Gabriella Spader

Gabriella Cilmi - Lessons To Be Learned (2008)
Label: Warner Australia | All Covers | MP3 @256kbps | Time: 43:54 | 88.1 MB
Genre: Rock/Pop

With LESSONS TO BE LEARNED finished but still months away from release, word started to get out that something very special was in the offing and things started happening quickly for Gabriella. There were gigs around London and she was asked to record a cover version of the Martha & The Muffins’ classic “Echo Beach” as the theme song of a new British TV drama of the same name. Then, at the end of last year, the producers of Later With Jools Holland, one of the most popular and distinguished music shows on British TV, got to hear an advance copy of “Sweet About Me” and insisted that Gabriella appear on their end of year show, despite the fact that the single was still ages away from release.

“That was awesome,” beams Gabriella. “I’ve always watched the show and thought I want to go on it one day. It’s the coolest music show around because it’s only about the music. It was so funny walking in there because it felt like I’d walked into my television set. It was really fun. I was just smiling all day. It was cool. I met Ronnie Wood from the Rolling Stones. He shook my hand and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I nearly died.”

A taste of many extraordinary things to come, no doubt. Rest assured, “Sweet About Me” will shortly blow away everyone, everywhere. But it’s just a sampler from an extraordinary debut album from a gifted new artist.

LESSONS TO BE LEARNED is the album that will make Gabriella Cilmi one of the most talked about new artists of 2008.

Donizetti’s fascination with the story of Gabriella di Vergy began in 1826. His first version, written for his own pleasure, was never completed. For over a century that was all that was known to exist. In 1979, Opera Rara discovered in a London library a hitherto unknown complete opera on the same subject. Donizetti had written this for Naples in 1838. The grisly appeal of the story of Gabriella lies in its powerful final scene in which Gabriella’s husband, Fayel, delivers to her a casket containing the still-warm heart of her lover, Raoul. On this world premier recording, Opera Rara also includes three pieces from the 1826 version.