Alison Balsam

This is Alison Balsom's first CD recital with piano – here played by her long-standing recital partner, Tom Poster. Balsom describes the programme as embracing “the most important repertoire for trumpet and piano” – taking a fascinating journey through 20th century works by such composers as Enescu, Hindemith, Martinů, Françaix, Bernstein and Maxwell Davies. That being said, the final piece on the official programme – preceding ‘American Songbook’ encores by George Gershwin and Jerome Kern – dates from the 21st century and was composed by the team of Balsom and Poster themselves. Called The Thoughts of Dr. May, it is inspired by another British musician: Brian May, lead guitarist of the rock band Queen – and also, as it happens, an astrophysicist.

Playing a brilliant modern trumpet, Alison Balsom engages in an adventurous and thrilling dialogue with an ensemble of period instruments as she performs six virtuoso concertos of the baroque era, originally composed for violin or oboe by Handel, Vivaldi, Telemann, Albinoni and Marcello. She collaborates with Director Trevor Pinnock – the musician who originally inspired her discovery of baroque music as a child – and a specially assembled instrumental group, Pinnock’s Players. Seeing this pioneering album as “a delicious colliding of the two worlds” – baroque and modern – Alison Balsom explores the possibilities of the piccolo trumpet while savouring the sonorities of period instruments and their “compelling authenticity and ability to reveal the composer's intentions”.

Alison Brown has been at the forefront of the contemporary 5-string banjo movement for some 20+ years now, beginning with her tenure with Alison Krauss and Union Station. During that time, Brown has recorded a number of CD’s, first for Vanguard, then (since 1998) her own Compass Records banner. But not only is Brown one of Compass’ brightest lights, she also runs the label with husband and bass player Garry West. Under their enlightened guidance, Compass has emerged as a major player in the worlds of contemporary acoustic music, Americana, bluegrass, and Celtic music. Fittingly enough, all those genres figure prominently into music of the Alison Brown Quartet on the “Live At Blair” DVD.

Premiered July 2, 2003. Rounder recording artists Alison Krauss & Union Station are a remarkable collaboration of five stellar musicians, who together have been instrumental in bringing bluegrass music to its now widely accepted and popular commercial status…

Fans of Alison Wonderland rejoice – we finally have a release date for her new album! After months and months of pouring her heart and soul into this album, Alison Wonderland has finally announced that AWAKE is finished and be in our hands on April 6. With fourteen tracks and collaborations with industry giants such as The Weeknd, Lorde, Party Favor, and Lido, this album is sure to be a force to be reckoned with.

Raise the Roof is the second collaborative studio album by British singer-songwriter Robert Plant and American bluegrass-country singer Alison Krauss. The album is scheduled to be released on November 19, 2021, by Rounder Records and Concord Records. In 2007, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss released Raising Sand, one of the most acclaimed albums of the 21st Century, which reached #2 on the UK album chart, generated multi-platinum sales, and earned six Grammy Awards including Album and Record of the Year. It was an unlikely, mesmerizing pairing of one of rock's greatest frontmen with one of country music's finest and most honored artists. Now, after 14 years, they return with Raise the Roof, 12 songs from a range of traditions and styles that extend this remarkable collaboration in new and thrilling directions.