ECHOES: Duets for Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano & Piano Katharina Konradi, Catriona Morison, Ammiel Bushakevitz

• Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856): Spanisches Liederspiel, Op. 74:
• 1 Schumann: Spanisches Liederspiel, Op. 74: No. 1, Erste Begegnung 02:16
• 2 Schumann: Spanisches Liederspiel, Op. 74: No. 3, Liebesgram 02:21
• Mädchenlieder, Op.103:
• 3 Schumann: Mädchenlieder, Op.103: No. 1, Mailied 01:08
• 4 Schumann: Mädchenlieder, Op. 103: No. 2, Frühlingslied 01:31
• 5 Schumann: Mädchenlieder, Op. 103: No. 3, An die Nachtigall 01:02
• 6 Schumann: Mädchenlieder, Op. 103: No. 4, An den Abendstern 01:56
• Spanische Liebeslieder, Op. 138:
• 7 Schumann: Spanische Liebeslieder, Op. 138: No. 4, Bedeckt mich mit Blumen 02:39
• Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897): 4 Duets, Op. 61:
• 8 Brahms: 4 Duets, Op. 61: No. 1, Die Schwestern 01:55
• 3 Duets, Op. 20:
• 9 Brahms: 3 Duets, Op. 20: No. 1, Weg der Liebe. Allegro 02:11
• 10 Brahms: 3 Duets, Op. 20: No. 2, Weg der Liebe. Poco Adagio 02:55
• 11 Brahms: 3 Duets, Op. 20: No. 3, Die Meere. Andante 02:29
• 4 Duets, Op. 61:
• 12 Brahms: 4 Duets, Op. 61: No. 4, Die Boten der Liebe 02:27
• Ernest Chausson (1855 - 1899): 2 Duos, Op. 11:
• 13 Chausson: 2 Duos, Op. 11: No. 1, La Nuit 02:44
• 14 Chausson: 2 Duos, Op. 11: No. 2, Réveil 03:38
• Mélanie Bonis (1858 - 1937): Le Ruisseau:
• 15 Bonis: Le Ruisseau 02:57
• Maria Malibran (1808 - 1836): Le Prisonnier:
• 16 Malibran: Le Prisonnier 03:19
• Pauline Viardot (1821 - 1910): 6 Mélodies et une havanaise:
• 17 Viardot: 6 Mélodies et une havanaise: No. 7, Havanaise, VWV 1019 04:39
• Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 - 1921): El Desdichado:
• 18 Saint-Saëns: El Desdichado 03:38
• Charles Gounod (1818 - 1893): La siesta, CG 399:
• 19 Gounod: La siesta, CG 399 02:52
• Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924): 2 Duets, Op. 10:
• 20 Fauré: 2 Duets, Op. 10: No. 1, Puisqu'ici-bas toute âme 03:02
• Pleurs d'or, Op. 72:
• 21 Fauré: Pleurs d'or, Op. 72 02:32
• 2 Duets, Op. 10:
• 22 Fauré: 2 Duets, Op. 10: No. 2, Tarentelle 02:16
• Total Runtime 56:27

Info for ECHOES: Duets for Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano & Piano

Soprano Katharina Konradi and mezzo soprano Catriona Morison, together with their accompanist Ammiel Bushakevitz, perform duets by various composers including Schumann, Brahms, Chausson, Viardot, Faure and Saint-Saens.

Where did you get the idea to record this album together?

Katharina Konradi: "I always found it fascinating to sing songs in duet with someone or in an ensemble. And there are so many folk songs people can sing together in the family circle or at parties with friends. When you share the same text and melody simultaneously with other people, it becomes a powerful, meditative experience – and such experiences form a bond among us. Catriona apparently had the same idea, so we embarked on the same joint path, particularly since we often share the stage and really enjoy singing together."

Catriona Morison: "I started my musical training in a girls’ choir in Edinburgh when I was very young and later played the violin and viola, so I have always enjoyed singing in ensembles and playing chamber music. Duet song repertoire is really an extension of that, Katharina and I actually met back in 2012 through one of our old singing teachers from Berlin. After our studies, it took us in different directions, we then both became BBC New Generation Artists, overlapping for a short time in 2019/20. I saw an opportunity to get to know this repertoire better, and approached Katharina who luckily had the same passion and excitement for collaboration.

That was the beginning of our musical partnership, which has grown and developed since then. There are not so many duos who perform this repertoire currently, and it’s too much of a shame for this fantastic music not to be heard."

Ammiel Bushakevitz: "In the end it is a question of musical consensus and compatibility. I can say that in this case, I feel enormously honoured to work with two masters of their domains who are not only technically in complete control, but also know how to prepare in order to be as productive as possible. We had a lot of fun rehearsing and recording. As for my role at the piano, it is a homogenous mixture of following and leading. When accompanying one singer I can always just breathe together with the singer, but since two voices are involved here, I need to choose when to allow time for breathing and when not to offer any time so that we can sustain the musical drive. It is a wonderful process and quite thrilling." (from the booklet’s Interview)

Katharina Konradi, soprano
Catriona Morison, mezzo-soprano
Ammiel Bushakevitz, piano

Ammiel Bushakevitz
Born in Jerusalem, Israel, Ammiel Bushakevitz performs regularly across Europe, North America, Africa, Asia and Australia; in venues including New York’s Carnegie Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Philharmonie de Paris, Shanghai’s Concert Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and Berlin’s Konzerthaus.

He appears at the festivals of Aix-en-Provence, Salzburg, Bayreuth, Lucerne, Cape Town, Heidelberg, Melbourne and Montreal; the Festival Pontino di Latina in Rome, the Casals Festival in Spain and the Schubertiades of Schwarzenberg, Hohenems, Vilabertran and Jerusalem One of the last private students of the late Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Ammiel is recognised as a leading song pianist of his generation, performing with such singers as Dame Felicity Lott, Christian Gerhaher and Thomas Hampson. He also received notable mentorship from Brigitte Fassbaender, Barbara Bonney, Thomas Quasthoff and Matthias Goerne.

His discography includes award-winning albums as a soloist and song pianist for BIS (Sweden), Pentatone (Holland), Hänssler Classics (Germany), SOLFA (Spain) and Gramola (Austria). Upcoming releases will appear on labels including Berlin Classics, Hänssler and Harmonia Mundi.

Passionate about education, Ammiel has presented masterclasses at leading universities in Australia, Israel, Spain, China, South Africa, New Zealand and the USA. He also dedicates time to mentoring young musicians in developing countries including Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Mexico and Morocco. Ammiel is a member of the Société des Arts Sciences et Lettres de Paris, an Edison Fellow of the British Library, London, and artistic director of the International Arts Association, Voices of Orpheus, in Paris, France.

Katharina Konradi
Konradi’s timbre has a delicate fragrance, the voice seems weightless and light as a feather.

Opernwelt Whether in opera, operetta or lied, Katharina Konradi is a storyteller who imbues her characters with verve, intimacy, temperament and intensity. Her full and warm soprano, praised by Opernglas for its wonderfully agile, fascinating palette of nuances, captivates audiences and critics alike with its great radiance and cultivated emotionality. My aim is to rediscover myself in every opera and in every song, to lend my own ego to the role and become one with the character I portray, is how the singer describes herself.

In the season 2023/24 Katharina Konradi will make guest appearances at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, London, as Woglinde in Wagner’s Das Rheingold and as Susanna in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro at the Vienna State Opera. At the Bavarian State Opera she will be seen as Adele in Strauss’s Die Fledermaus and at Zurich Opera House in the role of Valencienne in Lehár’s The Merry Widow.

At Hamburg Opera, where she performs regularly, she sings Servilia in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito and makes her role debut as Adina in L’elisir d’amore. Lied recitals will again take Katharina Konradi to the Wigmore Hall London and to the Schubertiade Hohenems / Schwarzenberg, as well as to the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid, to the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona, to the Festival de Granada, to Weimar and to the Schubertiada in Vilabertran.

Catriona Morison
Scottish mezzo-soprano Catriona Morison gained widespread recognition in 2017 when she won the Main Prize and shared the Song Prize at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition. At that time she was a member of the opera ensemble in Wuppertal from 2016-2018, where she added a diverse range of roles to her repertoire, including Nicklausse, Charlotte, Hänsel, Maddalena, and Cherubino.

In 2015, Catriona Morison made her debut at the Salzburg Festival as part of the Young Singers Project.

Guest operatic engagements have led her to venues such as the Edinburgh International Festival, Oper Köln, Bergen Nasjonale Opera, and Staatsoper Hamburg. Recent additions to her operatic repertoire include Der Komponist in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos and Fricka in Wagner’s Das Rheingold. Catriona Morison places special emphasis on concert repertoire. She made her debut at the BBC Proms in 2019, performing Elgar‘s Sea Pictures with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Elim Chan. In 2022 she interpreted Detlev Glanert‘s Prague Symphony in the world premiere in Prague with further performances in Leipzig and London, conducted by Semyon Bychkov. Her 2023/24 engagements see her working with Jaap von Zweden, Vasily Petrenko, Fabio Luisi, Manfred Honeck, Klaus Mäkelä, Herbert Blomstedt, and Jakub Hr°uša in repertoire ranging from Beethoven to Mahler. Song repertoire holds a profound significance for Catriona Morison, as demonstrated by her most recent CD The dark night has vanished featuring songs by E. Grieg, J. Brahms, Josephine Lang and R. Schumann, alongside Malcolm Martineau. She has captivated audiences at venues such as the Wigmore Hall, Edinburgh International Festival, Leeds Lieder Festival, Oxford Lieder Festival, Schubertíada Vilabertran, Heidelberger Frühling.

Booklet for ECHOES: Duets for Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano & Piano