Alexey Shor is an American composer who was born and raised in Ukraine. His seven-movement neoclassical Travel Notebook, Suite for Piano and Orchestra No. 1 offers personal impressions of places he has visited, with highly accessible music that is harmonically traditional and melodic. Shor’s Violin Concerto No. 4, composed during the Covid pandemic, is a restless, passionate, and romantic work, …

The three world premiere choral recordings on this album represent the commitment of Musica Viva NY’s artistic director, Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez, to perform new works by living composers. Joseph Turrin’s Crimson Roses Once Again Be Fair is the album’s centerpiece, boasting a movement for soloist and orchestra sung by the legendary American mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, who has announced this performance …

Violinist Kristin Lee’s debut solo album offers a distinct and recognizable sound of American music and its rich history, encapsulating both Lee’s journey as an American, as well as the journeys of the composers in the United States. A native of Seoul, Korea, Lee was compelled to select repertoire that expresses her pride in the country she now calls her …

American composer Daniel Knaggs’s The Joyful Mysteries is a choral symphony of five movements which correspond to the “Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary” in Catholicism: The angel’s Annunciation to Mary, her Visitation of Elizabeth, the Nativity of Christ, his Presentation in the temple, and his Finding in the temple as a young boy. The libretto is drawn from Biblical texts …

Following the acclaimed, Grammy-nominated Americascapes, the Basque National Orchestra and its music director Robert Treviño present a second album dedicated to American repertoire. American Opus features three 20th century compositions. George Walker’s first orchestral work, the folk and gospel-tinged Address for Orchestra (1959), is one that the composer hoped Robert Treviño would one day record. George Crumb’s enigmatic A Haunted …

CSO Artist-in-Residence Daniil Trifonov celebrates music from the country he now calls home with his new double album ranging from jazz and swing to modernism, minimalism, and popular soundtracks. Joined by the Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin for George Gershwin’s Concerto in F and the world premiere recording of the concerto written for him by Mason Bates, Trifonov also performs …

Cellist Juliana Soltis and pianist Ruoting Li champion women composers Mary Howe, Amy Beach, Margaret Bonds, Helen Crane, Dorothy Rudd Moore, and Florence Price.  The new album sheds light on a treasure trove of rarely heard gems of cello-piano literature. Helen Crane’s Six Idylls is of particular interest, and new to WFMT. Written in 1918, the Six Idylls for Cello …

Austin based Grammy-nominated baritone, trumpeter, and pianist, Michael Hawes (former Chicagoan and former member of Axiom Brass) has devoted his first solo album to the music of Florence Price. Hawes sings most of the selections with pianist Eugenia Jeong. Four of the songs are performed on the trumpet. A brass ensemble, which includes the distinguished trombonist Randall Hawes, Michael’s father, …

Lara Downes’s latest album is a deeply personal collection of American music she is subtitling as “A Path to Hope.” An artist renowned for her musical explorations off the beaten path, Downes celebrates the beauty of the American experiment while offering an unflinching acknowledgement of its flaws and failings, ultimately embracing the power of hope and humanity. The centerpiece work …

Violinist Augustin Hadelich and pianist Orion Weiss perform works by a melting pot of American Composers from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries drawing on a diversity of idioms, influences, and inspirations. Included are beloved classics like Copland’s “Hoe-down” and Bernstein’s “Somewhere,” as well as modern classics like Adams’s “Road Movies” and Beach’s Romance. New music on the album include …