Artist: Elliott Sharp
Title: Filiseti Mekidesi
Label: Infrequent Seams
Release Date: 01/29/21
Personnel: Elliott Sharp – composer, libretto, director; Tracie Morris – texts; Edwin Torres – texts; Kamilya Jubran – soprano
Voxnova Italia: Soprano: Susanna Rigacci; Mezzosoprano: Monica Benvenuti, Anna Clementi; Tenor: Sandro Naglia; Baritone: Oliviero Giorgiutti; Bass: Nicholas Isherwood; ENSEMBLE MUSIKFABRIK: Flute: Helen Bledsoe; Oboe: Peter Veale; Clarinet: Carl Rosman; Horn: Christine Chapman; Trumpet: Matthew Conley; Trombone: Bruce Collings; Tuba: Melvyn Poore; Keyboards: Ulrich Löffler, Benjamin Kobler; Percussion and drums: Rie Watanabe, Michael Weilacher; Violin: Hannah Weirich; Viola: Axel Porath; Violoncello: Dirk Wietheger; Contrabass: Florentin Ginot
Impression: Sharp’s newest opera Filiseti Mekidesi translates to “shelter migration”, and the chilling tone he has created suitably mirrors the pathos the uprooting process continues to cause for so many refugees and immigrants in search of a safe, new home.
More Info: E# website
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Artist: Nick Schofield
Title: Glass Gallery
Label: Backward Music
Release Date: 02/5/21
Personnel: Nick Schofield – Prophet-600 Synth
Impression: Glass Gallery is majestic minimalist electronic music created entirely on a Sequential Circuits Prophet-600 synthesizer and acts as a soothing balm for the many stresses of our global pandemic.
More Info: Nick Schofield website
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Artist: Adam Rudolph
Title: Focus and Field
Label: Meta Records
Release Date: 12/4/20
Personnel: Sumie Kaneko – vocal, koto, shamisen; Stephanie Griffin – viola; Kaoru Watanabe – shinobue, noh kan, fue, taiko, percussion; gamin – piri, saenghwang; Sara Schoenbeck – bassoon; Ned Rothenberg – shakuhachi, bass clarinet; Ivan Barenboim – b flat clarinet, contra-alto clarinet; Michel Gentile – c, alto, and bass flutes, bamboo flutes; Adam Rudolph – handrumset
Impression: On Focus and Field Rudolph took inspiration from structural aspects of Japanese Noh theater, resulting in a satisfying and meditative sonic brew for those inclined towards soundworlds between Takemitsu and Don Cherry’s Codona project.
More Info: Meta Records site
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Buy Here: Bandcamp