New CD:Soprano Nicole Cabell-Winner of BBC Singer of the World Competition-Performs Ricky Ian Gordon

Sept. 13, 2012 - PRLog -- Michigan-based recording label Blue Griffin Recording announces the release of a new CD, featuring songs by one of America’s most beloved composers of opera, musical theatre and song – Ricky Ian Gordon.  The new recording, SILVER RAIN (BG 253), is a collection of songs set by Gordon to the poetry of Langston Hughes, and are performed here by the illustrious lyric soprano Nicole Cabell.  

Considered fast en route to becoming one of the most sought-after sopranos today, Nicole Cabell is quickly ascending to place herself among the coveted top spots on the international opera stage. Winner of the 2005 BBC Singer of the World Competition in Cardiff and recipient of numerous prestigious awards, Ms. Cabell has appeared numerous times with the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Santa Fe Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Oper Köln and the Deutsche Oper, Berlin, among many others.  In addition, Nicole Cabell has found herself in front of many of the world’s most prestigious orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Accademia di Santa Cecilia, to name a few.

American composer Ricky Ian Gordon has achieved house-hold name status as the leading writer of vocal music that spans art song, opera, and musical theater.  Often paralleled with Sondheim, Gordon’s music has been performed by Renée Fleming, Dawn Upshaw, Nathan Gunn, Audra MacDonald, Kristin Chenoweth, the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson and Frederica Von Stade, among many others.  A staple in the catalog of American vocal literature, his opera “The Grapes of Wrath,” was proclaimed “the great American Opera” by Musical America.

This high-powered collaboration between Cabell and Gordon, is the fruit of the highest admiration and respect between artist and composer, resulting in a product beaming with candidness and artistic purity. Ricky Ian Gordon, who worked with Cabell in the studio, writes of Nicole: “From the moment I first heard Nicole… I was in love with her voice. She sang without affectation… just pure beauty…”  

“Silver Rain” was recorded at Blue Griffin’s Studio The Ballroom, produced and engineered by Sergei Kvitko, and is available at www.BlueGriffin.com, as well as other online and physical retail outlets.

To watch Nicole perform "Kid in the Park" from "SILVER RAIN", click here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW0ATcBtAeE



The complete tracks are as follows:

   

01 Heaven 1:20
02 In Time of Silver Rain 2:48
03 Harlem Night Song 2:08
04 Dream Variations 2:04
05 Stars 5:01
06 Love Song for Antonia 3:26
07 Port Town 1:52
08 Daybreak in Alabama 3:30
09 Dreams/Feet o’ Jesus 5:50
10 Song for a
Dark Girl 2:50
11 Litany 5:45

   Genius Child, a cycle of ten songs
12 Winter Moon 1:46
13 Genius Child 1:36
14 Kid in the Park 2:54
15 To Be Somebody 2:11
16 Troubled Woman 2:01
17 Strange Hurt 2:30
18 Prayer 5:02
19 Border Line 3:09
20 My People 3:35
21 Joy 2:41