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Surrender Voices of Persephone
Gaetano Donizetti, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Ilona Domnich

Surrender Voices of Persephone

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Signum Classics
UPC: 0635212041925
Catnr: SIGCD 419
Release date: 24 April 2015
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Label
Signum Classics
UPC
0635212041925
Catalogue number
SIGCD 419
Release date
24 April 2015
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
EN
NL

About the album

I see the word ‘surrender’ as an active/dynamic rendering force. I have an image of someone who climbs the mountain, who surrenders to
listen to his body and to connect with nature in order to progress. To ‘surrender’ is to fully engage with our own self. For me ‘surrender’ is not letting go in a passive way and floating in a spiritual blissful peace, but a force that one needs courage to consciously tap into, in order to prosper.
The word prosper shares its root with Proserpine or Persephone, the goddess of the underworld.
Persephone’s story is a complex Greek myth of abduction into the underworld. But perhaps in the words of modern psychology, Persephone accesses the ruins of her female underworld in search of the inner balance between the dark and light, the underworld and the earth. When she finds it she reaches a stage where she can draw on vast experience and see things as they are, neither a meadow of flowers nor a vale of tears. Not so much robbed of innocence as awakened to complexity, to the cycle of life and death.
For me ‘surrender’ is also a journey of choices, the courage of listening to the inner voice and connection to myself, to the deepest resources of hope, energy, confidence, trust and love. I guess it is part of growing for me and the beauty of facing the wilder and innately instinctual self. One of the most blissful spiritual surrenders for me is in singing.
The process of recording this CD was also a journey of surrender, discovering the freedom together with huge strengths. ‘To surrender makes you feel how music is, life is, beauty is, nature is.’
Het debuutalbum van operasopraan Ilona Domnich
Dit debuutalbum van in de populariteit stijgende operasopraan Ilona Domnich bevat aria’s en liederen van haar heldinnen uit de opera, onder wie Gilda uit Verdi’s Rigoletto, Magda van Puccini’s La Rondine en Rosina uit Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Sivigla. Domnich wordt bijgestaan door de Italiaanse bariton Leo Nucci en het Southbank Sinfonia onder leiding van Simon Over.

Domnich zei over de titel van haar album: “Ik zie het woord ‘overgave’ als een actieve/dynamische kracht. Ik kan iemand voorstellen die een berg beklimt, die zich overgeeft om naar zijn lichaam te luisteren en zich verbindt met de natuur om vooruit te komen. ‘Jezelf overgeven’ is volledig met jezelf omgaan. Voor mij is ‘overgave’ niet een passief loslaten en zweven in een spirituele gelukzalige vrede, maar een kracht waar iemand zijn moed bewust van gebruik moet laten maken om te kunnen bloeien.”

“Voor mij is ‘overgave’ ook een reis van keuzes, de moed om te luisteren naar de innerlijke stem en de verbinding met mijzelf, naar de diepste voorraden van hoop, energie, overtuiging, vertrouwen en liefde. (…) Een van de meest gelukzalige spirituele overgaven ligt voor mij in het zingen. Het opnameproces was ook een reis van overgave, het ontdekken van de vrijheid samen met enorme krachten.”

Artist(s)

Ilona Domnich (soprano)

Ilona Domnich is a rising opera star described by critics as a memorable voice of silken beauty with a luminous edge to the tone, a sensitive musician and an actress of magnetic presence. She was chosen by Opera Now as one of its Top 10 high flyers, a new generation of sopranos who are destined to have impressive careers. Originally a pianist, Ilona was plucked by a legendary singing teacher Vera Rosza during one of her masterclasses. She went on to win the prestigious Wingate Scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music. Her career is growing steadily worldwide. 
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Ilona Domnich is a rising opera star described by critics as a memorable voice of silken beauty with a luminous edge to the tone, a sensitive musician and an actress of magnetic presence. She was chosen by Opera Now as one of its Top 10 high flyers, a new generation of sopranos who are destined to have impressive careers.
Originally a pianist, Ilona was plucked by a legendary singing teacher Vera Rosza during one of her masterclasses. She went on to win the prestigious Wingate Scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music. Her career is growing steadily worldwide.
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Southbank Sinfonia

Founded in 2002 by Music Director Simon Over, Southbank Sinfonia provides graduate musicians with a much-needed springboard into the profession. Each year, Southbank Sinfonia welcomes 33 of the world’s most promising graduate musicians to embark on its renowned fellowship. More than just an orchestra, this is a community where young talents can find their own creative strengths, fulfil personal goals, make lasting contacts, and take their musicianship to new frontiers. Players who have completed the fellowship now occupy prominent seats in leading orchestras worldwide. From the Philharmonia to the Hong Kong Philharmonic, each proudly acknowledges the positive impact that Southbank Sinfonia has made upon their progress. Many continue to play a valued role in the life of Southbank Sinfonia, returning as paid deputies...
more
Founded in 2002 by Music Director Simon Over, Southbank Sinfonia provides graduate musicians with a much-needed springboard into the profession. Each year, Southbank Sinfonia welcomes 33 of the world’s most promising graduate musicians to embark on its renowned fellowship. More than just an orchestra, this is a community where young talents can find their own creative strengths, fulfil personal goals, make lasting contacts, and take their musicianship to new frontiers.
Players who have completed the fellowship now occupy prominent seats in leading orchestras worldwide. From the Philharmonia to the Hong Kong Philharmonic, each proudly acknowledges the positive impact that Southbank Sinfonia has made upon their progress. Many continue to play a valued role in the life of Southbank Sinfonia, returning as paid deputies and extras enabling us take on ambitious large-scale ventures, and coaching their successors.

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Simon Over (conductor)

Leo Nucci (baritone)

Composer(s)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whose actual name is Joannes Chrysotomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a composer, pianist, violinist and conductor from the classical period, born in Salzburg. Mozart was a child prodigy. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. Along with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven, Mozart is considered to be one of the most influential composers of all of music's history. Within the classical tradition, he was able to develop new musical concepts which left an everlasting impression on all the composers that came after him. Together with Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven he is part of the First Viennese School.  At 17, Mozart was engaged as...
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whose actual name is Joannes Chrysotomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a composer, pianist, violinist and conductor from the classical period, born in Salzburg. Mozart was a child prodigy. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. Along with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven, Mozart is considered to be one of the most influential composers of all of music's history. Within the classical tradition, he was able to develop new musical concepts which left an everlasting impression on all the composers that came after him. Together with Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven he is part of the First Viennese School. At 17, Mozart was engaged as a musician at the Salzburg court, but grew restless and traveled in search of a better position. From 1763 he traveled with his family through all of Europe for three years and from 1769 he traveled to Italy and France with his father Leopold after which he took residence in Paris. On July 3rd, 1778, his mother passed away and after a short stay in Munich with the Weber family, his father urged him to return to Salzburg, where he was once again hired by the Bishop. While visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He chose to stay in the capital, where he achieved fame but little financial security. During his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and portions of the Requiem, which was largely unfinished at the time of his death.


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Gaetano Donizetti

Gaetano Donizetti was born in 1797 in a dark basement in Bergamo. He was born in a poor family with six children, but Donizetti was lucky enough to receive a free musical education at the school of the opera composer Simone Mayr. Mayr recognised Donizetti's talent and after giving him composition lessons he ensured he could continue his studies in Bologna. He also helped him get his first opera commission. Donizetti kept working hard and for a considerable period he composed four operas each year. A large part of his career, he worked in Naples, which could be a reason why his artistic style remained relatively conventional. After all, the opera audience in Naples had a conservative taste and censorship...
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Gaetano Donizetti was born in 1797 in a dark basement in Bergamo. He was born in a poor family with six children, but Donizetti was lucky enough to receive a free musical education at the school of the opera composer Simone Mayr. Mayr recognised Donizetti's talent and after giving him composition lessons he ensured he could continue his studies in Bologna. He also helped him get his first opera commission. Donizetti kept working hard and for a considerable period he composed four operas each year. A large part of his career, he worked in Naples, which could be a reason why his artistic style remained relatively conventional. After all, the opera audience in Naples had a conservative taste and censorship was extraordinarily strict: absolutely no violence or 'improper' romantic relationships on stage! Donizetti had the gift to compose remarkably fast and wrote in total more than 80 operas, both serious and comic. His operas L'Elisir d'Amore and Don Pasquale remain popular due to their cheerful and energetic music, uplifting rhythms, and tender melodies. Among his serious operas, his Lucia di Lammermoor, with its famous "mad scene" is most popular. Donizetti died in 1848 in Bergamo, after staying in a medical facility in Paris for months, suffering from dementia and paralysed by syphilis. A tragic death for a composer who was also known for his warm personality.


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Wolfgang Muthspiel



Born in 1965, guitar player Wolfgang Muthspiel lives in Vienna. 30 CDs with mainly his own compositionsdocument his work as bandleader and co-leader. Being trained as a classical musician he approaches the classical guitar with the same ease as improvisation and jazz.
 His Mozart-loving father encouraged him to start with violin playing at age six. At the age 14, he switched to guitar and started to create his own music with his brother Christian. His interest for improvisation led on to jazz. He moved to Boston/Massachusetts and attended the Berklee College of Music on a full scholarship in 1986 where Mick Goodrick introduced him to complex harmonic worlds. In 1988 he started a 2-year touring period with the Gary Burton...
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Born in 1965, guitar player Wolfgang Muthspiel lives in Vienna. 30 CDs with mainly his own compositionsdocument his work as bandleader and co-leader. Being trained as a classical musician he approaches the classical guitar with the same ease as improvisation and jazz.
 His Mozart-loving father encouraged him to start with violin playing at age six. At the age 14, he switched to guitar and started to create his own music with his brother Christian. His interest for improvisation led on to jazz. He moved to Boston/Massachusetts and attended the Berklee College of Music on a full scholarship in 1986 where Mick Goodrick introduced him to complex harmonic worlds. In 1988 he started a 2-year touring period with the Gary Burton Band and acquired an outstanding reputation in the jazz scene. In the mid-nineties he arrived in the capital of Jazz, New York City, where he lived and worked until 2002. This city offered him a unique platform for pursuing different projects. Together with the singer Rebekka Bakken he explored the world of the singer/songwriter while with his brother he pursued their common electronic project Muthspiel/Muthspiel. At the same time he collaborated with such outstanding musicians as Trilok Gurtu, Dhafer Youssef, Youssou N’Dour, Maria João, Dave Liebman, Peter Erskine, Paul Motian, Bob Berg, Gary Peacock, Don Alias, Larry Grenadier, John Patitucci, Dieter Ilg, the Vienna Art Orchestra and many others.
After 16 years in the country of boundless possibilities he moved back home in 2002, settling down in Vienna, now being in demand as a virtuosic and creative co-leader and sideman in Europe. In 2002 he founded the label “material records” where he publishes and produces his own recordings as well as albums of other artists. After having toured Europe with his new 4tet (2008) and the duo-project with the drummer Brian Blade (2008) Wolfgang Muthspiel focusses on the trio “MGT” (Muthspiel – Grigoryan – Towner). In addition to his jazz projects, Muthspiel is active composing for contemporary classical ensembles like the Klangforum Wien or the Hugo Wolf Quartet. Most recently he received commissions from the Austrian Esterházy foundation (Haydn Year 2009). Furthermore Wolfgang Muthspiel is a Professor at the Hochschule für Musik in Basel, Switzerland. Among his current projects is the Duo „Friendly Travelers“ with drummer Brian Blade, the Wolfgang Muthspiel Trio, MGT “From a Dream” with Slava Grigoryan and Ralph Towner, the „Drumfree Trio“ (with Larry Grenadier/Scott Colley and Mark Turner/Andy Scherrer) as well as an ever-changing Solo Performance incorporating many different guitars and loops. Since 2009 the collaboration with Turkish pianist Aydin Esen has led to yet another project by the name of “dream cycle” bringing together contemporary aesthetics of both the classical and the jazz world. In 2012 Wolfgang released “Vienna, Naked” his first album as a singer/songwriter. He is currently working on new Trio recordings with Brian Blade and Larry Grenadier as well as a new Song Project by the name of “Vienna. World”.

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