Foster

After having recorded La Fanciulla del West, conductor Lawrence Foster now expands his Puccini discography on PENTATONE with Madama Butterfly, together with the Coro & Orquestra Gulbenkian, as well as Elisabeth Kulman (Suzuki), Stefano Secco (Pinkerton), Lester Lynch (Sharpless) and Melody Moore (Cio-Cio-San) in the title role. Despite its disastrous premiere, Madama Butterfly has become one of Puccini’s most successful and popular operas. While the Japanese ambience usually captures the attention, the original dramatic conception and exceptional symphonic qualities of the work are often overlooked. Lawrence Foster’s interpretation brings out the symphonic character of the opera, while Melody Moore’s charismatic interpretation of the title role fully realizes the work’s tragic and dramatic potential.

Three-time Grammy nominee Кuthie Аoster иrings her big band — and her glam — To go live at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, TX. Featuring arrangements by Miles Davis alum John Beasley and bandleader John Mills, Foster’s latest evokes Sinatra, Ellington, Ella and other swing-era greats on collection of favorite originals and dynamic covers.

The opera Otello by Giuseppe Verdi and Arrigo Boito not only represents the outstanding result of an intensely fruitful creative collaboration between composer and librettist, but also one of the most important core works in the opera repertoire. With his musical setting of Shakespeare’s play, the composition of which took him several years, Verdi also achieved a new level of quality within the framework of his operatic oeuvre. His path was resolute and consistent, leading him away from structured numbers of arias, recitatives and ensembles, and towards the through-composed, large-scale dramatic form. All this based on the timeless literary foundation of Shakespeare's play.

The Romances presented here, are borne out of intense national internal debate, between Western modernity and Eastern nationalism. It is a story of immense personalities, pioneers, revolutionaries, virtuoso pianists, lesser-known heroes and sumptuous revealing poetry that is as relevant today as it was over a century ago. Thanks to the level of fame achieved by their ballets, symphonies and operas, a wide range of composers of Russian origin, who lived between the time of Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev have become household names, which has established them a permanent place in opera houses and concert halls throughout the world. However, often overlooked in the West, is the extraordinary contribution that composers in this period made to the world of song. They did nothing short of giving the Russian language a standing in the international musical landscape, by establishing a new canon of Art Song, the Romance.

Three-time Grammy nominee Ruthie Foster with her ninth studio album, Healing Time! Her new studio album represents a new high for the veteran blues artist - Healing Time shows Foster pushing her limits as a singer and songwriter more than ever before, creating a truly live-sounding atmosphere with the help of her band, which sounds refreshingly loose and alive on these 12 songs Healing Time is the latest jewel in Foster's successful career, which includes multiple Grammy nominations and collaborations with the likes of Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks.

Melody Moore pays tribute to the legendary soprano Renata Tebaldi, presenting a selection of arias and scenes by Rossini, Verdi, Boito, Catalani, Puccini, Mascagni, Giordano, Cilea and Alessandro Scarlatti, documenting the most important stages in the career of “la voce d’angelo”. Moore performs these pieces together with the Transylvania State Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra under the baton of Lawrence Foster.

Foster The People’s return with their long awaited fourth studio album, Paradise State of Mind. "The record started as a case study of the late Seventies crossover between disco, funk, gospel, jazz, and all those sounds. It was such a beautiful moment in time, when these different styles of music were cross-referencing each other – artists like Nile Rogers and Chic, the Tom Tom Club and Giorgio Moroder," says Mark Foster.