Exploring The World of J. S. Bach

Breaking boundaries both musical and geographical, cellist, composer and multi-lingual vocalist Ian Maksin has created and developed his own unique style by blending elements of different styles in a new way using his cello as the main unifying force. Equally brilliant in every genre in its pure form, from classical to jazz and blues, and from Latin to Balkan and Middle Eastern music, he can be seen performing a cello concert with a symphony orchestra one night and playing in a jazz club the following. His passionate interpretations and soulful sound have generated a contagious universal and ever-growing appeal to diverse audiences across the world. Ian gives nearly 200 performances annually on all continents delivering the magical sounds to hundreds of thousands concert and digital listeners globally.

Blue Water features all original works by Michael Kruge - New Jersey composer, cellist, mandolinist and bassist - in his debut release as leader. Inspired by Chico Hamilton, Cal Tjader, J. S. Bach, H. Villa-Lobos, Ali Akbar Khan and many others, his works now mostly project Latin jazz and samba jazz vibes. The album takes its name from the title track - Aigua Blava, which is "Blue Water" in Catalan.

For "Carnival Fantasy", the four exceptional musicians have taken their successful stage program into the studio. Like no other chamber music group, these four ladies from Germany have inspired fans around the world for the past 13 years with virtuoso playfulness, charm and humour that transcend the boundaries of genre and ventures off the beaten path of traditional classical music. 'Carnival Fantasy' is a firework of transformation, a playground for boundless joy and a celebration of unique, surprising arrangements - a trademark of the quartet.

The Munich-based American composer Gloria Coates is best known as a symphonist, though she has also composed nine string quartets as well as vocal and chamber music. Her String Quartet No. 9 opens with unworldly sonorities, glissandos, micro-tonalities and other unusual colours which develop by means of a mirror canon. In contrast, the Sonata for Violin Solo sets immense technical demands, particularly in its use of multiple stops beneath the lyrical fragments. Taking its subtitles from phrases within Emily Dickinson poems, her Lyric Suite for Piano Trio is a captivating mix of melodic gestures and spectral harmonies.

Ha! compagnons takes the listener back to a time when the voice and the lute were the true companions in the quest for poetic and musical expression. In exploring this fruitful partnership, Canadian soprano Elodie Bouchard and American lutenist Anthony Harvey offer vivid and colourful interpretations of air de cour, ayres and monodies by 17th-century composers Giulio Caccini, Thomas Campion, Sigismondo d’India, Claudio Monteverdi and Etienne Moulinié.