There are a number of ways to ring in a new year. In true PARMA fashion, our production team hit the ground running and attended sessions around the world to record the works of today’s classical artists. While 11 months of music lay ahead, here are a few projects that kicked off 2023.
Visual Productions with the Benda Quartet
Composer Michael Murray (left) with Benda Quartet during a recording session of The Darkening Green
The production team kicked off 2023 with a continuation of sessions for an upcoming visual album with the Benda Quartet, this time to work with composer Michael Murray and his piece, The Darkening Green. Born from a recent featured recording opportunity, the piece for string quartet was recorded at Czech Radio Ostrava.
“I’ve had the chance to listen to the first edit and it really blew me away,” said Murray following the session. “I’m looking forward to hearing and seeing the finished album!”
String Works with Peter Paulsen
The Dalí Quartet during a recording session at the Wells School of Music at WCU
Shortly after, the production team touched down at the University of Westchester in Pennsylvania, the same venue in which the latest Trio Casals album was recorded. Performed by the TurksHeadKnot ensemble and The Dalí Quartet, the team captured composer Peter Paulsen’s Shanghaied Paisano.
See a live performance of the piece here:
Tango in Zagreb
Later in the month, the production team synced up with composer Nan Avant in Zagreb to record her piece Rememoramini for string quartet and bandoneon with the Zagreb Festival Orchestra. Captured at the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall Theatre, the tango piece featured soloists Charlene Farrugia and Franko Božac. Here the duo in action on Spirit Visions by composer Margaret Brandman on POLARITIES VOL 2 from Navona Records:
Shalin Liu Chamber Sessions
Back in the United States, the team set up shop at Rockport MA’s Shalin Liu Performance Center, where soprano Aliana De La Guardia and pianist Yoko Hagino returned to record the works of composers Beth Weimann and Martha Hill Duncan.
See La Guardia and Hagino perform Carl Vollrath’s Songs of Innocence at the Shalin Liu in this visual production:
Brass Recordings with Paul Paccione
January productions concluded overseas with the recording of composer Paul Paccione’s Radical Ears. Captured at the Orlí Street Theatre, the piece was performed by the Brno Contemporary Orchestra and the NdBrass Quintet.
