND brings together a host of internationally acclaimed artists and presents a collection of Clyne’s compositions, including its title-track, Shorthand, for cello and string orchestra recorded here with Yo-Yo Ma. A new music video featuring Yo-Yo Ma recording Shorthand with The Knights.

Vikingur Olafsson:

Continuum - Johann Sebastian Bach

CONTINUUM, a new six-track EP of music by Johann Sebastian Bach from pianist Víkingur Ólafsson, is out now on Deutsche Grammophon. The release comes just days after Ólafsson’s recording of the same composer’s monumental Goldberg Variations was honoured with the prestigious OPUS KLASSIK Bestseller of the Year award. CONTINUUM presents piano arrangements of six works by Bach, four of them realised by Ólafsson himself, and all of which he recorded at Reykjavík’s Harpa concert hall in January. The EP is part one of a new series of recordings in which the pianist continues his dialogue with Bach’s music and pays tribute to his genius. “Not a day goes by without me playing Bach on the piano,” says Ólafsson. “This is the first instalment in what will be an ongoing Bach diary.”

CONTINUUM is released digitally and on vinyl today, 18 October 2024, with a deluxe version available exclusively from the DG Store. The latter features a 180g crystal-clear vinyl disc; high-quality prints of the individual black-and-white covers produced for each track’s single release over the last few months; and an LP-format signed art card.

Ray Chen:

Player 1

Decca Classics is thrilled to announce award-winning violinist, entrepreneur, and pioneer Ray Chen's innovative new album, Player 1, to be released globally on October 18, 2024. The first single, Sadness & Sorrow (from Naruto) by Toshio Masuda (arr. Benjamin Rimmer).

Blending classical music with the immersive world of gaming, the album also comprises a thrilling array of themes from television, Anime, and film including The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Pokémon, and Squid Game.

Recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Cristian Macelaru, these compositions gravitate around the sonic centerpiece of Erich Korngold’s Violin Concerto. The Austrian composer was a pioneering 20th-century classical composer who became one of the first musicians of international stature to score films for Hollywood. Like Ray, Erich was a child prodigy. Like Ray, he was drawn to the dramatic and the cinematic. And like Ray, he understood the thrill of storytelling.

Nostalgia looms in surprising and uplifting ways on this album. Ray performs with the 1714 ‘Dolphin’ Stradivarius, which is on loan from the Nippon Foundation. This violin was once owned by Jascha Heifetz, who has been hailed as the greatest violin virtuoso since Niccolò Paganini and who premiered the Korngold Concerto in 1947. Ray is the web that binds everything together. “Player 1 aims to create a meaningful connection between the past and the present,” he says.

Ray Chen’s mission now is to challenge traditional perceptions of classical music, making it accessible and inspiring. Nintendo consoles, TV dramas, films, anime, soundtracks, and a near-century-old work by Korngold may at first seem like disparate cultural phenomena. But they have one thing in common. They weave fantasies. Player 1 is a contemporary journey into these fantastical realms.

Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next