NEWS
NSS MUSIC releases its first DVD this May 8, 2012. Four years in the making, ON OUR WAY, The Journey of Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and the New Century Chamber Orchestra, by CounterPoint Films, in association with NSS MUSIC, candidly reveals how one of the most electrifying soloists and daring recording artists in the classical music world came to partner with a then 16-year old, accomplished, conductorless string chamber orchestra from the West Coast, and her goal to take the 19-member ensemble from a highly regarded entity in California to a nationally renowned chamber orchestra.
Live footage from the February 9, 2011 tour concert at the Eli and Edyth Broad Stage in Santa Monica, California, features prominently in ON OUR WAY, and demonstrates the ensemble’s commitment to music making of the highest caliber. Featured works include: Hugo Wolf’s Italian Serenade; Astor Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires; Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings in C Major, Op. 48, as well as Alfred Schnittke’s Polka, and Bess, You Is My Woman Now, from George Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess.”
The DVD also includes on-camera anecdotes, rehearsals and behind-the scenes footage. Candid comments from orchestra members, and Nadja herself, provide a personal look at the journey that these musicians have embarked upon. As stated by music critic Joshua Kosman in the San Francisco Chronicle’s Best of 2009, “This stalwart string orchestra - always excellent, always overlooked - took a gamble on star power by bringing in the forceful violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg as its new music director, and got a jolt of much-needed vitality as a reward."
The DVD, which is being released at the end of the ensemble’s 20th Anniversary season, offers two viewing formats: the live from the Broad Stage concert and documentary footage, and live from the Broad Stage concert footage-only. (Click on above PDF file to read release.)
NSS MUSIC has released ten CDs to date. The tenth recording, the second CD by the New Century Chamber Orchestra and violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, (fall 2010) features live performances of Strauss’s virtuosic pinnacle of string orchestral writing, Metamorphosen for 23 solo instrument; Barber’s modern masterpiece, Adagio for Strings, and Mahler’s musical love letter to his future wife Alma, his Adagietto (for orchestra), the fourth movement to his Symphony No. 5. Recorded live at the ensemble’s home base, San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, this CD travels in a vastly different direction than “Together”, the orchestra’s and Ms. Salerno-Sonnenberg’s highly successful first recording, exploring the intense longing, soulful and deeply solemn side of classical music.
NSS MUSIC welcomed the internationally renowned American String Quartet to its roster of artists with “Schubert’s Echo”, in August 2010, in advance of the quartet’s 35th anniversary season.
“Schubert’s Echo”, recorded at New York City’s American Academy of Arts and Letters during winter 2010, features three works never before recorded together: Schubert’s monumental Quartet in G, D.887, Berg’s dramatic, atonal Quartet Op. 3 and Webern’s visionary Funf Satze, Op. 5 (Five Movements, Op. 5). Schubert’s influence can be heard throughout the entire recording. These works, passionately performed by the American String Quartet reveal, in the context of each other, the continuum that is the quartet repertoire.
ABOUT NSS MUSIC
NSS MUSIC is the record label founded in fall 2005 by renowned violinist and recording artist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg.
NSS MUSIC aims to be a haven for performing artists. The label will release recordings of new and established works by musicians across the musical genres, with a special emphasis on live performances. It is the next step in the natural evolution of a “breathtakingly daring and original” musician’s career. From her sought –after concert and recital performances to her recordings for such labels as Angel/EMI, EMI Classics, and Nonesuch, to her roles as author and Oscar nominated documentary film subject, violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg has created excitement in the entertainment world for over 25 years. Now, in addition to continuing her performance career, she brings her love for creating beautiful music and her passion for sharing that music to the “other” side of the recording business
Wiith the September 2005 launch of its first release, “LIVE,” featuring Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and pianist Anne-Marie McDermott, NSS MUSIC opened its doors. “Concertos in D Major,” featuring Ms. Salerno-Sonnenberg, the Colorado Symphony and conductor Marin Alsop in a live performance of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto and world premiere of the Assad Violin Concerto, followed in October 2005.
Released in June 2006, the third CD from this label, “John Cerminaro A Life Of Music,” features selected live historical performances by renowned horn player John Cerminaro, widely considered to be one of the great horn players of our time. August 2006 brought the fourth release by NSS MUSIC, an all-Bach solo piano recording featuring pianist Anne-Marie McDermott, an artist celebrated for her luminous and expressive performances.
NSS MUSIC celebrated its one year anniversary with the October 2006 release of a CD that is the fulfillment of a long-held dream by label founder and President Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg: a Christmas album. One of the most innovative concepts for a Christmas recording to come to fruition in some time, “Merry A Holiday Journey” is a CD that lovers of holiday music won’t want to miss. In February 2008, NSS MUSIC released it's first jazz album, "Love, All That It Is" by pianist/singer/composer Clarice Assad.
In spring 2009, NSS MUSIC released "ORIGINIS Live From Brazil" - a live recording that reunited violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg with Brazilian guitarists Sergio and Odair Assad, and which included the world premiere recording of Concerto Originis by Sergio Assad with the Orquesta Sinfonica do Estado de Sao Paulo.
August 2009 saw the release of "Together" the first recording by Ms. Salerno-Sonnenberg with the New Century Chamber Orchestra, of which she is now Music Director. "Together" features the chamber orchestra's commissioned work, Impressions, by Clarice Assad, Piazzola's Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, Bartok's Romanian Folk Dances and Gershwin's Bess, You Is My Woman Now. The second CD, "LIVE Barber, Strauss, Mahler," was released in fall 2010. NSS MUSIC also released the American String Quartet's "Schubert's Echo" album in August 2010.
Three of NSS MUSIC's recordings are also sold in Japan: LIVE, “Concertos in D Major,” and "Merry A Holiday Journey." "ORIGINIS" is also available in South America.
To puchase CDs, view videos of the makings of several of the albums and more, please visit the NSS MUSIC website at http://www.nssmusic.com. Click link below to go directly to site.
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