Indra Maria Jonas

The songs and devotional works included in this recital by the women's ensemble of Ars Choralis Coeln, a group dedicated to liturgical chant and Medieval song, are found in a collection of songs for worship compiled by Anna von Köln (ca. 1480-1530). Anna, who was probably a member of a non-cloistered Beguine community, collected songs in a variety of languages, including Rhinelandic, Middle Dutch, and Latin, some of which included the text and music, and some of which had the text only, requiring research to discover the music in other contemporary sources.

Ars Choralis Coeln presents Hildegard of Bingen’s large mystery play on CD. She was the most important universal scholar of the Middle Ages. Innumerable works give evidence of her impressive erudition and of her exceptional linguistic and musical talent. Not only during her lifetime did the abbess, poet, and composer Hildgard of Bingen have great influence on theological and societal nexuses, but even today she is esteemed throughout the world for her world view and visions.

The musical collection by Antonia Padoani Bembo entitled _Produzioni armoniche_ (Harmonic Productions) contains cantatas and arias that together establish an intriguing portrait of the singer-composer born around 1640 in the Veneto. She received help from the guitarist-composer Francesco Corbetta who most probably accompanied her when she sang for Louis XIV, thereby obtaining a life-long pension with which to live in a women's community in Paris.

Only a single manuscript transmits Hildegard’s ordo virtutum: the Wiesbaden Codex (also known as the Rupertsberger Riesencodex), which was started in the scriptorium of her monastery in Bingen during the last years of her life and finished after her death. Today it is considered to be her legacy: Hildegard has not only the authoress of the individual works collected here, but also had influence on the overall composition of the codex. She wanted her work to be transmitted only in this and not in any other way.

On a sweltering night at London’s Royal Opera House in June 2017, Jonas Kaufmann made his debut performance in Verdi’s Otello - one of the most coveted and challenging roles in the tenor operatic repertoire. The Guardian commented on his performance: “Kaufmann thrills in a dark, expressionistic staging” and The Daily Mail concurred: “He is undoubtedly the most vocally and physically charismatic exponent of this role here since Domingo.” This new production by director Keith Warner presents a simultaneously modern and abstract approach to one of Verdi’s greatest operas.