Amelia 2.0 (2017)

One of the most successful pop/classical fusion projects, Gregorian mixes well-known pop and rock songs with Gregorian chants. Overseen by producer Frank Peterson, co-founder of Michael Cretu's Enigma outfit, Gregorian's first album, Masters of Chant, released in 1999 (an early 1991 Peterson album released under the name Gregorian isn't counted among the group's official releases, but already employs the same aesthetic), became a smash hit throughout Europe, entering the Top Ten in nine different countries. The following albums continued in the same vein, covering songs by Peter Gabriel, Lenny Kravitz, Coldplay, Björk, Queen, Tears for Fears, and others. The Dark Side, released in 2004, put a stronger emphasis on the rock element and included songs by Nine Inch Nails and the Doors…

Munich’s new Ballo in maschera has received much critical acclaim: ‘This production shows what a utopia opera can be’ (Abendzeitung). Ten years after stepping down as music director of the Bavarian State Opera, Zubin Mehta returned to Munich in March 2016 to celebrate his 80th birthday conducting Verdi’s masterpiece for the first time in a staged production. His cast features some of today’s finest Verdi singers: soprano Anja Harteros, singing Amelia for the first time and ‘filling every note with Verdian intensity’, tenor Piotr Beczala as a ‘visually and vocally dashing Riccardo’ and George Petean as an ‘exemplary’ Renato (Neue Musikzeitung).

"Don't think too much, people" is the spoken word snippet that begins the title track of Amelia White's newest album, Rhythm of the Rain. It's a flippant warning, a half-joke, a sideways call-to-arms that announces a casual subversion threading through these rollicking 9 songs from the opening explosion of Summer sunshine, through the heat of lust and addiction, landing with a glance at politics and fate while the window is still wide open, warm breeze blowing in the late afternoon. Amelia White asks us to not take it all so seriously and, at the same time, shows us how critical it all is: love, fate, death, grief, politics, which isn't surprising considering White made this record in the four days between her Mother's funeral and her own wedding. Rhythm of the Rain digs deep. Her well worn smokey pipes deliver a rawness you'd expect from mining that liminal space between grief and joy.