Giancarlo Grossi

Tobias Picker, hailed as “a genuine creator” by The New Yorker, has written extensively for the stage and for symphonic forces, and these two approaches are represented in this album. The Encantadas (an older name for the Galápagos Islands) derives from a novella by Herman Melville. Picker has set it as a melodrama, exploring the enchanted isles in all their quietly menacing and spectacular beauty. In a radical new form, Picker’s Opera Without Words is set to a libretto by Irene Dische that has now been removed, allowing the music alone to bear the expressive richness and intensity of this “secret opera.”

A superstar in her homeland and in high demand worldwide as a soloist, South Korean violinist, Bomsori Kim, presents her solo debut on Deutsche Grammophon. Violin On Stage includes works written for or inspired by opera and ballet. Recorded in December 2020 at the state-of-the-art National Forum of Music in Wroclaw and performed with the NFM Wroclaw Philharmonic and its music director, Giancarlo Guerrero, the album captures the close bond Bomsori feels with Poland, its music, and musicians.