The violinist Chiara Zanisi works with the finest early music ensembles, notably the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra under Ton Koopman, with whom she has just finished a long tour performing the Six Brandenburg Concertos. She now devotes her first solo recording to Johann Sebastian Bach’s Six Sonatas for Harpsichord and Violin. Alongside her is Giulia Nuti, among the most brilliant harpsichordists and scholars in Italy, whose solo CD Les Sauvages: Harpsichords in pre-Revolutionary Paris (DHM) won a Diapason d’Or, among other awards.

Both the works on this album came about as a reaction to the horrors of war. Shostakovich visited Dresden in 1960, and much of the city still lay in ruins. His 8th String Quartet dedicated to the victims of fascism, is one of his most powerful and deeply personal works, quoting from earlier compositions, and using the composer’s musical motto D Es C H. The composer wept after the first private performance.

It’s just that simple. He does not sing just because he has a beautiful, expressive voice. He does not sing just because it brings him success and house-rocking acclaim. Fernando Varela sings because that is who he is. He sings what he loves, whether it is a pop standard, an original song he had a hand in writing, or Puccini’s noblest tenor aria “Nessun dorma.” The underlying truth – who he is and what he does, in everything he dreams and achieves – is what brings Fernando Varela to the center of a worldwide stage with the release of Vivere.

The creator of the title roles of Handel's Rinaldo and Amadigi, Nicolò Grimaldi (Naples, 1673 Naples, 1732), known as Nicolini, was the leading castrato of his time, an outstanding artist praised as a fine actor as well as a singer. A generation older than Carlo Broschi (Farinelli),Gaetano Majorano (Caffarelli) and Giovanni Carestini, he possessed exceptional vocal agility and virtuosity, contributing significantly to the establishment of the legend of the castratos virtuosity.

The adventure began in 2012, when Gilles Ledure, director of Flagey (Brussels), suggested to Lorenzo Gatto and Julien Libeer they should perform the complete Beethoven violin sonatas there. For these two artists, Beethoven was perhaps the first composer in our history to have embodied the values of the Enlightenment in both his music and his life. Haunted by these monuments of architecture and expression, they decided to embark on a recording. Here are three sonatas recorded in the legendary Salle de Musique of La Chaux-de-Fonds, including the famous Kreutzer Sonata. Since his version of the Beethoven Violin Concerto (ZZT 354), Lorenzo Gatto has taken his place among the violinists who matter on the international scene.

Chopin', is the major new album from acclaimed British pianist Ivana Gavric, released on Edition Classics. With three highly successful albums behind her, on Champs Hill Records, her new disc explores her Slavic roots and focuses with a clarity and intensity on that mightiest of all composers for piano, Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin.

Seit mittlerweile zwei Dekaden zählt der süddeutsche Star-Tenor zu den beliebtesten, erfolgreichsten und charismatischsten Künstlern innerhalb der deutschen Musiklandschaft,in der er sich mit seiner einzigartigen Mischung aus Klassik und Unterhaltung ein völlig neues Genre erschaffen hat. Mit dem warmen Timbre seiner wunderschönen Tenorstimme begeistert Jay Alexander in regelmäßigen Abständen sowohl Fans als auch Kritiker.