Jakub Jozef Orlinski

Joyce DiDonato has staked a powerful claim on the multi-faceted title role of Handel’s opera Agrippina. In the words of The Telegraph, she sings it with “authority, grandeur and high style”. She recently performed it to critical acclaim at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden with Maxim Emelyanychev, Chief Conductor of Il Pomo d’Oro. Joining them on this recording is a cast of established and rising stars that includes Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Franco Fagioli, Luca Pisaroni, Elsa Benoit and Jakub Józef Orliński.

“The album title ADELA comes from a song by Rodrigo which constitutes the emotional culmination of our duo’s programme. What counts is not the name, but the person we love and long for. Everyone certainly has such a person, and so we hope that each listener will find something close to his or her heart on our album.

"'Magnolia' is my 6th album and it is entirely filled with my original compositions. This time I decided to combine the roles of a composer, pianist and producer and the vast majority of this music - with the exception of grand piano part - I have recorded at my new home studio. I invited amazing musicians - with whom I collaborate the most and who became my close friends: countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński, guitarist Łukasz Kuropaczewski, cellist Marcin Zdunik, folk flutist Michał Żak and horn player Konrad Gołda. The pieces of „Magnolia” are cinematic and the whole album has a soundtrack structure. As a producer, my approach to these compositions is manifested by the use of various modern post-production techniques. Some pieces I wrote in a way that one musician performs several parts. e.g. in „Cedar Tree” Jakub Józef Orliński sings several layers, forming the whole vocal ensemble."