Ulysses Arts releases J A Monteiro Choral Music on 28 August 2026, with the Happenstance Singers conducted by Matthew Swann (UA260071). The album will include Monteiro's Limehouse Mass, And Ruth Said, Away in A Manger, and music from Seven Last Words.

Monteiro: Choral Music brings together a selection of sacred works by J A Monteiro. Rooted in the traditions of Anglican and Catholic choral music, these settings balance expressive harmonic writing with the practical demands of liturgical performance.

At the centre of the programme are selected movements from Seven Last Words, a setting of the final words of Christ on the cross. Each movement illuminates a different emotional character, from the tender compassion of Woman, behold your son, through the anguish of My God, why have you forsaken me?, to the sorrow of It is finished.

The album also includes the Limehouse Mass, written for the Church of Our Lady Immaculate & St Frederick, London: a compact setting for practical liturgical use. And Ruth said unfolds in long lyrical lines, while Away in a manger offers a gentle reimagining of the familiar carol.

Pre-order Monteiro: Choral Music from Qobuz

Joe Monteiro, who publishes as J.A. Monteiro, is a composer and arranger of choral music. His works have been recorded by the Ulysses Arts label. Two initial EPs, Limehouse Mass (2025) and Seven Last Words (2026), were released in preparation for this full album. Choral works include motets, Mass and psalm settings, and arrangements of hymns and carols. His organ work Ye Choirs of New Jerusalem was performed at Southwark Cathedral in 2024 and subsequently recorded.

He is Director of Music at the Church of Our Lady Immaculate & St Frederick, London. He graduated from the University of Oxford, where he wrote for the chapel choir of St Hugh’s College.

Happenstance Singers were formed in 2020 by their director, Matthew Swann, and a few like-minded friends who were seeking a high-quality choir in London with a distinctive warmth of tone, across a wide range of choral repertoire. They have performed a range of projects including Bach’s St John Passion, rarely-performed Flemish 16th-century polyphony including Richafort’s Requiem in Memoriam Josquin de Prez, contemporary classics including Eric Whitacre’s When David Heard and their highly popular Handel’s Messiah at the Kernel Brewery Tap Room. They also sing regularly for services at Westminster Abbey.

Pre-order, download and streaming links will be published here.

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Ulysses Arts releases Poetry & Prayer, new choral music by Sarah Cattley, Phillip Cooke, Benedict Preece, Eoghan Desmond, Luke Mayernik, Neil Wright and Conner McCain on 5 June 2026, performed by Caritas Chamber Choir directed by Benedict Preece (UA260060).

Track List

Sarah Cattley, Ave Maria (IG/Single: 8 May)
Phillip Cooke, God be in my head (IG: 29 May 29)
Luke Mayernik, Vigil- Mary, the Dawn (IG/Single: 15 May)
Sarah Cattley, The lark's in the sky, love
Sarah Cattley, My heart is like a singing bird
Phillip Cooke, Everyone Sang
Benedict Preece, With Prayer and Supplication
Benedict Preece, Ave, Maris Stella (IG: 1 May)
Eoghan Desmond, Aestimatus Sum (IG/Sing;le: 22 May)
Eoghan Desmond, The Wayfaring Stranger
Phillip Cooke, Tota Pulchra Es
Conner McCain, You are Beautiful

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Benedict Preece writes:

'One of the great joys of directing Caritas over the years has been the choir’s unwavering commitment to performing, commissioning, and recording contemporary music. It is therefore a particular pleasure to present this album, devoted entirely to recent works - eleven of the thirteen receiving their first recording here.

The theme of poetry and prayer has given us the freedom to place sacred and secular music side by side. In truth, the boundaries are often porous: many of the sacred works draw upon deeply poetic texts - including two settings from the Song of Songs - while several of the secular pieces resonate with a spirit of contemplation not far removed from prayer. Alongside composers with whom we have an established artistic relationship, this album also marks our first collaborations with Eoghan Desmond, Luke Mayernik, and Conner McCain.'

The recording was made in All Saints’ Church, Boughton Aluph, Kent (pictured), returning to the church in which our first album was recorded in 2017.

Benedict Preece is an award-winning conductor who trained at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He is currently Music Director of Caritas Chamber Choir, East Bridge Chorale and Graduati Singers in London. Passionate about working with both singers and instrumentalists, he is also in demand as an orchestral conductor. He was Genesis Sixteen Conducting Scholar 2017-18.

He developed his orchestral conducting with Stephen Portman (a former student of Monteux and Szell) and with Peter Stark, with recent conducting engagements with the Festival Chamber Orchestra and Kent Sinfonia. As the Genesis Sixteen Conducting Scholar, he studied with Eamonn Dougan and Harry Christophers and with Nicholas Chalmers at the Royal Academy of Music. Benedict graduated from the RAM with an MA with Distinction, the DipRAM, the Regency Award for high achievement and the Exam Board Prize for the highest final recital mark.

He began his career as a Chorister of Canterbury Cathedral singing for many years as a tenor. At Trinity College of Music, London, he specialised in horn and natural horn under Roger Montgomery and Anthony Halstead. As an organist, Benedict studied with Dr. David Ponsford, David Flood, then organ and composition with Neil Wright. For ten years he was Music Director of Sandwich Concert Band and has held numerous church music positions. For more than five years, he was Head of Chapel Music, Head of Keyboard and Organist at The Duke of York’s Royal Military School.

He has released many recordings to critical acclaim with Caritas Chamber Choir. Ritmo magazine described his conducting: “Preece is very convincing…he always knows which voice to bring out, how to accentuate the beauty of the phrase.” Benedict is a signed artist with Ulysses Arts, a London-based record label, as both a conductor and organist. His choral compositions are regularly performed on both sides of the Atlantic and often featured on Caritas Chamber Choir recordings. He is passionate about contemporary music having commissioned composers including Sarah Cattley and has conducted première recordings of works by leading composers such as Sir James MacMillan, Cecilia McDowall, Gabriel Jackson, Phillip Cooke and David Conte. He is looking forward to bringing more brand new works to audiences around the world.

Caritas Chamber Choir was founded in 2011 by Benedict Preece, its Music Director. Caritas is the Latin word for charity and through its performances, the ensemble raises funds for charities, good causes and churches. Members are drawn from around Kent, in south east England. The ensemble has become an important part of the cultural landscape of Kent and is renowned for its commitment to contemporary choral works.

Caritas have many international collaborations and have performed in Sweden, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands. Every year, the choir proudly sings in Lille Cathedral as part of their summer music festival. For three years the choir ran an international choral composition competition and continues to champion new music with Sarah Cattley as the choir’s Associate Composer.

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World première recording of J A Monteiro, Seven Last Words, performed by the Happenstance Singers directed by Matthew Swann, is released by Ulysses Arts on 3 July 2026 (UA260070).

Seven Last Words was first performed on Good Friday in 2025: it sets the last words of Christ on the cross.  Each movement illuminates a different emotional character, from the sincerity of ‘Truly, I say to you’, and the tender compassion of ‘Woman, behold your son’, to the anguish of ‘My God, why have you forsaken me?’ The final movement, ‘Father, into Your Hands’, brings the sequence to a close with a moment of stillness and release.

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William Thomas McKinley String Quartets Vol. 1 (MS104) is released digitally on 17 April 2026 by the McKinley Foundation, in partnership with Ulysses Arts.

Stirng Quartet No. 1 is from McKinley's student days: two superficially contrasting movements, but full of subtle connections, including angular melodic lines, chromatically inflected intervals, imitative counterpoint and tripartite textures with melody and accompanyment and often a third line commenting on both.

Quartet No. 7's eight movements constitute a panoply of aesthetic directions, from sarcasm, pastiche and profound lyricism.

No. 4 - Fantasia Concertante - is a unapologetically modernist, embracing new complexity. Its a single movement: dense, deeply chromatic,and brilliantly textural—and yet remains accessible.

No. 9 (1992), subtitled “moments musicals”, incorporates jazz and abstract harmony into a coherent, mature whole, in eleven short movements with an early 1990s post-minimalist character.

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Ulysses Arts releases Paul Henley Piano Works Volume 2, performed by Pavel Timofeyevsky, on 29 May 2026, in partnership with Bridges Music (UA260050).

Christopher Kettle writes:

'Henley's Sonata No. 4 is a substantial work in three movements. The Allegro con brio opens clangorously and with a sense of upward striving; a repeating pattern of four notes seems to embody this. The music makes its way through quieter, though not necessarily calmer waters – some writing of icy brilliance for the right hand – before recovering the movement’s opening gestures and reaching a high plateau of full-throated affirmation. The ending is brusque, almost dismissive.

The searching Adagio begins with a wistful, sadly falling melody over a gentle rocking rhythm. The music gathers intensity until, at the movement’s climax, the melody achieves a genuinely tragic stature. Then its energies drain away until it is reduced to its sparest form, and it
expires, mid-phrase.

The brief finale, Molto energico, sets all to rights: a torrent of syncopated energy, followed by a lilting tune like a folk dance, light as thistledown, in the right hand. Irresistible! (Did I hear a lively transformation of the wistful Adagio tune just before the ‘folk dance’?) At the end of the recording session, Pavel said to Henley: “You create such a magical world…and so Romantic – I imagine a couple dancing.”

The Eighteen Preludes form a huge work, a significant landmark in Henley’s career as a composer. I say ‘work’ because, whilst he allows that the Preludes can be performed individually or in a selection, Henley writes that “due to the structure of the work and the way in which the Preludes relate to each other with regard to their tonal centres, it is preferable that they are played all together as a set – that was my original intention.” Pavel sensed this very strongly: he remarked that they belong with Schumann’s Carnaval and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition rather than with Chopin’s Preludes, and although they were first recorded individually, he was keen to play them in sequence in a single ‘take’ – which he did: the impact was gigantic, a compelling revelation of the whole work’s imaginative reach, its integrity and its drama.'

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English composer, Paul Henley, considers that the primary purpose of music should be to communicate. As such, he believes in writing music that is accessible, with significant melodic content, a harmonic language based on tonality and a considerable emphasis on rhythm – the foundation of all music. Dance and theatre are also part of Paul’s diverse artistic interests and he has directed various stage works. For Paul, music at its greatest is of spiritual value and that, as such, it is essential. Its link with faith is of profound importance to him. 

Originally from Worcester, he lives in Shropshire with his cellist wife, Ruth. His earliest musical inspiration came from his grandmother, a keen amateur pianist and actress. During the 1960s, she used to take Paul to the Children’s Theatre Club at the newly established Swan Theatre in Worcester. She also had a tape recorder and with various members of the family playing different characters, she used to record sketches. At secondary school in New Malden in south-west London, he played trumpet in the school's band. Aged of fifteen, he commenced piano lessons with Reymour Rice.

Paul left school aged 16, working first as a shop assistant, but continued to get experience as a musician – singing in his church choir, playing trumpet in local orchestras and performing as a pianist both in his teacher’s pupils’ recitals and in local festivals. He also started to compose and continued to train as a pianist. Eventually, at the age of twenty-one, he went to Birmingham School of Music (now Royal Birmingham Conservatoire) where he commenced studies in 1980, first in piano and trumpet, then singing and composition.

After leaving college, Paul had a career as an opera singer and made his South Bank debut at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in 1990 to national acclaim. He performed much contemporary music and in 1997 created the role of William Byrd in the world premiere of False Relations by David Stoll. He worked regularly for BBC Radio 4 and performed at many national festivals. He maintained his early interest in composition, and in 2019, decided to devote himself to working solely as a composer.

Following that decision, Paul received a commission from Bridgnorth Sinfonia, the result of which was the orchestral tone poem, The Firmament on High. Since then, Paul has written in a wide variety of vocal and instrumental mediums. Recordings of his music have been released on the Ulysses Arts and Prima Facie labels. His music has featured on Apple Music playlists including ‘Pure Piano’.

His works have been performed both nationally and in Europe and reviewed to international acclaim. His music has also been broadcast on BBC Radio. He has written many cello works for his wife, Ruth who has performed and recorded many of them. He also collaborates regularly with pianist, Duncan Honeybourne, a champion of contemporary British piano music and the Jarualda String Quartet, both of whom have recorded albums of his works and given many performances of his music. His works also feature regularly in concerts by Shropshire Chamber Orchestra.  He is a featured composer with The Marches Songbook Project. 

Paul and Ruth established the Corvedale Festival in 2022 in Shropshire, where he was its Artistic Director. After three years the Festival evolved into the Corvedale Concerts series for which he continues in his role as Artistic Director.

Recent premières include his Sonata for Flute and Piano, ‘Notes and Sorrows’ for High Voice and Piano, Voice for Solo Cello and String Orchestra, Lyric Movement for String Quartet and Five Epigrams for Piano. This is Paul Henley's third album with Ulysses Arts.

Pianist and composer, Pavel Timofeyevsky was in Russia and educated in England, Pavel graduated with distinction from the Royal Academy of Music, London. Solo and chamber music recitals, as well as concerto performances with orchestras has brought him to nearly all major UK  concert venues, including London's Wigmore Hall, Royal Festival and Queen Elizabeth Halls. Concert tours, television and radio appearances internationally include in the USA (Merkin Hall, New York and Fred Kavli Theatre, Los Angeles), China (Shanghai Oriental Centre for Arts, Guangzhou Opera House), Italy, Russia, France, Spain, Sweden, Greece, South Africa, Kenya and India. Pavel is the recipient of several prestigious British music awards, scholarships and national competition prizes including the Musicians Benevolent Fund Award, the 2007 Myra Hess Award, and the Philharmonia Orchestra Martin Musical Scholarship for piano, as well as winning the BBC/Guardian Young Composer of the Year award for composition.

Having made London his home, Pavel is highly sought after as a solo performer and a chamber music partner, collaborating with some of the world's finest musicians. A keen and eloquent speaker, Pavel enjoys giving lecture-recitals and has his own regular lecture-concert series for the Kensington Music Society.

A fervent advocate of contemporary music, Pavel has given many premieres of fellow composers works and featured on the album ISLAS by British composer Ian Stewart for the MUSIC CHAMBER label, as well as participated in the recording of music of Hungarian composer Hans Gal, as part of Ensemble Burletta, for Toccata Classics label.

Pavel's passion for film has led him to work in that field too. He recorded the soundtrack and starred in the US documentary Tchaikovsky (US Bioghraphy channel) and has composed music for several films, including the critically acclaimed “Le fin de la belle époque” documentary for Russian television. Most recently he created a soundtrack for Russia's oldest Animated film studio Souyzmultfilm.

Pavel is the founder and Artistic Director of Philomel Creative Circle: a concert series in London, currently in residence at the Francis Crick Institute, as well as the Founder and Director of Philomel Music Academy, a summer course in residence at The Yehudi Menuhin School in Surrey. In 2023 Pavel was appointed Music Director of Devon Opera, UK.

Pavel continues to collaborate with orchestras and to tour extensively with recitals across the UK and abroad, making regular appearances on the British music festival scene.

Electronic press kit available from Ulysses Arts.

We Remember Moments, the debut recording by Canadian composer and pianist Joel Toews, is released by Ulysses Arts on 1 May 2026 (UA260020).

'“We do not remember days, we remember moments.” (Cesare Pavese) My music evokes memories - not specific recollections, but moments imparting an experience’s emotions. Memory is fallible; remembering an entire day is impossible. Instead, we retain moments, snapshots of life affecting our minds and present.

Each work alludes to moments surrounding experiences, emotions and people. The melodies, harmony and rhythms are straightforward, composed not for show or gravitas, but as meditative reflection on moments worth remembering.' (Joel Toews)

1. Four Thousand and One: Joel Toews
2. Evergreen: Joel Toews, Jacqueline Goring
3. January (of 2020): Joel Towes
4. Prairie Skies: Joel Toews, William Lamoureux
5. August (of 2006): Joel Toews, Jess Lajner, William Lamoureux
6. Solace: Joel Toews, Matt Smith
7. Stephanie’s Theme: Joel Toews

Joel Toews, piano
Jacqueline Goring, harp; William Lamoureaux, violin
Jess Lajner, guitar; Matt Smith, trumpet

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Joel Toews is a Canadian composer, arranger, songwriter and pianist based in Toronto.

He studied at Berklee College of Music, then Jazz and Contemporary Popular Music at MacEwan University, where he wrote and arranged for string quartet, choir, jazz big band, piano trio and more, studying with Dr. Allan Gilliland, Kent Sangster and John McMillan. Currently he studies composition at York University, Toronto.

Composition credits include:
2018: Piano Trio 'Influence': International Keuris Composers Contest 4th prize.
2019: 'Ra’ah': Borealis Orchestra, Edmonton
2019: Film score for 'The Transit Lodge', directed by Kalyan Acharya
2021: Toronto Symphony Orchestra's Explore the Score program: mentorship from TSO composers and conductors and recorded reading of 'Athabasca', awarded first annual Litha Symphony Orchestra Composition Contest; first performed in New York City, 2022
2021: MacEwan University commission: 'Miriam', for big band, recorded in its 'Generations' Project.
2021: Suite for Piano and Cello, for Sahara von Hattenberger, blending elements of Canadian and Japanese culture, funded by Canada Council for the Arts: recording with visual accompaniment. 2022: 'Mirrors in Haida Gwaii' première: Sofia Symphonic Summit: Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, Bulgaria
2022: 'Sleeping Giant': Orchestra Toronto Composer Prize commission.
2023: River City Big Band Edmonton commission, celebrating the planets, including a re-working of the opening of Richard Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra
2025: New Conductors Orchestra's Call for Scores winner, New York City.

Joel lives and works in Toronto. He is a piano, theory and composition teacher for children, youth, and adults; he works as a composer, arranger, and songwriter, and is Orchestra Manager of the Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra.

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Ulysses Arts releases (quasi una) Fantasia, with Telemann, Flute Fantasias and world premières by Richard Craig, on 7 November 2025.

 
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.

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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.

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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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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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Electronic press kit for reviewers and radio producers available from Ulysses Arts.

J.A. Monteiro's Limehouse Mass, performed by the Happenstance Singers conducted by Matthew Swann, is released by Ulysses Arts as an EP on 21 February 2025 (UA250020). The release also includes Monteiro's And Ruth said, Ave Maria, and organist James Gough playing Ye Choirs of New Jerusalem.

Pre-Release Singles

Electronic press kit for reviewers and radio producers available from Ulysses Arts Ltd.

Luminate Records releases Brett Dean's Eclipse (String Quartet No.1) on 24 January 2025, performed by the Slate Quartet (LR246707). This EP is Luminate's first recording released in partnership with Ulysses Arts.

DOWNLOAD OR STREAM ON PRESTO MUSIC

EPK for reviewers and radio producers are available from Ulysses Arts.

Lyrita Records releases a double album of Gavin Higgins, The Fairie Bride,  with Marta Fontanals-Simmons, Roderick Williams, The Three Choirs Festival Chorus and BBC National Orchestra Orchestra of Wales conducted by Martyn Brabbins, and Horn Concerto and Fanfare, Air and Flourishes for solo horn, with soloist Ben Goldscheider, and the BBCNOW conducted by Jaime Martin, on 7 February 2025 (SRCD 440).

Gavin Higgins’ music is bursting with authenticity. Everything he writes speaks in some way of where he comes from, of the land, of the community, of the family which formed him. He grew up in a working-class former mining community in the Forest of Dean, a borderland between England and Wales with its own dialect, a liminal place where Welsh songs and stories as well as English are in the air. It’s a place where brass band music is the chief legacy of the coalmines, the last of which closed a decade before Gavin was born and where the forest, with its sounds, its colours and its stories was a constant presence. Gavin has spoken evocatively - and perhaps romantically - about the music of the forest which surrounded him: sounds of foxes and deer mingled with brass bands, church choirs and occasional illegal raves. Nature and music, he says, are powerfully linked in his mind. © Gillian Moore
 
Horn Concerto
“… the pieces on this disc which feature the French horn -Horn Concerto and Fanfare, Air and Flourish- mark the first time that he has highlighted his own instrument in the solo slot. As ever, it was a personal connection which sparked the idea of the Horn Concerto - an approach from the horn virtuoso Ben Goldscheider, made in the full knowledge that this would reunite Gavin with his younger self. The Horn Concerto connects to the past in other ways. It’s written in E-flat, the key of famous Horn Concertos by Mozart and Strauss. It also amplifies and expands the sound of the solo horn by giving it a prominent relationship with the quartet of horns in the orchestra, calling to mind Robert Schumann’s blazing Konzertstuck from the middle of the 19th century and Gyorgy Ligeti’s Hamburg Concerto, written at the turn of the 21st.”

The Faerie Bride
Gavin looks west ward from the Forest of Dean to a Welsh tale from the Red Book of Hergest, an important mediaeval manuscript of Welsh history, poetry and stories. The legend of The Lady of the Lake tells of a water spirit who emerges from Llyn y Fan Fach in the Brecon Beacons and marries an earthly man, having insisted on a clear prenup agreement: if he strikes her three times (she uses the curious and ambiguous phrase ‘heart’s blow’ which suggests mental rather than physical cruelty) she will go back into the lake and take everything she has brought to the marriage with her. Tales of watery spirits who take human form to lure men to doom are abundant in European culture… but, Gavin says, ‘The Welsh myths are empowering, with strong female characters who set their own agenda. There is no coercion, theft, or kidnap but rather misunderstandings and cultural differences.’

Press kit for reviewers and radio presenters available from Ulysses Arts.

Ulysses Arts releases Stephen Horne's soundtrack to Alfred Hitchcock's 1929 silent film The Manxman, orchestrated and conducted by Ben Palmer wth the Orchestra da Camera di Pordenone and soloists Louise Hayter, oboe, and Jeff Moore, violin, on 10 January 2025 (UA240130). The Manxman will be screened live at the 2025 San Francisco Silent Film Festival on 11 January at Grace Cathedral.

Silent London, 1 Oct 2024

Ron Schepper, Textura, February 2025
'An illuminating portrait of this most talented artist.'

One of the world's leading silent film performers, Stephen Horne is a house musician at London’s British Film Institute Southbank. Principally a pianist, he often incorporates other instruments into his performances, sometimes simultaneously. He regularly plays internationally and his accompaniments have met with acclaim at numerous film festivals across Europe, North America and Asia.

Stephen has recorded music for many restorations of classic and rediscovered silent films. In 2011 and 2012, he was commissioned to compose scores for the London Film Festival galas of The First Born and The Manxman. In 2012 his accompaniment for Rotaie won first prize at the Bonn Sommerkino Festival and he was subsequently invited to repeat the performance at that year’s Beethovenfest. For ten consecutive years, from 2014 to 2024, he has won in one or more categories in Silent London’s end-of-year poll.

In 2021 he recorded Silent Sirens, an album of solo piano pieces based on several of his silent film scores. It was released by Ulysses Arts and has performed well across digital platforms. In 2022, his orchestral score for Stella Dallas, commissioned by MoMA, was premiered at the pre-opening night of the Venice Film Festival.

In 2022, with the help of conductor-orchestrator Ben Palmer, Stephen completed two fully orchestrated scores for films that he had previous scored for small ensemble. Stella Dallas, commissioned by MoMA, was premièred at the Venice Film Festival and The Manxman formed the closing gala of Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, Pordenone in Italy.

The Manxman: Pre-Release Singles

Electronic press kit for reviewers and radio producers is available from Ulysses Arts Ltd.

Nimbus Alliance releases Robert Blocker: Contemporary Character Pieces for PIano, with works by eight composers, on 1 November 2024 (NI 6453).

“The romantic character pieces of Schumann and Brahms have been my musical companions since childhood. In earlier years, I was immersed in their emotional content. The craft, especially the economy of scale and refinement of compositional technique, captured my attention as a college student…Throughout my career, I have championed new music created by fellow students and colleagues. Shortly after assuming the deanship of the Yale School of Music, it occurred to me that the expansive piano repertoire could be enriched further by contemporary character pieces. These would be in the tradition of the romantic era, each one being three to five minutes in length with an inherent emotional impulse...When asked to compose a contemporary character piece that I would perform and record, my faculty colleagues and friends were most gracious and responded affirmatively…My gratitude and admiration foreach of them is boundless not only for their personal encouragement but also for this significant contribution to the piano repertoire and our musical life.” © Robert Blocker
 
This release includes compositions from Ezra Laderman (Decade), David Lang (Winter Piano), Joseph Schwantner (Palindrome’s Dance), Warren Lee (Three Novelettes), Martin Bresnick (Extrana Devocion), Paul Reale (The Pooka’s Revenge), Aaron Jay Kernis (Toward The Setting Sun) and Christopher Theofanidis (Wake Up, Calleth The Voice).

“Robert Blocker began his study of the instrument at age five, presenting his first public recital two years later. Following baccalaureate studies at Furman University, Blocker earned master’s and doctoral degrees in piano performance at the University of North Texas under the tutelage of the eminent American pianist Richard Cass.”

Electronic press kit and pre-release listening link available for reviewers and radio producers from Ulysses Arts Ltd.

Ulysses Arts released Caritas Chamber Choir's album A New Spirit, with world premières by Sir James MacMillan, Henrik Dahlgren, Phillip Cooke and Andrew Smith, directed by Benedict Preece, on 18 October 2024 (UA240110).

A NEW SPIRIT: ALBUM DETAILS

Phillip Cooke, Christus resurgens
 
Henrik Dahlgren, Three Latin Hymns:
Ave maris Stella
Ave Regina Caelorum
Ave Maria
 
Sir James MacMillian, If ye love me

Sir James MacMillan, For a thousand years

Phillip Cooke, Veni Sponsa Christi
 
Sir James MacMillan,  I will take you from the nations

Phillip Cooke, O Lord, save thy people
 
Sir James MacMillan, Be who God meant you to be
Sir James MacMillan, The Highgate Motet

Andrew Smith, Christi tractus in odore

Andrew Smith, Rex et martyr triumphalis
 
 Andrew Smith, Old Irish Blessing

Maureen Buja, Interlude, 2 Dec 2024

'Congratulations to Benedict Preece and his singers for producing such a nicely balanced anthology with exemplary notes, texts and presentation.'
Malcolm Riley, Gramophone, Dec 2024

Based in Kent, in south east England, Caritas Chamber Choir was founded in 2011 by music director Benedict Preece. Caritas is the Latin word for charity: as part of its concert schedule, the Choir raises funds for charities, good causes and churches. Performing to the highest level throughout the UK, the Choir has also performed in Belgium, France - including regularly at Lille Cathedral's summer music festival, The Netherlands, Spain and Sweden. Caritas has a strong commitment to contemporary choral music: it performs and commissions music from many of the leading composers of our time, including Sir James MacMillan, Cecilia McDowall, Phillip Stopford, Phillip Cooke, Andrew Smith, Sarah Cattley, David Conte, Gabriel Jackson, Neil Wright, Eric Choate and Henrik Dahgren. Caritas is signed with UK-based record label Ulysses Arts.

Electronic press kit available for press reviewers and radio producers from Ulysses Arts.

UA240110
Producer: Emily Baines
Recording Engineer: John Croft - Chiaro Audio
Artwork: Tony Garrett