Nutcracker Unwrapped (Winter Tales from Around the World) Asya Fateyeva & Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz

• Wolf Kerschek (b. 1969): Nuts, Crackers and Borrowed Pieces for Saxophone and Orchestra:
• 1 Kerschek: Nuts, Crackers and Borrowed Pieces for Saxophone and Orchestra: March & Walk 02:01
• 2 Kerschek: Nuts, Crackers and Borrowed Pieces for Saxophone and Orchestra: Sugarhigh Fairy 02:15
• 3 Kerschek: Nuts, Crackers and Borrowed Pieces for Saxophone and Orchestra: Tarantulas Bite 01:08
• 4 Kerschek: Nuts, Crackers and Borrowed Pieces for Saxophone and Orchestra: In Between 03:46
• 5 Kerschek: Nuts, Crackers and Borrowed Pieces for Saxophone and Orchestra: 3-Pack 01:41
• 6 Kerschek: Nuts, Crackers and Borrowed Pieces for Saxophone and Orchestra: Sketches of 1001 Nights 04:30
• 7 Kerschek: Nuts, Crackers and Borrowed Pieces for Saxophone and Orchestra: Dance to the East 01:24
• 8 Kerschek: Nuts, Crackers and Borrowed Pieces for Saxophone and Orchestra: Pas de Doux 04:23
• 9 Kerschek: Nuts, Crackers and Borrowed Pieces for Saxophone and Orchestra: Valse des Fleurs No. 2 03:40
• Traditional: O Jesulein Zart (Arr. for Vocal and Instrumental Ensemble by Winnie Brückner):
• 10 Traditional: O Jesulein Zart (Arr. for Vocal and Instrumental Ensemble by Winnie Brückner) 04:00
• Jiři Třanovsky (1592 - 1637): Rosu Dejte (Arr. for Saxophone, Guitar and Vocal Ensemble by Winnie Brückner):
• 11 Třanovsky: Rosu Dejte (Arr. for Saxophone, Guitar and Vocal Ensemble by Winnie Brückner) 04:37
• Traditional: The Snow It Melts the Soonest (Arr. for Saxophone, Guitar and Vocal Ensemble by Winnie Brückner):
• 12 Traditional: The Snow It Melts the Soonest (Arr. for Saxophone, Guitar and Vocal Ensemble by Winnie Brückner) 04:32
• Noël Nouvellet (Arr. for Vocal and Instrumental Ensemble by Winnie Brückner):
• 13 Traditional: Noël Nouvellet (Arr. for Vocal and Instrumental Ensemble by Winnie Brückner) 03:18
• Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976): Corpus Christi Carol (Arr. for Vocal and Instrumental Ensemble by Winnie Brückner):
• 14 Britten: Corpus Christi Carol (Arr. for Vocal and Instrumental Ensemble by Winnie Brückner) 03:42
• Mykola Leontovych (1877 - 1921): Carol of the Bells (Arr. for Vocal and Instrumental Ensemble by Winnie Brückner):
• 15 Leontovych: Carol of the Bells (Arr. for Vocal and Instrumental Ensemble by Winnie Brückner) 02:45
• Ralph Blane (1914 - 1995), Hugh Martin (1914 - 2011): Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Arr. for Saxophone and Vocal Ensemble by Winnie Brückner):
• 16 Blane, Martin: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Arr. for Saxophone and Vocal Ensemble by Winnie Brückner) 03:20
• Mel Tormé, Robert Wells, James Lord Pierpont, Felix Bernard: Weihnachts Medley (Arr. for Saxophone and Orchestra by Christoph Israel):
• 17 Tormé, Wells, Pierpont, Bernard: Weihnachts Medley (Arr. for Saxophone and Orchestra by Christoph Israel) 04:51
• John Francis Wade (1711 - 1786): Adeste Fideles (Arr. for Saxophone and Orchestra by Christoph Israel):
• 18 Wade: Adeste Fideles (Arr. for Saxophone and Orchestra by Christoph Israel) 02:36
• Traditional: Es ist ein Schnee Gefallen (Arr. for Vocal and Instrumental Ensemble by Winnie Brückner):
• 19 Traditional: Es ist ein Schnee Gefallen (Arr. for Vocal and Instrumental Ensemble by Winnie Brückner) 02:45
• Total Runtime 01:01:14

Info for Nutcracker Unwrapped (Winter Tales from Around the World)

The new album of saxophonist Asya Fateyeva tells the tales of the winter and Christmas season in a brand-new arrangement of the Tchaikovsky classic The Nutcracker by composer Wolf Kerschek. This piece for saxophone and orchestra, where Fateyeva is joined by the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz is complemented by other Christmas favourites for saxophone and vocal ensemble that were recorded together with Niniwe-Vocal Art. Part of the album are for example: Carol of the Bells, Corpus Christi Charol, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, and Rosu Dejte.

Asya Fateyeva, saxophone
Thor-Harald Johnsen, lute, baroque guitar
Susanne Paul, cello
Bodek Janke, percussion
Niniwe-Vocal Art
Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz
Vilmantas Kaliunas, conductor

Asya Fateyeva
is a trailblazing virtuoso saxophonist whose performances are taking the instrument on exciting new adventures. Crimean born Asya Fateyeva performs both original works for saxophone and arrangements of baroque, classical and romantic compositions. She engages in projects incorporating jazz, contemporary and world music, thus expanding her horizons and working with new artistic collaborators. Fateyeva sees herself as a multicultural and multifaceted musician - her music-making and artistry uniting diverse influences. Whether it's an early baroque programme, Bach's Goldberg Variations arranged for cello, accordion and saxophone, music from the 1920s by Erwin Schulhoff and contemporaries, or an encounter between organ and saxophone – everything is possible!

As a classically trained saxophonist, she stands out as one of the leading representatives of her field and is the recipient of numerous awards. In 2014, she became the first woman to reach the finals of the prestigious International Adolphe Sax Competition in Belgium securing 3rd place. Music critic Harald Eggebrecht wrote subsequently in the Süddeutsche Zeitung: "In Debussy's Rhapsody for Saxophone and Piano the young Asya Fateyeva plays the alto saxophone with such elegance and confidence that the beauty of the sound she creates is enchanting."

Asya Fateyeva has performed with conductor Robin Ticciati with the DSO Berlin, Dirk Kaftan with the SWR Symphony Orchestra, Michael Sanderling, Kristjan Järvi with the MDR Symphony Orchestra, John Axelrod, Sébastien Rouland, Christoph Matthias Müller with the Göttinger Symphoniker, Vladimir Fedoseyev with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. She has also played multiple times with the Moscow Virtuosi under the direction of Vladimir Spivakov. Additionally, she has guested with the MDR Symphony Orchestra, the Tchaikovsky Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Bochum Symphony Orchestra, the Dresden Philharmonic, the Symphony Orchestra of Wuhan, the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, the Staatsorchester of Frankfurt/Oder and Kassel. She has performed at festivals in Lucerne, Moscow, Cologne, St. Petersburg, MecklenburgVorpommern, Dresden and Schleswig-Holstein, the MDR Musiksommer and the "Spannungen" Music Festival in Heimbach.

With a total of 17 concerts and events, including symphonic works, chamber music, early and contemporary music and a workshop, Asya Fateyeva is the featured artist in residence of the 2024 Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival.

Fateyeva was a student of Prof. Daniel Gauthier at the HfMT Cologne from the age of 15. Important impulses came from additional studies in France with Claude Delangle and Jean-Denis Michat, along with advanced chamber music studies at HfMT Hamburg. Fateyeva teaches classical Saxophone at the Musikhochschule Lübeck and the HfMT Hamburg.

Vilmantas Kaliunas
born in Vilnius, Lithuania, and now based in Hamburg – is a conductor who not only seeks musical energy but makes it palpable. Rooted in a family of organists, visual artists, and musicians, creativity has always been a vital part of his life.

He began playing piano at the age of four, followed by the oboe at twelve – an instrument that quickly led him to professional maturity. While still studying at the Hochschule für Musik Saar, he became principal oboist of the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie. Yet soon, the desire grew not just to participate in sound, but to shape it.

This led him to study conducting at the Hochschule für Musik “Franz Liszt” in Weimar – the beginning of a remarkable artistic journey. Today, Vilmantas Kaliunas collaborates with renowned orchestras such as the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, the Bochum Symphony Orchestra, the Hamburg Symphony, the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, the Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, the Hamburg State Opera, the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra, and many others.

He was deeply influenced by encounters with great musical figures – including Claudio Abbado, Mariss Jansons, Paavo Järvi, Christoph Eschenbach, and Manfred Honeck – from whom he says, with gratitude, he had the privilege to learn. These experiences shaped not only his musical style but his approach: open, curious, and profoundly searching.

“I am always looking for life energy in music,” says Vilmantas Kaliunas. And this very energy defines his artistic voice – clear, captivating, and alive. For him, conducting is more than technique: it is an act of connection – between musicians and audience, music and the present moment, human and sound.

This album contains no booklet.