Sempre Libera!

The day has finally arrived!  As I write this I’m on a plane to Chicago with an ultimate destination of Goshen, IN to record my first CD.  This project has been a decade in the making.  I knew many years ago that I wanted to record a CD, but scheduling and financing were always the hold-up.  But this year everything has finally come together.

As many of you know, the disc will be a collection of opera arias played by bassoon and piano. Great pieces of music that everyone knows, plus a few rarities thrown in for good measure! Sixteen tracks of amazing music.  I’ve been working on a title for years now and thanks to my friend (and collaborative pianist) Valerie Trujillo, a title there is.  Sempre Libera.

Sempre Libera means “always free” and is the title of an aria for soprano from La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi.  In the context of the aria, Violetta sings about how she will never be held down by love and that it’s a folly.  Rather, she will always be free.  As the title of the album I think of it more like the voice, and opera, and music in general have to always be free.  It also serves a dual purpose.  The aria is, of course, on the cd but is part of a three aria to tribute to the great Maria Callas whose artistry helped inspire this project.  Violetta was one of Callas’s signature roles, and her singing of Sempre libera, is like no one else’s.

And now the recording date has arrived.  It’s been a very exciting, though stressful time in preparation.  I’ve been very anxious and nervous about the disc!  But I know as soon as Valerie and I start playing again all my fears will subside.  We will be recording in Goshen, IN at a small college that has a great little concert hall.  The location is one my recording company, Azica Records, has used several times in the past.  Bruce Egre and Alan Bise at Azica are great guys and I’m really excited to be working with them.  And Valerie and I have known each other for almost 25 years so it’s been an absolute thrill to reconnect and work with her on this project!

So we start tomorrow and will be recording approximately 22 minutes of music per day Wednesday-Friday.  I’ve been involved in many recording projects in the past but none really like this so it should be a real adventure.

Stay tuned for more!  I hope to post each day of recording sessions with updates on progress, etc.

Thank you!