Founded in 2019, the New York-based chamber orchestra Parlando is the brainchild of conductor Ian Niederhoffer, a Musical America “New Artist of the Month” and BBC Music Magazine “Rising Star.”

In the ensemble’s debut album, Niederhoffer explores from the 20th century as a tool of cultural resilience in the face of censorship, particularly in the Soviet Union. The album opens with a selection from Shostakovich’s controversial opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, arranged by Niederhoffer. American violinist Aubree Oliverson is soloist for the Concertino for Violin and String Orchestra by the Polish, Soviet, and Russian composer Mieczysław Weinberg, whose career was shaped by persecution during Stalin’s anti-cosmopolitan campaign. The final work, featuring timpanist Andrew Beall, is the Symphony for String Orchestra and Timpani by the Armenian composer Edvard Mirzoyan, the son of a survivor of the Armenian Genocide.

To incorporate Parlando’s mission of integrating performance with storytelling, Niederhoffer has included his spoken program notes to the tracklist. “I hope they’re able to add the weight of history to this wonderful music and paint a more vivid, complete picture of the story of Soviet censorship and cultural resilience.”