Artporn Mary

A timely, controversial work of grand proportions, The Gospel According To The Other Mary is a new, full-scale reimagining of the Bach oratorio from composer John Adams and iconoclast writer/director Peter Sellars. Adams and Sellars’ previous collaborations included Nixon In China, the most-performed American opera since Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, and Dr. Atomic, an opera about the invention of the atomic bomb.

The critically acclaimed Benedictines of Mary, who have received accolades from USA Today, NPR, ABC’s Good Morning America and beyond, now return with their latest release, Lent at Ephesus. This compilation of poignant chants, intricate harmonies and rousing hymns of glory and redemption includes: “O Sacred Head Surrounded,” made famous by Bach’s oratorios, “All Glory Laud and Honor,” the well known “Adoramus Te Christe” and the entrancing “Improperia” from the liturgy of Good Friday. Three original pieces are also featured among the generous 23 tracks. Let the vibrant purity of their monastic sound peacefully escort you through the penitential season of Lent.

A rapacious dragon has been terrorising a Yorkshire village. Gubbins and his daughter Margery, together with Mauxalinda, decide to seek the help of Moore of Moore Hall. Moore needs persuading away from his beer but succumbs to Margery’s pleading, and her promises of love. Unfortunately, he had already promised to marry Mauxalinda, and so the love triangle has to be resolved in dramatic fashion before Moore heads out and defeats the dragon, restoring harmony and prosperity to the village. Following the BBC Music Magazine Opera Award for his recording of Malcolm Arnold’s The Dancing Master, conductor John Andrews returns with the world premiere professional recording of John Frederick Lampe’s operatic comedy The Dragon of Wantley. With librettist Henry Carey, Lampe combines a first-rate score with a quintessentially English plot, told in a tone of earthy satire, pastiching opera’s conventions with skill and affection, but also a razor wit.

Mary J. Blige, the legendary Grammy and Golden Globe winning and Oscar nominated singer-songwriter will release a collection of her biggest 1990s hits along with rare remixes, HERstory, Vol. 1, on 6 December via UMe.