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 ESO Records releases Mahler, Symphony No. 9, in the chamber version by Klaus Simon, on 10 April 2026, in partnership with Ulysses Arts (ESO2602). Pre-order, download and streaming links will be published here. Electronic press kit for reviewers and radio producers available from Ulysses Arts.
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 ESO Records releases Poulenc, Hindemith, Pinkham: Works for Orchestra and Orchestra, with soloist Iain Quinn, the English Symphony Orchestra/English String Orchestra, and conductor Kenneth Woods, on 13 March 2026, in partnership with Ulysses Arts. Full details of pre-order, download and streaming links for all major digital services will be published here.  Organist Iain Quinn was born in Cardiff, Wales. He grew up as a chorister at Llandaff Cathedral, also studying the organ, piano, and trumpet. At fourteen, he was appointed Organist at St Michael’s Theological College, Llandaff. He later joined the faculty of the Blackheath Conservatoire of Music, London. In 1994 he moved to the USA for study at The Juilliard School, the University of Hartford (BM) and the Institute of Sacred Music, Yale University (MM), returning to the UK in 2009 as a Doctoral Fellow at the University of Durham (PhD historical musicology). He has released fifteen CDs on the Chandos, Guild, Hyperion, Naxos, Paulus, Raven, and Regent labels. His most recent recordings include Haydn Organ Concertos with Arcangelo and Jonathan Cohen (Chandos), Organ Music of Vincent Persichetti, and Organ Music of Zoltán Kodály (Naxos). He has completed critical editions of the previously unpublished organ works and early Christmas cantata of Samuel Barber (G. Schirmer), the complete organ works of Carl Czerny (2 volumes, A-R Editions), the complete anthems of John Goss (A-R Editions), and two volumes volume of the Elgar Complete Edition. He is the editor of an ongoing series of English Organ Sonatas (Ut Orpheus Edizioni) and the author of four books: The Genesis and Development of an English Sonata (Routledge – Royal Musical Association Monograph Series); The Organist in Victorian Literature (Palgrave Macmillan); Music and Religion in the writings of Ian McEwan (Boydell and Brewer); Rudolph Ganz, Patriotism and Standardization of The Star-Spangled Banner, 1907-1958 (Routledge). Dr Quinn is Professor of Organ at Florida State University and the Research Fellow in the Arts and Humanities in the Office of the Vice President for Research. He is an Honorary Research Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music. Hailed by Gramophone Magazine as “a symphonic conductor of stature”, Kenneth Woods was appointed Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the English Symphony Orchestra in 2013, and has quickly built up an impressive and acclaimed body of work and recordings with them. Woods also serves as Artistic Director of both the Colorado MahlerFest – the only US organisation other than the New York Philharmonic to receive the International Gustav Mahler Society’s Gold Medal – and (since 2017) the founding Artistic Director of The Elgar Festival in Worcester. Woods has conducted the National Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia and the English Chamber Orchestra, and has made numerous broadcasts for BBC Radio 3, National Public Radio and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He has appeared on the stages of some of the world’s leading music festivals, such as Aspen, Scotia and Lucerne. Under Kenneth Woods’ leadership, the English Symphony Orchestra has gained widespread recognition as one of the most innovative and influential orchestras in the UK. The first of Woods’ many acclaimed ESO discs was Volume One in the Complete Piano Concertos of Ernst Krenek, selected by The Times as one of their “Best Recordings of 2016.” His recording of Fraser’s Elgar orchestrations for Avie was a Classic FM Disc of the Month. The ESO’s Nimbus Alliance recording of Kenneth’s orchestration of Brahms’ Piano Quartet in A Major was chosen as one of the 10 Best Classical CDsof 2018 by The Arts Desk. In 2016 Woods and the ESO launched their 21st Century Symphony Project, an ambitious multi-year effort to commission, premiere and record nine new symphonies by leading composers, with the triumphant premiere of Philip Sawyers’ Third Symphony at St John’s Smith SIn 2018, the Project continued with the premiere of David Matthews’ Ninth Symphony, selected by The Spectator as one of the Top Ten Classical Events of the year, followed in 2019 by Matthew Tayloh Symphony, hailed by ClassicalSource as “a masterpiece” at its premiere. The most recent offerings in the 21st Century Symphony Project include Robert Saxton’s Scenes from the Epic of Gilgamesh and Adrian Williams’s First. Electronic press kit available for reviewers and radio producers from Ulysses Arts.
The Sabi Ensemble releases its debut album From The Heart - music by Coleridge-Taylor and Louise Farrenc - with Penny Fiddle Records, distributed in partnership with Ulysses Arts, on 24 October 2025 (PFR202503CD).
Click above to download on iTunes with digital booklet or stream on Apple Music
'Should [imaginative art] not come from the heart as well as the brain?'
Samuel Coleridge‐Taylor, 1911
This poignant question—posed by Coleridge‐Taylor months before his death— encapsulates the emotional core of the Sabi Ensemble’s debut album, From The Heart.
The SABI ENSEMBLE, founded in 2024 by historical bassist Carina Cosgrave, is committed to reviving works by composers whose work has been unjustly forgotten and placing this music from the margins centre stage. The programme celebrates two 150th anniversaries and is the first time Coleridge-Taylor’s music has been recorded on period instruments. 
The Sabi Ensemble
The album features two of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s expressive Novelletten - rarely heard works arranged by the SABI ENSEMBLE that reveal his sharp craft and lyrical voice; his Nonet - a student composition which cemented his status as a breathtaking composer at the young age of 18; and Louise Farrenc’s Nonet - a powerful piece written at the height of her career. After the death of her daughter, Farrenc ceased composing—her creative life halted by grief.
Together, these works frame a recording that acknowledges not only artistic brilliance, but the personal stories behind it. Using historically-informed performances on period instruments, From The Heart offers listeners a window into the expressive richness of neglected repertoire— interpreted with care and curiosity. Launch Concerts 18th October 2025 - Showcase Event, Classically Black at Kings Place, London 25th October 2025 Parish Church of Ascension, Plumstead, London Track List Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912), Nonet in F minor, Op. 2 1. Allegro moderato 2. Andante con moto 3. Scherzo: Allegro 4. Finale: Allegro vivace Louise Farrenc (1804-1875), Nonet in E-flat, Op. 38 5. Adagio - Allegro 6. Andante con moto 7. Scherzo: Vivace 8. Adagio Samuel Coleridge-Taylor arr. SABI ENSEMBLE 9. Novelletten IV 10. Novelletten II Musicians Catherine Martin (1st violin), Persephone Gibbs (2nd violin) Clifton Harrison (viola), Sarah McMahon ('cello), Carina Cosgrave (double bass) Rosie Bowker (flute) Leo Duarte (oboe) Fiona Mitchell (clarinet), Rebecca Hammond (bassoon), Nivanthi Karunaratne (horn), Olivia Sham (piano) Piano Technician: Edmund Pickering Recording Producer: Holly Harman Sound Engineer, mixing & mastering: John Croft, Chiaro Audio Recording venue Ascension Church, Plumstead, London 8-10 January 2025
Ulysses Arts releases Christmas EP Evermore & Evermore, with music by Eric Choate, performed by the Choir of St Mary's Church San Francisco, on 21 November 2025.
Click above to download now from iTunes with digital booklet or stream on Apple Music
These arrangements arose organically, first fashioned to supply instrumental parts for the annual Festival of Lessons and Carols at The Episcopal Church of St. Mary the Virgin in San Francisco. Developed during several years, they acquired a character beyond their initial purpose, growing ever more expansive in scope.
Prologues, interludes, and codas offer intervals for reflection, enabling the listener to linger upon the mystery of these sacred texts and find repose within the stillness of the Advent and Christmas seasons.
Electronic press kit for reviewers and radio producers available from Ulysses Arts.
Albion Records releases Mantegna: Hymnody and Beyond, on 7 November 2025, with London Mozart Players, Dulwich Choral Society and organist James Orford, conducted by William Vann (ALB067). The album features works by Vaughan Williams, Francis Jackson, Percy Whitlock, Henry Ley, Orlando Gibbons, William H. Harris, Helen Glatz, Malcolm Riley and a new commission from David Briggs.
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Vaughan Williams wrote 18 original hymn tunes and adapted 37 others, mainly from folk songs. Some of the tunes have been treasured by one generation after another; others are associated with less popular hymns and no so well-known. His hymn tunes, at both extremes, have inspired other composers to write or arrange works based on them. This album explores those arrangements; some of the hymns are also sung as they were written, so that the tunes can become familiar.
The tune 'Mantegna' was written for a passion-tide hymn about Christ’s agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. The poem was called ‘The Agony in the Garden’, which is also the name given to Mantegna’s 1455-56 painting (the album’s cover picture). Clearly, Vaughan Williams knew the painting, and named his tune after the artist. The organist Francis Jackson (1917-2022) was fascinated by the 'Mantegna' tune, and wrote a set of orchestral variations on it, called Homage to Vaughan Williams. This is the album's most substantial work. We commissioned another organist, David Briggs, to write an organ Carillon, based on another Vaughan Williams tune, 'White Gates'. Other composers and arrangers represented include Percy Whitlock, William H Harris, Henry Ley, Helen Glatz and Malcolm Riley. We also celebrate, in his quatercentenary year, Orlando Gibbons who, in his turn, inspired Vaughan Williams. 
Dulwich Choral Society was founded in 1944 and performs at least three concerts a year in Dulwich, including working with local schools and charities.
The London Mozart Players are the UK’s oldest, freshest and most adventurous chamber orchestra. James Orford is a prize-winning organist and pianist based in London. He is the Organist at St Paul’s Cathedral, London. William Vann is particularly renowned for his revival performances and recordings of lost and lesser-known works of vocal and choral music by British composers. The recording was made at St Mildred, Addiscombe, Croydon in April 2025. The Producer was Andrew Walton and engineer Tim Burton, of K&A Productions.
Electronic press kit for press reviewers and radio producers is available from Ulysses Arts.
Violinist Sif Margrét Tulinius and pianist Richard Simm's album of Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata and Franck, Violin Sonata, is released by Ulysses Arts on 28 November 2025 (UA250090).
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'On a new path'...
The two Sonatas on this album were written more than 80 years apart and are two of the greatest contributions to the sonata repertoire for violin and piano. Soon before writing his great Kreutzer Sonata, Beethoven confided in his close associate and student Carl Czerny: 'I am not satisfied with the work I have done so far. From now on, I intend to embark on a new path.' The Kreutzer's artistic legacy includes Tolstoy's short story of the same name, which itself inspired Janáċek impassioned First String Quartet. Franck's Violin Sonata is both a tribute to Beethoven but also itself a masterpiece applying the cyclic form inspired by Franz Liszt's great Piano Sonata, to create a new type of chamber music in which thematic transformation is integrated and explored like never before. 
Follow Sif Margrét Tulinius and Richard Simm on Spotify:
Electronic press kit for reviewers and radio producers available from Ulysses Arts.
Albion Records releases I have lived and loved - songs by Vaughan Williams, Peggy Glanville-Hicks, John Raynor and Percy Grainger, with mezzo-soprano Kathryn Rudge, tenor Alessandro Fisher and pianist Penelope Thwaites, on 12 September 2025.
John Francis from Albion Records writes: 'Plans for this album, devised by Penelope Thwaites, celebrates the depth and richness of folk music's influence on the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams and his contemporary and friend, Percy Grainger. Vaughan Williams's great cycle, Songs of Travel, here sung for the first time by a woman, is a masterful evocation of this spirit. There is ample historical evidence for women singing and recording these songs, from Ada Crossley under Sir Henry Wood in 1910 to later singers such as Dame Janet Baker, but on record the Cycle has been a male preserve until now. 'Folk influence' is more than musical. Its roots are in the lives of individuals: an unconscious need to express happenings and the feelings thus provoked. Love and its never-ending complexities is the main impulse, expressed beautifully in the album's Vaughan Williams's operatic songs: love of people, of the natural world and endless connections between the two. We are proud to present Penelope Thwaite's concept for this pioneering recording with Kathryn Rudge. Alessandro Fisher sings three songs from Vaughan Williams’s operas. We then hear two songs from Vaughan Williams’s former pupil, Peggy Glanville-Hicks (another Australian) and two from John Raynor – a composer for whom Vaughan Williams once sponsored a concert, but whose music has not been recorded until now. Percy Grainger contributes six songs and three duets to conclude the album. The contrasts within this group are remarkable: you will find pathos, humour, and in the final wordless duet, his love for his native Australia.' 
 Kathryn Rudge, Penelope Thwaites and Alessandro Fisher
Penelope Thwaites AM is known internationally as a concert pianist, composer, broadcaster, editor and festival curator. She has performed in 35 countries, including as soloist with leading orchestras including the Philharmonia, London Philharmonic, BBC Concert Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic and many more throughout Europe, America and Australia. She is acknowledged as a leading exponenet of the music of Percy Grainger, and is editor of The New Percy Grainger Companion.
Kathryn Rudge studied at RNCM, has won numerous awards and was an ENO Harewood Artist, a YCAT artist and a BBC New Generation Artist. She has featured on many recordings including Parry’s Judith with the London Mozart Players (Chandos, 2020). Alessandro Fisher won First Prize at the 2016 Kathleen Ferrier Awards and was a member of the BBC New Generation Artist Scheme between 2018 and 2021. This is his second recording for Albion Records; the first was ALBCD057 Portraits of a Mind, with William Vann, piano, and the Navarra String Quartet, comprising song cycles by Ian Venables and Ralph Vaughan Williams. The recording was made at Potton Hall, Suffolk, in July 2024. The Producer was Tim Burton and Engineer Deborah Spanton, both of K&A Productions.
Pre-release Singles
MUSIC CENTRE SLOVAKIA: DIGITAL RELEASE OF SLOVAK PIANO SONATINAS DOUBLE ALBUM ON 31 OCTOBER 20254/9/2025 
Music Centre Slovakia releases Slovak Piano Sonatinas double album performed by Magdaléna Bajuszová, on 31 October 2025, in partnership with Ulysses Arts, on all digital services.
Pre-release Single
More pre-order, download and streaming links will be published here.
Tim Rumsey Transcriptions album for solo piano is released by Luminate Records on 14 November 2025, in partnership with Ulysses Arts.
Click above to download from iTunes with digital booklet or stream on Apple Music
1. WILLIAM WALTON, Orb & Sceptre (Coronation March 1953), arranged by Timothy Rumsey
2. GABRIEL FAURÉ, Après un Rêve, arranged by Percy Grainger 3. GABRIEL FAURÉ, Nell, arranged by Percy Grainger 4. CHARLES TRENET / WALTER EIGER, En avril à Paris, arranged by Alexis Weissenberg 5. JOHN DOWLAND, Now, O now, I needs must part, arranged by Percy Grainger 6. PERCY GRAINGER, Blithe Bells, based on J.S. Bach's ʻSheep May Safely Grazeʼ 7. EARL WILD / GEORGE GERSHWIN: Etude No. 1, based on Gershwinʼs ʻLizaʼ 8. TIM RUMSEY: Variations on Gershwinʼs ʻShall We Dance?ʼ 9. HENRY PURCELL, Didoʼs Lament (ʻWhen I am laid in earthʼ) from Dido and Aeneas, arranged by Tim Rumsey 10. PAUL DUKAS, The Sorcerer's Apprentice (ʻLʼApprenti Sorcier, Scherzo dʼaprès une ballade de Goetheʼ), arranged by Tim Rumsey
'A triumphant transcription recital that shows the golden age of the piano is alive and well.'
Rob Challinor, MuscWeb International, 4 December 2025
'To say that listening to pianist Tim Rumsey's solo piano performances of existing transcriptions along with ones of his own is a genuine pleasure is a huge understatement. His command of the keyboard, sensitivity to pacing and articulation, and inspired curatorial choices make this hour-long debut a thoroughly satisfying collection.
It's one thing to play an existing transcription, it's quite another to produce one of your own, and in creating his, Rumsey developed an enhanced appreciation for the originals. ... One clearly hears in his own transcriptions the care with which Rumsey preserved the spirit of the Dukas, Purcell, and Walton pieces and honoured their work in the process. That said, Rumsey's renditions of his own transcriptions and those by others are equally rewarding. It is, as mentioned, a genuine delight to spend an hour exposed to pianism of such a high order.' Textura, November 2025
Tim Rumsey writes: 'Piano transcriptions have a rich history and often with strong connections to famous composers and pianists, something which I’ve tried to showcase in this recording, featuring a mix of existing transcriptions along with my own efforts.
An interest in jazz fuelled my initial curiosity for these transcriptions. Ten years ago, I came across Gershwin’s Piano Rolls and transcribed the music from the recordings to put together my own solo arrangements, often playing them as encores in concerts. I only discovered later that someone had already done the hard work of transcribing them note for note in a published score of piano duets! Gershwin’s music lends itself so well to piano arrangement, as is evident from the number of composers who have attempted it over the years, and this is when I discovered Earl Wild. A phenomenal pianist in his own right, his Études are known to most pianists: Liza is full of effortless virtuosity with the melody being passed all over the place, almost as an accompaniment to the filigree material which surrounds it. Around the same time, I also found Alexis Weissenberg’s masterful arrangement of Charles Trenet’s En avril, à Paris. Full of whimsical improvisations and extremely sophisticated harmonic shifts not unlike the Wild, it is part of a set of six Trenet songs Weissenberg assembled in the 1950s, broadcast on the radio and virtually forgotten until Marc-André Hamelin brought them to light recently. Now settled on a voyage of transcription discovery, I came across the fantastic body of work which belongs to the Australian composer, Percy Grainger. Being such a unique musical voice, his arrangements of Après un rêve and Nell owe much of their makeup to Fauré’s originals, being examples of the way in which more faithful transcriptions can take shape. Now, O Now, I needs must part pushes the boundaries much further than John Dowland’s original Jacobean song: some of Grainger’s harmony wouldn’t sound out of place on a Bill Evans recording. The ‘free ramble’ of Blithe Bells, as Grainger says, is ‘coloured by the thought that Bach…may have aimed at giving a hint of the sound of sheep bells’ with the thirds and tenths which characterise the music from the very opening. It's only when you begin to embark on a piano transcription, you really start to realise how masterful the original work is. When transcribers change so much of the original music – in terms of its harmony, rhythm, melody, and structure – you would be forgiven for thinking that the essence of the original completely disappears. However, it still somehow remains in its strongest and often purest form. One gets to hear it again in a totally different light, with the perspective of the transcriber honouring the true spirit of the original.'
Pre-Release Singles
Electronic press kit for reviewers and radio producers available from Ulysses Arts.
(quasi una) Fantasia: Craig and Telemann album released by Ulysses Arts on 7 November 202530/7/2025
Ulysses Arts releases (quasi una) Fantasia, with Telemann, Flute Fantasias and world premières by Richard Craig, on 7 November 2025.
Click above to download from iTunes with digital booklet or stream on Apple Music
Richard Craig comments: 'I have recorded nine of Telemann's twelve Fantasias grouped here into four sets. I hear these groupings as Imaginary Sonatas - an exposition of a longer Fantasia form in which each set proliferates the next, and not necessarily in the conventional sense of key or temperament. In between my groupings I have placed my own works which are improvisations. They offer a contemporary perspective of the Baroque’s musical possibilities. They are my own fantasias: rather than guided by melodic lines: pleats, weaves and warps of musical ideas that have radiated from my work on the Telemann. I added titles to my works in post-production. These relate to aspects of the Fantasias, with added poetic turns of phrase and borrowed words from Shakespeare’s Tempest Scene II Act 1.'
More download and streaming links will be published here.
Electronic press kit for reviewers and radio producers available from Ulysses Arts.
Click covers above to pre-order on iTunes with digital booklets
Colorado MahlerFest releases live recordings of Richard Strauss, An Alpine Symphony, on 29 August, and Mahler, Symphony No. 4 and Wunderhorn Songs with soprano April Fredrick and tenor Brennen Guillory on 12 September 2025, conducted by Kenneth Woods.
Miore pre-order, download and streaming links will be published here.
Electronic press kit, CDs and pre-release listening link
available for reviewers and radio producers from Ulysses Arts.
Ulysses Arts announces the release of DIR, a new double album of songs and chamber music by German composer Johannes Schlecht, on 24 October 2025 (UA240040). This is Ulysses Arts's second album with Johannes Schlecht, following Ich Spiele Noch in 2022.
Click above to download DIR from iTunes with digital booklet or to stream on Apple Music
Part One/Teil Eins: SPRICH AUCH DU
ZEHN LIEDER NACH TEXTEN VON PAUL CELAN 1. Chanson einer Dame im Schatten 4.36 2. Eis, Eden 1.48 3 Lob der Ferne 1.59 4. Auf hoher See 1.19 5. Die Halde 1.54 6. Sprich auch du 2.54 7. Irisch 1.35 8. Du liegst im großen Gelausche 1.17 9. Nachmittag mit Zirkus und Zitadelle 2.04 10. Krokus 1.02 Stefan Freiberge, Singer/Stimme / Eva Gerlach-Kling, Klavier WENN ALLE BÄCHLEIN FLIEßEN Sechs Kommentare zu einem Choral von Johann Sebastian Bach für Violoncello allein 11. Sehr ruhig 2.49 12. Schnell, motorisch 1.35 13. Wieder ruhig 3.13 14. Gehend 1.23 15. Langsam und ruhevoll 1.59 16. Ruhig 3.14 Grita Bühler, Violoncello SECHS HOLZSCHNITTE FÜR CELLO ALLEIN Elly Viola Nahmacher gewidmet 17. Neutraler Beginn 0.59 18. Auf spechtische Art 0.39 19. Komischer Choral 0.58 20. Hölzerner Walzer 0.45 21. Ungewöhnlicher Takt 1.03 22. Kurzes aber schönes Ende 0.37 Grita Bühler, Violoncello MEIN VATERLAND IST TOT Fünf Lieder nach Texten von Rose Ausländer 23. Damit kein Licht uns liebe 3.03 24. New York 2.12 25. Muttersprache 1.56 26. Mutterland 1.26 27. Freund 2.00 Ulrika Strömstedt, Singer/Stimme / Daniel Gutierrez, Violoncello Part Two/Teil Zwei: ACH GOETHE ODER SAH EIN KNABE KEIN RÖSSLEIN STEHN: Sieben Stücke für Violoncello allein 28. Heißspornig und was sonst noch 2.11 29. Verliebt, aber nicht verlobt 2.16 30. Neugierig auf Carl & August 1.02 31. Platonisch, aber wer weiß schon 2.35 32. Politisch, aber nicht schlecht 1.35 33. Gastlich, auch ein bißchen selbstgefällig 2.23 34. Schon älter, aber immer noch klassisch 3.36 Grita Bühler, Violoncello FÜNF ARTEN ZU GEHEN - UND EINE ZU STEHEN: Gangarten des Island-Ponys 35. Galopp 1.17 36. Rennpass 1.01 37. Schritt 1.40 38. Sehr ruhig 3.03 39. Tölt 1.19 40. Trab 0.41 Eva Gerlach-Kling, Klavier/piano ALLEZEIT HEYDERKEIT: Jost Heyder gewidmet 41. Laßt uns froh und Heyder sein 1.04 42. Heyderlein, ging allein 0.57 43. Hoppe,hoppe, Heyder 0.58 44. Heyderwalzer 1.16 45. Heyderröslein 1.28 46. Auf den Feldman Heyder 2.41 47. Stille Nacht, heydere Nacht 1.03 Grita Bühler, Violoncello DIR: Vierzehn Lieder nach Texten von Heinrich Vogeler 48. Sehr ruhig, heiter, mit herziger Ironie, nicht satirisch, nicht sarkastisch 1.30 49. Betrachtend, sehn- und mondsüchtig, nicht melodramatisch 1.18 50. Heiter, hüpfend, fast ausgelassen, nicht überschwänglich 0.32 51. Ratlos, ängstlich, nicht hoffnungslos 1.43 52. Mit viel Sehnsucht und Melancholie, nicht traurig 2.42 53. Verinnerlicht, liebevoll, nicht sentimental 1.01 53. Drängend, glücksahnend, nicht sicher 0.59 54. Anmutig, heiter, erzählend, nicht wehmütig 1.53 54. Traumtänzerisch, mir ängstlicher Sehnsucht, nicht gramvoll 0.58 57. Rückschauend, resümierend, nicht fatalistisch 0.52 58. Mit leichter Verzweiflung, schöner Erinnerung, wenig Hoffnung, nicht froh 2.34 59. Absichtsvoll, mit innerem Frieden, nicht wehmütig 2.02 60. Erinnernd, paradiesisch, verklärend, nicht weltfern 0.53 61. Testamentarisch, mit unendlicher Weisheit, nicht vorwurfsvoll 2.48 Ulrika Strömstedt, Singer/Stimme / Luise Denis Nesprias,Viola / Daniel Gutierrez. Violoncello 
Johannes Schlecht was born in 1948 in Neuhaus - Schierschnitz, South Thuringia. In 1967 he achieved his ‘Abitur’ (highest high school exams in Germany) in Eisenach. He then commenced study in Theology at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena. From 1969 his natural inclination and academic ability led him to the Franz-Liszt-Hochschule in Weimar, with studies in Pop music, piano, theory and methodic by Erika Heide and M. Schmitz, organ lessons with Rainer Böhme, arrangement lessons with Alo Koll and composition lessons with Joachim Thurm); Johannes graduated in Theology as ‘Diplom-Theologist and continued music study until 1976.
His works in music have been vast and varied such as performing as the piano player of the ‘Old Time Memory Jazz Band 1968-1973’, freelance work as a composer in Berlin from 1975 on, composing pop music and recording for radio and television. He has also toured Europe with many different projects. Johannes was a founding member of famous East German children’s music group CIRCUS LILA. With this group, he has: – Developed many musically pedagogical programs for children and young people in nurseries and schools – Won first place at many national festivals – Composed and conducted many records for children – Produced children’s series for radio and television. He has been a producer and composer of many GDR television series, e.g. Gisela Mays ‘Pfundgrube’ and worked with many renowned and well-known artists of the European Singer,-songwriter & acting scene. Composed Original Soundtracks for the ‘DEFA’ (east german film production firm); such as dramas, documentaries and children’s movies. His catalogue of work and achievements is vast, including: – Winning national and international awards (e.g. for the OST of ‘Kai aus der Kiste’ (‘Kai in the box’) – Member of the ‘VKM’ -Verband der Komponisten und Musikwissenschaftler der DDR (‘collective of composers and musicians of the GDR’) – Private lessons as choir and orchestra conductor with Manfred Fabricius at the School of Music Hanns Eisler in Berlin; – More work as a composer in the area of the ‘E-Musik’; – Student of Rainer Bredemayer; – Winner of the ‘Hanns-Eisler-Price’ (radio price of the GDR) for composing ‘Paul-Celan-Songs’(for piano and singing) in 1989; – Compositions for music theatre premieres in Eisenach, Kassel, Gemünden & Marl; – Several orchestra pieces, chamber music ensembles, choir pieces and live singing and instrument compositions; – Arrangements and productions for his band ‘Medical Syncopater Jazzband’ and other groups, ensembles and artists; – Since 2015, choir leader for the ‘Eisenbahn-Chor Friedrich List e.V.’ in Eisenach; – Since 2016, piano player for the ‘Old Time Memory Jazz Band’ again.
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Electronic press kit available for reviewers and radio producers from Ulysses Arts.
Ulysses Arts releases Todd Mason's album Lux Æterna, also including his String Quartet No. 3, City of Angels and When You are Near, on Friday 26 September 2025 (UA2500. The performers are the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra and Ars Brunensis Choir conducted by Pavel Šnajdr, Budapest Scoring Orchestra conducted by Peter Illényi, Zelter String Quartet and soprano Anna Schubert with conductor Zoltán Pad.
LUX AETERNA (2023) 22.03
1. Part 1: Requiem dona eis 2. Part 1: Kyrie, eleison 3. Part 2: In Paradisum 4. Part 3: Lux aeternam 5. Part 3: Kyrie, eleison 6. Part 3: In Paradisum Brno Philharmonic Orchestra: Pavel Šnajdr, conductor Ars Brunensis Choir: Dan Kalousek, choir director Jana Vondrů, soprano; Aneta Podracká Bendová, alto Jaroslav Zouhar, recording engineer Todd Mason, studio producer and post-production STRING QUARTET NO. 3 (2022): 15.26 7. Allegro sostenuto - Spirito - Moderato - Andante espressivo - Allegro moderato Zelter String Quartet Kyle Gilner and Gallia Kastner, violins Carson Rick, viola; Allan Hon, cello Van Webster, recording engineer, Mount Wilson Observatory Todd Mason, studio producer and post-production CITY OF ANGELS (2024) 16.12 8. Restless City (Pensive) 6.44 9. Dream City (Expressive) 5.40 10. Irrepressible City (Festive and Fast!) 3.48 Budapest Scoring Orchestra; Peter Ilényi, conductor Viktor Szabo, recording engineer; Bálint Sapszon, orchestra manager Todd Mason, studio producer and post-production WHEN YOU ARE NEAR (2020) 11. Espressivo 4.48 Budapest Scoring Orchestra:; Zoltán Pad, conductor; Anna Schubert, soprano Dénes Rédly, recording engineer; Bálint Sapszon, orchestra manager Todd Mason, studio producer and post-production Total timing: 58'29"
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Lullula releases its children's album The Birds on 20 June 2025 (UA25050), in partnership with Ulysses Arts.
Click above to download from iTunes with digital booklet
Lullula's The Birds tells a musical story through a single, arching day – from the dances of early morning playtime to lullabies for dreaming. A musical picture book for very young listeners that journeys through the mountains of the Southern Appalachians, Irish playgrounds, and the Wiegenlieder of 19th century Germany. An album of familiar and new songs, games, rhymes, and friendships – to be listened to again and again.
Artists Lydia Mahnkopf (soprano), Simone Easthope (soprano), Jonathan Ware (piano), Joel Frederiksen (19th century guitar, lute)
PRE-RELEASE SINGLES
Electronic press kit available from Ulysses Arts.
Osvaldo Golijov: The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind for clarinet and string quintet, with the CBSO Chamber Musicians - live recording, releases with Luminate Records on 2 May 2025, in partnership with Ulysses Arts.
Click above to download now on iTunes with digital booklet or stream on Apple Music
Osvaldo Golijov’s The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind is an important piece of contemporary
chamber music that melds the traditions of classical string quartet writing with the idiomatic language of klezmer. Composed in 1994, the music epitomises Golijov’s innovative style and pays homage to Isaac the Blind, a mystic whose life and thought continue to inspire Jewish artistic expression.
Electronic press kit for reviewers and radio presenters available from Ulysses Arts Ltd..
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