Violininst and composerRuby Colley launches her EP 'Underheard' in spring 2023, with live concert in London, Bury and Stockport in February and March.

Ruby's work seeks to unravel the connections between nature and music,  She draws upon a wide range of music styles including folk, improvisation and contemporary classical. Ruby creates instrumental soundscapes beyond the realm of traditional playing, introducing sounds from nature and electronics. Her latest commission - Edgeland - is an audio-visual work that explores people including Ruby's neurodivergent brother, and places within an 'Edgeland' near her home in West Sussex.

Ruby’s music is eclectic, unique and her performances are charged with emotional power and nuance. Her debut album Murmurations was released in 2010, followed by The Sussex Sessions, an EP with Isobel Anderson in 2014. Her latest album Overheard was released in April 2022, and explores connections between human presence and nature in response to the climate crisis.

Tour Dates

• 28th February - City University, London, Concert Series, 7pm.
  
  

• 11th March - The Met, Bury
                           Market St, Bury BL9 0BW
                           Tickets and performance details
  
  
• 12th March, 7pm - Where the Light Gets In
                           7, Rostron Brow, Stockport, SK1 1JY
                           Tickets, venue and performance details
  

Electronic press kit for concert and recording reviewers available from Ulysses Arts.

Edward Higginbottom is joined by rising star soprano, Holly Teague and percussionist, Felix Higginbottom as he takes Rameau's most theatrical compositions into the organ loft and 'reimagines' their performance, meanwhile taking us on a journey through exotic landscapes and arresting scenes.

To be released by CRD Records on 7 July 2023.  More details published here soon.

Virginia Black returns to the keyboard and her lifelong love - Beethoven's piano sonatas - in her latest album from CRD Records, released on 7 April 2023.

The three sonatas programmed here - The Tempest, Pathétique and Opus 110 - afford us a window onto Beethoven's life and his increasing struggle with hearing loss. Meanwhile we experience Beethoven at his best: breaking the rules of the sonata form and transcending them.

Tota pulchra es is a 1,600 year old Roman Catholic prayer, meaning 'You are completely beautiful', referring to the Virgin Mary. It glorifies her immaculate conception, and takes its text from the Bible's Book of Judith and Song of Songs.

It has inspired great composers for centuries, from Guillaume du Fay and Heinrich Isaac in the late Middle Ages, through Schumann, Bruckner, Pablo Casals, Duruflé and Gorczycki to contemporaries such as Sir James MacMillan and Ola Gjeilo: Neil Wright's new settting revels in the opportunity for musical beauty and spiritual yearning.

Tota pulchra es is Wright's debut commission and recording with Caritas Chamber Choir. Studying the Royal Northern College of Music, as an organist, composer and improviser, he has performed throughout the UK (including Cadogan Hall; Westminster Central Hall) and in Germany (Dresden Cathedral, Stuttgart-Schondorf Orgelnacht, Friedenskirche Potsdam, Maria Laach Abbey), USA (Carmel Valley California), Italy (Tagliacozzo Festival, Cremona Cathedral), Finland (Åland Orgel Festival) and France (Vannes Cathedral, Eglise de La Trinité Paris).

Caritas Chamber Choir, based in Canterbury, UK, is one of the world's leading commissioners of contemporary choral music, performing frequently around the UK and Europe, directed by Benedict Preece, a Genesis Sixteen Conducting Scholar.

Streaming and download links:

Released in partnership with Platoon.

John Kelley's When You are Old is an atmospheric setting of W.B. Yeats’ famous poem: its retrospective nature is a perfect work to precede the New Year, performed by the Caritas Chamber Choir conducted by Benedict Preece.

American composer John Kelley studied at Yale University and is a lay clerk at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco. His setting of When You are Old won the 1997 National Award for Schirmer’s Young American Choral Competition; it is performed annually by Redhot & Blue, Yale University’s world-renowned mixed a capella ensemble.

Links to listen or download on digital service providers will be posted here on 30 December.

ALBUM DETAILS

Germaine Tailleferre, Sonate Champêtre (première recording)

I. Allegro moderato
II. Andantino
III. Allegro vivace: Gaiement

Ingrid Stölzel, There Are Things to be Said (2009)
 
Bill Douglas, Three Lyrical Pieces
                                                                                              
I. Wings of the Wind
II. The Hills of Glencar
III. Autumn Song
                         
Jenni Brandon, Metamorphosis *

I. Vulnerable
II. Evolving
III. Transformation
IV. Rebirth
V. Transfiguration
VI. Breaking through the mold
VII. Regeneration
VIII. Emerging
IX. “The metamorphosis excites in the beholder an emotion of joy…”

* First performance and recording by Dr Lindabeth Binkley (oboe) with Dane Philipsen (oboe) and Mary Jo Cox (piano) on Dr. Binkley’s album FROM EARTH AND SKY: MUSIC OF JENNI BRANDON on Blue Griffin Record label in 2020.
 
Rhian Samuel (première recording), Little Duos for oboe and cor anglais

I. Morning Glow
II. Whispers
III. Sentries
 
Cecilia McDowall, Century Dances: Trio for oboe, clarinet and bassoon

I. Allemande
II. Menuet – ghost dance
III. Mazurka
IV. Tango
V. Last Dance 

Melchior Hoffmann, Trio Sonata in C minor

I. Adagio
II. Allegro
III. Adagio
IV. Vivace

Julius Röntgen, Trio for Flute, Oboe and Bassoon in G Major, Op. 86

I. Allegretto con Spirito
II. Poco andante, quasi una fantasia
III. Allegretto

Nimbus Alliance releases a new album of Schumann piano music on 6 January 2023 (NI 6433), including rarely recorded early works, performed by internationally renowned Pianist and Conductor Vladimir Feltsman.
 
Variations on the name “Abegg” Op. 1 was written by the 20-year-old Schumann in 1830 and dedicated to the fictitious “Countess Pauline von Abegg”, whose last name provided Schumann with the theme for his variations – A, B-flat, E, and double G. Abegg Variations is a delightful, unpretentious, and elegant work free of the care, tension, and unresolvable conflicts that would haunt Schumann for the rest of his creative and personal life.
 
Papillons (Butterflies) comprises eleven seemingly unrelated parts and a grand finale that brings back the main tune (a waltz) of the opening piece, creating an arch that binds the set together. Like a phantasmagorical theatrical vision, the parts follow each other in a rapid succession, each having its own special character, texture, purpose, and expressiveness.
 
Davids bündlertänze (“Dances of the League of David”) Op. 6 was written in 1836. It includes 18 pieces grouped in two volumes of 9 pieces each. One of the most complex and sophisticated of Schumann’s works, it vividly articulates his essential creative principles, imagination, and unique approach to composing. It is a real artistic manifesto, a self-portrait of the artist.
 
Carnaval (Carnival), Op. 9 was written during 1834-35. Its twenty-one short pieces represent masked revellers during Carnival, the festive season that precedes the austerities of Lent. The music is filled with cryptograms, riddles, humour and misdirection, as if he was teasing the future ‘readers’ of his works, challenging them to figure out what is really going on and why; as he wrote, ‘deciphering my masked ball will be a real game for you’.
 
Arabeske (Arabesque) is a subtle, intimate and unpretentious work, beautifully crafted. The main episode is presented three times without any alteration. The two middle episodes are contrasting in character, and the conclusion is dreamy and hushed. Blumenstück has five thematic episodes (five petals), the second of which is presented three times, making it an eight-petalled flower. The form is unique and not easy to define—it just is a flower (‘A rose is a rose...’).
 
Nachtstücke Op. 23 (“Night Pieces”) was written in 1839 and published a year later. The title Nachtstücke suggested the distinction between the vocalized romantic idioms associated with night music such as the nocturnes of Field and Chopin and Schumann’s much darker visions.

Electronic press kit available for review use.