Janine Siu Student Bodies

Today's music industry is flooded with artists trying to make it big. With all these choices it's difficult to find that one performer who makes you stop and notice. But listen long enough and you can find a special release that stands alone. Such is the case with The Blue Album, the long awaited release by blues vocalist Janine Wilson. Her name may not be familiar to you yet, but Janine Wilson has been delighting blues audiences in the Washington, DC, and surrounding areas for almost a decade. The Blue Album is Janine Wilson's debut release and treats listeners to an assortment of styles such as Texas shuffles, acoustic blues, roots and southern soul, including her powerful rendition of "Breaking Up Somebody's Home" and her heartfelt version of "And I Cried," a song penned by Saffire's Gaye Adegbalola. This disc is not short on surprises.

Janine Jansen releases her first concerto album in nine years, pairing the iconic Violin Concertos of Sibelius & Prokofiev. Janine is joined by Klaus Mäkelä and the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra for this album, forming the ultimate classical dream team. “The highlight of the program was the Sibelius Violin Concerto, in the hands of the Dutch Janine Jansen… Jansen and Mäkelä recorded this concert together last summer… and it promises to be a true reference, based on what was heard in Oslo.” - Platea

This unusual coupling works surprisingly well, God only knows why. Perhaps the Britten’s neo-classical (or Baroque) leanings and formal freedom sit well next to Beethoven’s echt-Classical language, but whatever the reason the performances of both works are extremely fine. Paavo Järvi’s expertise in Beethoven with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen is by now well-known, and in Janine Jansen he has a soloist who matches him for vibrancy and freshness.