Solitude Katharina Konradi & Cosmos Quartet

• Hugo Wolf (1860 - 1903): Sieben Mörike-Lieder:
• 1Wolf: Sieben Mörike-Lieder: Selbstgeständnis (Arr. by Stefan Heucke)01:14
• Traditional: Greensleeves (Arr. By Andreas Tarkmann):
• 2Traditional: Greensleeves (Arr. By Andreas Tarkmann)04:34
• György Kurtág (b. 1926): Attila József - Fragmente, Op. 20:
• 3Kurtág: Attila József - Fragmente, Op. 20: A kerten (The heat)01:22
• Eduard Toldrà (1895 - 1962): Canço incerta (Arr. by Jordi Domènech):
• 4Toldrà: Canço incerta (Arr. by Jordi Domènech)02:56
• Clara Schumann (1819 - 1896): Ihr Bildnis (Arr. by Aribert Reimann):
• 5Schumann: Ihr Bildnis (Arr. by Aribert Reimann)02:26
• György Kurtág: Attila József - Fragmente, Op. 20:
• 6Kurtág: Attila József - Fragmente, Op. 20: Kásásodik a víz (The water thickens)00:34
• Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856): 6 Gesänge, Op. 107:
• 7Schumann: 6 Gesänge, Op. 107: Herzeleid (Arr. by Aribert Reimann)01:44
• 8Schumann: 6 Gesänge, Op. 107: Die Fensterscheibe (Arr. by Aribert Reimann)01:43
• György Kurtág: Attila József - Fragmente, Op. 20:
• 9Kurtág: Attila József - Fragmente, Op. 20: Az idö futva terem (Time)00:51
• Robert Schumann: 6 Gesänge, Op. 107:
• 10Schumann: 6 Gesänge, Op. 107: Der Gärtner (Arr. by Aribert Reimann)01:27
• György Kurtág: Attila József - Fragmente, Op. 20:
• 11Kurtág: Attila József - Fragmente, Op. 20: Sokan voltak és körülvettek (Many came and pressed around me)00:36
• Robert Schumann: 6 Gesänge, Op. 107:
• 12Schumann: 6 Gesänge, Op. 107: Die Spinnerin (Arr. by Aribert Reimann)01:24
• György Kurtág: Attila József - Fragmente, Op. 20:
• 13Kurtág: Attila József - Fragmente, Op. 20: A nyárfák közt (The sweet breeze)01:03
• Robert Schumann: 6 Gesänge, Op. 107:
• 14Schumann: 6 Gesänge, Op. 107: Im Wald (Arr. by Aribert Reimann)01:52
• György Kurtág: Attila József - Fragmente, Op. 20:
• 15Kurtág: Attila József - Fragmente, Op. 20: Oly lágy az este (The evening is as soft as a grape)00:47
• Robert Schumann: 6 Gesänge, Op. 107:
• 16Schumann: 6 Gesänge, Op. 107: Abendlied (Arr. by Aribert Reimann)02:37
• Traditional: Kuckuck, Kuckuck ruft's aus der Ferne (Arr. by Andreas Tarkmann):
• 17Traditional: Kuckuck, Kuckuck ruft's aus der Ferne (Arr. by Andreas Tarkmann)02:33
• Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828): Mignon, D.321 (Arr. by Aribert Reimann):
• 18Schubert: Mignon, D.321 (Arr. by Aribert Reimann)13:01
• György Kurtág: Attila József - Fragmente, Op. 20:
• 19Kurtág: Attila József - Fragmente, Op. 20: Tizenöt éve (For fifteen years)00:34
• Clara Schumann: Volkslied (Arr. by Aribert Reimann):
• 20Schumann: Volkslied (Arr. by Aribert Reimann)02:03
• Joseph Kosma (1905 - 1969): Les feuilles mortes (Arr. by Robert Jacob):
• 21Kosma: Les feuilles mortes (Arr. by Robert Jacob)04:34
• Eduard Toldrà: Vinyes Verdes Vora el Mar (Arr. by Jordi Domènech):
• 22Toldrà: Vinyes Verdes Vora el Mar (Arr. by Jordi Domènech)02:08
• György Kurtág: Attila József - Fragmente, Op. 20:
• 23Kurtág: Attila József - Fragmente, Op. 20: Nincs közöm senkihez (I'm a stranger and alone)01:27
• Anonymous: O Death, Rock Me Asleep (Arr. By Peter Warlock):
• 24Anonymous: O Death, Rock Me Asleep (Arr. By Peter Warlock)02:36
• Jacques Brel (1929 - 1978): Ne me quitte pas (Arr. by Robert Jacob):
• 25Brel: Ne me quitte pas (Arr. by Robert Jacob)04:09
• Hugo Wolf: Sieben Mörike-Lieder:
• 26Wolf: Sieben Mörike-Lieder: Gebet (Arr. by Stefan Heucke)02:04
• Total Runtime01:02:19

Info for Solitude

In a diary entry from the year 1827, Robert Schumann writes: Solitude is the intimate encounter with oneself, [...], it is an active, thoughtful, creative tranquility, the active state of the soul amidst the body's passivity. - Solitude is the nursemaid of all great spirits, the mother of heroes, the companion of the poet, the friend of the arts.

In her new album "Solitude," soprano Katharina Konradi embarks on a musical journey to explore solitude. On this journey, she is accompanied by poets and composers from different time periods. The Cosmos Quartet from Barcelona joins her on her journey. Art songs by composers such as Robert and Clara Schumann, Franz Schubert, and Hugo Wolf, as well as folk songs and French chansons, are waypoints on this journey on which they explore the various facets of solitude together. Miniatures for solo soprano by the Hungarian-French composer György Kurtág serve as transitional elements, providing subtle and sophisticated coherence. Among the special rarities of the recording are the two Catalan songs by the violinist, composer, and conductor Eduard Toldrà.

The soprano, born in Kyrgyzstan, captivates audiences and critics alike with her vocal brilliance and cultivated emotional depth. The Cosmos Quartet matches her with its honest elegance and compelling expressiveness. Although the Cosmos Quartet and Katharina Konradi only met at the beginning of rehearsals for "Solitude," a very special magic immediately revealed itself, inherent in the combination of Katharina Konradi's voice and the Cosmos String Quartet. "String quartet and voice blend incredibly well together – even though the four instruments already form a perfect sonic structure on their own. I always enjoy being surrounded by so many different colors while singing," describes Katharina Konradi about the collaboration.

The result of this collaboration and shared journey is an album characterized by emotionality, a variety of moods, and the highest musicality. It invites one to linger, to listen closely, to find tranquility in the beauty of music, and to draw strength from it.

Katharina Konradi, soprano
Cosmos Quartet

Katharina Konradi
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.

Katharina Konradi was born in Bishkek and is the world’s first soprano from Kyrgyzstan to have an international career as a lied, concert and opera singer. She moved to Hamburg with her family in 2003 and went on to study with Julie Kaufmann in Berlin and with Christiane Iven in Munich. Master classes with Helmut Deutsch and Klesie Kelly-Moog gave Konradi further musical and artistic momentum in developing her career. In 2016 she won the German Music Competition and was awarded a BBC scholarship for the New Generation Artists Programme (2018-2021).

The singer’s first engagements took her to the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden and the Hamburg State Opera, where she has been an ensemble member since 2018. Debuts at the Dresden State Opera, Bavarian State Opera in Munich and at the Bayreuth Festival followed. Katharina Konradi has since impressed audiences and critics in major soprano roles, including Pamina, Marzelline, Gretel, Adele, Susanna, Zerlina and Nannetta, as well as Morgana, Ännchen, Zdenka and Sophie.

Katharina Konradi is also a welcome guest in concert projects with renowned orchestras, including the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Arcangelo, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the orchestras of Bavarian Radio, hr and MDR, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble under the baton of conductors such as Thomas Hengelbrock, Manfred Honeck, Paavo Järvi, Kent Nagano, Gustavo Dudamel, Andrea Marcon, Philippe Herreweghe and Daniel Harding. Concerts have taken her to the Philharmonie in Berlin, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and the Konzerthaus in Vienna, as well as to Antwerp, the Felsenreitschule Salzburg and the Philharmonie de Paris.

“In song, I am my own boss: in each of these three-minute operas, I can decide who is singing and what that person wants to express”, says Katharina Konradi, who devotes herself with particular enthusiasm to lied interpretation. Recitals have taken her to renowned concert series for instance at the Wigmore Hall, the Cologne Philharmonie, the Schubertiade Hohenems / Schwarzenberg, the Heidelberger Frühling and the Boulez Saal Berlin, among others.

Katharina Konradi’s artistic creativity is documented on her numerous acclaimed recordings. After Liebende (AvI Music/2021) with songs by Strauss, Mozart and Schubert in which she was accompanied by Daniel Heide, Russian Roots was released by Chandos in 2022. On this recording she is accompanied by the Trio Gaspard in songs by Weinberg, Gubaidulina and Shostakovich, among others. The singer devoted her album Insomnia (2023) to works by Franz Schubert which she recorded together with Ammiel Bushakevitz for Berlin Classics. She also recorded Mozart’s Coronation Mass with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin conducted by Howard Arman for the BR Klassik label in 2022. Other recordings include Haydns Creation with the Gaechinger Cantorey under Hans-Christoph Rademann (Accentus) and masses by Mozart with the Cologne Chamber Orchestra and Radio Chorus conducted by Christoph Poppen (Naxos).

This album contains no booklet.