We’ve had an incredible year of recording classical music at studios and stages around the world, and we have no plans of slowing down in 2025. Dive in for a look at the classical productions that closed out our 2024, and details on recording opportunities for the new year.
Recording Paul Osterfield’s Jabberwocky
December productions began with a return to Rockport MA’s Shalin Liu Performance Center, where a vocal chamber music session was underway with soprano Aliana de la Guardia, soprano, tenor Omar Najmi, and pianist Yoko Hagino, who were recording composer Paul Osterfield’s Jabberwocky.
The text in Osterfield’s piece is drawn from Lewis Carroll’s poem of the same name, a work written with several invented words describing the slaying of the titular creature. The poem is famously featured in the Alice in Wonderland follow-up, Through the Looking-Glass.
Selected from a recent Featured Recording Opportunity, the piece will be released on a future vocal chamber album from Navona Records.
Two Poems and Three Sonnets from Ferdinando DeSena
Sessions continued overseas with composer Ferdinando DeSena, who has set several poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning to music for release on a new Navona Records album.
Recorded at Studio Martínek, the piece was performed by soprano Bree Nichols, pianist Ahmad Hedar, and saxophonist Lukáš Dittrich, a member of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.
Recording with Ovidiu Marinescu and Carl Cranmer Begins
Back in the United States, the production team wrapped up a remarkable year in music with the recording of works submitted to our recent Featured Recording Opportunity with cellist Ovidiu Marinescu and pianist Carl Cranmer.
The team captured works by several contemporary composers, including Alan Terricciano, Andre E. Godsey Sr., Joanna Estelle, Margaret Brandman, L Peter Deutsch, Christine Jancarz, Martin Robert, and Armando Torres.
“Storytelling is essential in communicating with the listener, and I always strive to get to the very inner soul of a composition,” says Marinescu
“As a performer of contemporary classical music, I feel that I’m part of making musical history, and I am delighted to be the catalyst for new compositions.”
– Ovidiu Marinescu, cellist
Recording with these two performers will continue in spring 2025 with the next round of works selected from the Opportunity, which is currently still open to classical composers for submission.
