Label: Soundset Recordings Item Number: SR1086 Format: CD Year Recorded: 2017 Schwanengesang Kayleen Sanchez Johnandrew Slominski - Fortepiano
Kayleen Sanchez Kayleen Sánchez is an active performer, recording artist, and pedagogue. She is a founding member of the lute song duo BEDLAM. Recent BEDLAM engagements include the Phoenix Early Music Society, Pegasus Early Music, and the Rochester Early Music Festival. BEDLAM has been broadcast on Rochester’s WXXI, WWFM’s “Well-Tempered Baroque”, South Dakota Public Broadcasting, and Arizona PBS. BEDLAM released its debut album, BEDLAM (Athyr Records) in 2015, and their next album, Died for Love (Soundset Recordings) has just been released. BEDLAM’s active touring schedule can found on their website at www.bedlamearlymusic.com. American composer David M. Gordon praised her performance of his music as “deeply moving and extraordinarily precise,” and dedicated a large-scale song cycle, “Mysteria Incarnationis,” to Sánchez and her husband, pianist Paul Sánchez. Kayleen is also featured on the CD Magus Insipiens (Soundset Recordings, 2016), performing song cycles composed by Paul Sánchez. She will be featured on the upcoming CDs West Meets East (Albany Records) and Music of George Morey (label TBA). She recently recorded Schubert’s Schwanengesang with pianist Johnandrew Slominski on a Viennese-style fortepiano. Their recording has been released on the Soundset label, and features ornamentation and other historically-informed performance practices. Sánchez received her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in Vocal Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music. She is on voice faculty at the College of Charleston in Charleston, SC. “Kayleen Sánchez' wonderfully sensitive interpretations evoke the full sway of Sappho’s fervent, impassioned imagination. Indeed, Sánchez' keen technical virtuosity manages to capture the finely shaded gradations of emotion that all three song cycles draw up from the well of human experience. Listen closely and you’ll discover that, long after the final syllable is sung, her voice still thrills along the spine.” - Sherod Santos "Soprano Kayleen Sánchez has the perfect voice, pure and unshakably direct in delivery.... [her] purity of voice and total control of her instrument is utterly remarkable...." - Colin Clarke "Sanchez has a pure, lyric voice which she uses with imagination." - Henry Fogel Johnandrew Slominski - Fortepiano American pianist Johnandrew Slominski enjoys a distinguished reputation as a performer and pedagogue. His elegant and sophisticated playing has earned praise from composers and critics alike. Slominski has been hailed as "a remarkable, brilliant, and gifted pianist" (Chautauquan Daily), commended for performing with "a great deal of intellect" (89.9 KBPS Portland), and recognized for his communicative performance: "I was profoundly moved by his performance... He has a musicianship that transcends his youthfulness." (Eye on Sun Valley). Slominski seamlessly navigates the landscape of a varied and thriving career as a soloist, chamber musician, music theorist, author, pedagogue, and speaker. Highlights of his busy 2016-2017 season include performances of concerti by Schumann and Mozart, a two concert tours of California, recordings for Oxford University Press, a recently released CD of solo piano music on the Centaur label, performances with tenor Robert Swensen, two lieder CDs (an all-Schumann disc with Robert Swensen and an all-Schubert disc with soprano Kayleen Sánchez--Slominski's fortepiano debut recording), and more than a dozen teaching and speaking engagements. A child prodigy, Slominski gave his first public performance at age 5, won his first piano competition at age 6, and entered college at age 15. By age 21, Slominski had earned three degrees from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, including a Master of Music in Performance and Literature, a Master of Arts in Pedagogy of Music Theory, and a Bachelor of Music in Performance; his first professorship followed two years later. He was unanimously nominated for (and received) Eastman's coveted Performer's Certificate in recognition of outstanding concert artistry--the youngest individual to have received such an honor. Slominski holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree, also from the Eastman School of Music. In 2009 he was awarded the Prize for Excellence in Teaching by a Graduate Student, and 2010 Slominski received the Jerald C. Graue Musicology Fellowship in recognition for his research in the field of nineteenth-century performance practice. His innovative performance and pedagogical research has been supported by institutions including the Classics Abroad Society and the Andrew Mellon Foundation. Slominski is the founder and director of "Classical Music on the Spot", an intensive summer institute at the Eastman School of Music, dedicated to the study and practice of eighteenth-century style improvisation. Slominski is a frequent solo performer, collaborative pianist, masterclass clinician, and lecturer. Praised in print for his virtuosity, innovative programming, and broad repertoire, he performs throughout the United States and abroad; he has been recently featured as a guest artist at the Chautauqua Institution for Fine and Performing Arts, the Sarasota Music Festival, the Dakota Sky International Piano Festival, the Sunderman Recital Series at Gettysburg College, Steinway Hall, the Sun Valley Artist Series, and the St. Petersburg College Piano Series, while international performances have included recitals at the Jan Deyl Conservatory in Prague, Czech Republic, and the Salle Cortot in Paris, France. As a competition laureate, Slominski was awarded first prize in the Chautauqua International Piano Competition and was the silver medalist in the International Keyboard Odyssiad Piano Competition. His recordings have been broadcast domestically by National Public Radio and are published by Oxford University Press, Centaur Records, and Soundset Recordings. His principal studies at the Eastman School were with Rebecca Penneys; additional teachers have included Robert Levin, John Perry, Steven Laitz, Dorothy Fahlman, Malcolm Bilson, Joseph Silverstein, and Jean-Francois Antonioli. Slominski has held teaching positions at the University of Rochester, the Sunderman Conservatory at Gettysburg College, and Virginia Commonwealth University. He has also served as a joint faculty member at the Eastman School of Music in both piano and music theory. His students (both pianists and theorists) have been accepted to prestigious undergraduate and graduate programs at schools including Indiana University, the Eastman School of Music, the Manhattan School of Music, the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, and the North Carolina School for the Arts. Slominski teaches during the summer months at the Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival at the University of South Florida, and served from 2012-2017 as an Assistant Professor of Music Theory at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. He joins the faculty of Linfield College as a pianist and music theorist in the fall of 2017. Slominski is a New Piano Collective artist. Not Available
Label: Soundset Recordings Item Number: SR1086 Format: CD Year Recorded: 2017 Pianist Johnandrew Slominski and soprano Kayleen Sánchez are thrilled to release their first collaborative project together: a historically informed performance of Schubert's song cycle "Schwanengesang." Slominski plays a Paul McNulty fortepiano after an 1812 instrument by J. P. Fritz, and the duo uses embellishments and quick changes in affect to bring the cycle to life in a bold and exciting way. Most recordings of Franz Schubert's Schwanengesang feature performances by baritones or the occasional tenor or bass, but women who interpret the song cycle -- Nathalie Stutzmann and Brigitte Fassbaender are the most famous -- are quite uncommon. This 2017 Soundset release by soprano Kayleen Sánchez and accompanist Johnandrew Slominski, who plays a modern copy of a period fortepiano, is one such rarity, and it demonstrates that Schwanengesang need not be restricted to the lower vocal ranges. Sánchez has a pure and lovely voice that is quite pleasant in such buoyant numbers as Liebesbotschaft, Frühlingssehnsucht, Der Fischermädchen, and Die Taubenpost, though her expression takes a darker turn in Schubert's grim Lieder, such as In der Ferne, Die Stadt, Der Doppelgänger, Ihr Bild, and Der Atlas, which usually benefit from the deeper timbres of the baritone range. Some may find Sánchez's voice to be too sweet and light for this collection, as opposed to a heftier operatic voice, but it's quite appropriate for the intimate and introspective moods of these late songs, and considering that this is a historically informed interpretation, one can easily imagine hearing a voice like hers in Schubert's circle. Sample the melancholy Ständchen, the best-known song in Schwanengesang, to appreciate Sánchez's poignant delivery and Slominski's supple accompaniment. - Blair Sanderson, AllMusic.com | Physical CD $15.99 US MP3 Album $10.00
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