Isabel Bayrakdarian, Kindra Scharich, Hila Plitmann, David Samuel, Jonah Kim, Dennis Kim
Biography Isabel Bayrakdarian, Kindra Scharich, Hila Plitmann, David Samuel, Jonah Kim, Dennis Kim
Isabel Bayrakdarian
Canadian star soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian is the featured soloist in this recording by the Orchestre symphonique de Laval—its first with current artistic director and principal conductor Alain Trudel. The album is devoted to orchestral works by Ottorino Respighi. Known for her sparkling stage presence and astonishing musicality, Bayrakdarian joins the orchestra for Respighi’s setting of the lyric poem Il tramonto (The Sunset). The five pieces that comprise the suite Gli uccelli (The Birds) pay homage to the composers of the Baroque era who took pleasure in musically illustrating various aspects of life — birdsongs, in this case. Trittico Botticelliano (Botticelli Triptych) consists of three symphonic poems inspired by the three most celebrated canvases of the Italian painter Sandro Botticelli. As a composer and musicologist, Respighi was especially interested in early music, and particularly in Italian Renaissance and Baroque works. Antiche Danze ed Ari per liuto, his orchestral Suite No. 1, was inspired by the music of four Renaissance composers.
Kindra Scharich
has been praised by the San Francisco Chronicle for her “exuberant vitality" “fearless technical precision” “deep-rooted pathos” and “irrepressible musical splendor.” As a dedicated recitalist, she has performed more than 250 art songs in 13 languages and enjoys the full complement of recital, concert and opera engagements alike. Ms. Scharich has has presented recitals at the American Composer’s Forum, The Wagner Society, La Jolla Athenaeum and the acclaimed Sala Cecília Meireles in Rio de Janeiro. She has collaborated extensively with the Alexander String Quartet, with whom she recorded In meinem Himmel: The Complete Mahler Song Cycles (Foghorn Classics 2018), lauded by Opera News as an "extraordinary and complete musical and poetical accomplishment."
Other collaborators include renowned pianist Jeffrey LaDeur, founder and director of San Francisco International Piano Festival. Their recording To My Distant Beloved has been called "a truly remarkable feat of musical and dramatic transformation" (San Francisco Classical Voice). Upcoming recordings include the release of songs of the great Brazilian composer Alberto Nepomuceno, the focus of Ms. Scharich's extensive partnership with Brazilian pianist Ricardo Ballestero . Enthusiastic about working with living composers, Ms. Scharich has premièred solo vocal works by Elinor Armer, Kurt Erickson, Janis Mattox, Laurence Rosenthal and Anno Schreier (partnership between Deutsche Oper Berlin and Lieder Alive), and is featured in Everyone Sang: Vocal Music of David Conte (ARSIS).
In the world of opera, Ms. Scharich has sung over 35 roles ranging from Monteverdi to Philip Glass, including première performances of David Carlson’s Anna Karenina, Laura Kaminsky’s Today It Rains and Missy Mazzoli’s Breaking the Waves.
Hila Plitmann
A glittering jewel on the international music scene, Grammy Award-winning soprano Hila Plitmann is known worldwide for her astonishing musicianship, light and beautiful voice, and the ability to perform challenging new works. She has been described by The New York Times as possessing a “radiant sound, even during passages of sky-high vocal writing.” Plitmann regularly premieres works by today’s leading composers while maintaining a vibrant and extraordinarily diverse professional life in film music, musical theater, and song writing. Described as a performer with “tremendous vocal and physical grace,” and “a vocal instrument that is simply unreal in its beauty,” Plitmann has appeared as a headliner with numerous ensembles in the U.S. and abroad, such as the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and Nashville Symphony Orchestra, and she has worked with many of today’s leading conductors, including Leonard Slatkin, Kurt Masur, Robert Spano, Marin Alsop, Esa Pekka Salonen, Andrew Litton, Giancarlo Guerrero, Steven Sloane, and Carl St. Clair.
In constant demand as a singer of new and contemporary music, Plitmann has been involved in a great many world premieres, including Paul Revere’s Ride with the Atlanta Symphony, written by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Del Tredici; Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Wing on Wing with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the baton of the composer; Mr. Tambourine Man written by Oscar and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Corigliano with the Minnesota Orchestra; the world premiere of Gerard Barry’s The Importance of Being Earnest with the Los Angeles Philharmonic; Two Awakenings and a Double Lullaby, a song cycle written for her by Pulitzer Prize winner Aaron Jay Kernis; Richard Danielpour’s Towards a Season of Peace with Pacific Symphony; and Frank Zappa’s orchestral staged version of 200 Motels with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
When originating the role of Exstasis in Eric Whitacre’s groundbreaking electro-musical Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings at the Boston Court Theatre in Pasadena, Plitmann sang, acted, danced, and fought in long martial arts battles nightly for a seven-week sold-out run, a tour-de-force performance that prompted Backstage West to call her “brilliant, eliciting strong empathy and singing gorgeously,” and Theatre Mania to declare she “fights like a warrior and sings like the angel she portrays.” For her work in the show she received nominations for Best Actress in a Musical from the Los Angeles Ovation Awards and The L.A. Ticketholder Awards.
Other notable performances include Philip Glass’ The Civil Wars with the Los Angeles Philharmonic (Grant Gershon conducting); Thomas Adès’ The Tempest Suite with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (Adès conducting); David Del Tredici’s Final Alice with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and National Symphony Orchestra (all conducted by Leonard Slatkin). Other collaborations include performances of Salonen’s Sappho Songs with the Stockholm Symphony Orchestra (Salonen conducting); selections by Bernstein and Golijov with the Seattle Symphony (Joana Carneiro conducting); Paola Prestini’s Oceanic Verses with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Singers at the Barbican Centre; a selection of Barbara Streisand songs with the Hamburg Symphony (Stuart Barr conducting), the New York premiere of Eric Whitacre’s Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings at Carnegie Hall; a recording of Xiaoyang Ye’s Symphony No. 3, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (José Serebrier conducting); George Benjamin’s Into the Little Hill as part of the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center (composer conducting); the world premiere of Mark Adamo’s opera Becoming Santa Claus with the Dallas Opera; Michael Daugherty’s Labyrinth of Love with the University of Michigan symphonic band, and the world premiere of Paola Prestini’s opera Gilgamesh in Boston, as part of the Ouroboros Trilogy Opera Project.
Plitmann has accumulated an impressive catalogue of professional recordings, appearing on the Decca, Telarc, Naxos, Signum, CRI, Reference Recordings, and Disney labels. Some of her latest discography encompasses Richard Danielpour’s Toward A Season of Peace (Pacific Symphony) and John Corigliano’s Conjurer/Vocalise (Albany Symphony), both released to critical acclaim on Naxos; The Ancient Question…A Journey Through Jewish Songs was released to critical acclaim in December 2012 (Signum Classics); both David Del Tredici’s Paul Revere’s Ride (Telarc), and Hans Zimmer’s The Da Vinci Code (Decca) received Grammy nominations, and in 2009 Plitmann won the Grammy for Best Classical Vocal Performance for her work on the Naxos recording of Corigliano’s song cycle Mr. Tambourine Man with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. Plitmann can also be heard on the soundtrack of the film New York, I Love You, singing a song written by composer Paul Cantelon.
Born and raised in Jerusalem, Plitmann received both her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees, with high honors, from The Juilliard School of Music, and has been awarded the coveted Sony ES Prize for her outstanding contribution to the vocal arts. She also has a Black Belt in Taekwondo.
