Press Releases

Alessio Pianelli’s Rubicon Classics debut album is a personally curated, affectionate and eclectic musical tribute to his homeland, the island of Sicily. He mirrors the richness of Sicily’s cultural heritage through the music of composers who have enriched their music through travel and exploration of their own folk roots. Pianelli says ‘Sicilian culture is like a mosaic in which each tile represents one of the many civilisations that have traversed the island over the centuries. Each tile maintains its original identity while contributing to a collective design that is greater than the sum of its parts. It is for this reason I have chosen to travel with my cello through music from such a wide variety of cultures.’ Repertoire ranges from Georgia and Armenia to Greece and Romania with music by Tsintsadze, Komitas, Coleridge-Taylor, Skalkottas and Bartók, then back to the heart of Sicily with Pianelli’s own Variations on a Sicilian Folk Theme.

Hear excerpts from A Sicilian Traveller here

Watch A Sicilian Traveller here

Read A Sicilian Traveller press release here

Anna Lucia Richter’s album is full of Monteverdi trea­sures, ranging from heart-wrenching opera scenes (Prologue from L’Orfeo) and religious music (Confitebor tibi Domine) to bucolic songs (Si dolce è il tormento). Every piece has inspired Richter for a different reason and her intensive research with a language coach into the libretti and with renowned Monteverdi interpreter, Luca Pianca, into the music has revealed new aspects of the works and inspired fresh interpretations. ‘The tonal language of Monteverdi opened up a new world for me,’ comments Richter ‘and every word, every comma and every point is deliberately there and important.”

Hear excerpts from Il delirio della passione here

Read Il delirio della passione press release here

Out of personal tragedy comes a powerful new song cycle by way of a film, an album and a pledge against gender-based domestic violence. Songs for Murdered Sisters, composed by Jake Heggie with texts by Margaret Atwood, was co-commissioned by Houston Grand Opera and Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra for Canadian baritone Joshua Hopkins, whose sister Nathalie was one of three women murdered by the same man on the same day in a small rural community in Ontario five years ago. The live premiere, scheduled for last year at Houston Grand Opera, has been postponed due to the pandemic but was released on film on 19 February 2021 (accessible via Marquee TV). The recording is released as a digital album by Pentatone on 5 March in a chamber version with Hopkins accompanied by Heggie on piano (the songs are also scored for voice and symphony orchestra). Additionally, the project aims to motivate 10,000 men to take the White Ribbon Pledge, promising ‘never to commit, condone or remain silent about all forms of gender-based violence’.

songsformurderedsisters.com

Graham Johnston considers the future of film-making in the wake of the pandemic. What sort of film can you make without actually meeting your ‘protagonists’ or being in the same space? Today’s technology has proved to be a very effective emergency stop-gap for remote filming and is inevitably here to stay – but what about the inspiration, nuance, meaning, discovery, surprise and response that come from actually being there? The latest BBT signature film about Alessio Pianelli’s new album, A Sicilian Traveller, is an atmospheric and very congenial film that places Alessio at the core of all that inspires him – his Sicilian homeland – without Graham actually meeting him or leaving his Norfolk studio.

Read Graham Johnston’s BBT Blog here

Watch A Sicilian Traveller film here

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