Adiemus

Ethno-classical project Adiemus was spearheaded by composer/conductor Karl Jenkins, a longtime member of prog-rock innovators the Soft Machine. The concept originated as a piece Jenkins penned for Delta Airlines television commercial, its fusion of ethnic vocals and orchestral backing proving so popular with consumers that a full-length Adiemus album, 1995's Songs of Sanctuary, was created with the aid of vocalist Miriam Stockley and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. The record was a hit on both popular and classical charts.
The concept of the album was to create modern music using classical forms, such as rondo and ternary, and not individual songs. To further the universal aspect of the music, all the vocals are written as vowel and consonants sounds…

No less than the prodigious Meat Loaf once exclaimed of Adiemus (composer/producer Karl Jenkins), "What vibe is that?," but it's likely classical purists will never quite understand this fascinating blend of world music and Beethoven, Chopin, and Rachmaninov (et al.) that creates a musical realm all its own. Jenkins' idea to mix his own compositions - blending orchestral and choral arrangements sung in his own invented language, a truly exotic type of vocalese - with new twists on famous composers is perhaps risky, but will be fascinating to the open-minded. He dives right into the mix with "Rondo," an adaptation of the last movement of Beethoven's Violin Concerto, with the often percussive drama of the orchestra joining or trading lines with the rousing female choral chanting…