THE OCEAN OF ETERNITY — THE SONGS OF LORI LAITMAN Out Now

Acis has released THE OCEAN OF ETERNITY - THE SONGS OF LORI LAITMAN Themes of life, longing and legacy permeate this new recording of songs by the celebrated American composer LORI LAITMAN.

The album features renowned artists in several world premiere recordings. The centerpiece is The Ocean of Eternity, scored for the unusual combination of soprano, soprano saxophone and piano. This cycle about mortality sets a poem by Anne Ranasinghe, a German Jew who escaped the Holocaust and eventually settled in Sri Lanka. New arrangements of Vedem Songs tell the story of the boys imprisoned in the Terezin Concentration Camp, while excerpts from Ludlow, Laitman's opera with librettist David Mason, showcase America's tragic treatment of immigrants. Throughout the album, with her signature gift for melody, Laitman illuminates the classic poetry of Emily Dickinson, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and William Butler Yeats; Holocaust poetry by Petr Ginz, Hanuš Hachenburg and Zdeněk Ornest; and contemporary works by Annie Finch, Dana Gioia, Jennifer Reeser, A. E. Stallings, and Diane Thiel.

Laitman has composed multiple operas, choral works, and over 300 art songs. Her music is widely performed (including Carnegie Hall, Benaroya Recital Hall, The Kennedy Center, The Royal Concertgebouw and Wigmore Hall) and has generated substantial critical acclaim. Gramophone praised her most recent release as "eminently singable" with "wide appeal...[and] humour aplenty" and musicologist John Michael Cooper wrote "Laitman provides some of the most ravishingly beautiful music that I know in the repertoire."

The performers are sopranos Nicole Cabell (Cardiff Singer of the World (2005, Covent Garden, Metropolitan Opera), ALISA JORDHEIM (Opéra National de Paris, San Diego Opera), Maureen McKay (Metropolitan Opera, Komische Oper Berlin), PATRICE MICHAELS (creator of RBG in Song, Shanghai and Czech National Symphonies), YUNGEE RHIE (Oregon Symphony, Tanglewood Music Center); mezzo-soprano KATIE HANNIGAN (Merola Opera, Rochester Philharmonic); GRAMMY Award-winner baritone DANIEL BELCHER (The Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Versailles, Houston Grand Opera); violinist TARN TRAVERS (Dal Niente, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra); soprano saxophone MICHAEL COUPER (San Diego and Modesto Symphonies); and collaborative pianists CHOEUN LEE (Carnegie Hall, Tanglewood Music Center), TZE-WEN (Julia) LIN (The Hochstein School and Cascadia Concert Opera), ANDREW ROSENBLUM (second prize winner at the 2017 Prague International and 2018 International Bach Competition Leipzig), and LORI LAITMAN.

The cover portrait, by celebrated artist PAUL WYSE, was commissioned for this CD.

RELEASE DATE: April 2022

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