Britten: Les illuminations, Op. 18 - Barber: Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Op. 24 Julia Kogan, Britten Sinfonia & Steven Lloyd-Gonzalez

• Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976): Les illuminations, Op. 18:
• 1 Britten: Les illuminations, Op. 18: No. 1, Fanfare 02:06
• 2 Britten: Les illuminations, Op. 18: No. 2, Villes 02:27
• 3 Britten: Les illuminations, Op. 18: No. 3a, Phrase 01:02
• 4 Britten: Les illuminations, Op. 18: No. 3b, Antique 02:07
• 5 Britten: Les illuminations, Op. 18: No. 4, Royauté 01:41
• 6 Britten: Les illuminations, Op. 18: No. 5, Marine 01:04
• 7 Britten: Les illuminations, Op. 18: No. 6, Interlude 02:42
• 8 Britten: Les illuminations, Op. 18: No. 7, Being Beauteous 03:43
• 9 Britten: Les illuminations, Op. 18: No. 8, Parade 02:44
• 10 Britten: Les illuminations, Op. 18: No. 9, Départ 02:20
• Samuel Barber (1910 - 1981): Knoxville:
• 11 Barber: Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Op. 24 15:46
• Benjamin Britten: Les illuminations, Op. 18 (Sung in English):
• 12 Britten: Les illuminations, Op. 18 (Sung in English): No. 1, Fanfare 01:59
• 13 Britten: Les illuminations, Op. 18 (Sung in English): No. 2, Villes 02:28
• 14 Britten: Les illuminations, Op. 18 (Sung in English): No. 3a, Phrase 01:03
• 15 Britten: Les illuminations, Op. 18 (Sung in English): No. 3b, Antique 02:08
• 16 Britten: Les illuminations, Op. 18 (Sung in English): No. 4, Royauté 01:40
• 17 Britten: Les illuminations, Op. 18 (Sung in English): No. 5, Marine 01:05
• 18 Britten: Les illuminations, Op. 18 (Sung in English): No. 6, Interlude 02:44
• 19 Britten: Les illuminations, Op. 18 (Sung in English): No. 7, Being Beauteous 03:47
• 20 Britten: Les illuminations, Op. 18 (Sung in English): No. 8, Parade 02:52
• 21 Britten: Les illuminations, Op. 18 (Sung in English): No. 9, Départ 02:26
• Total Runtime 59:54

Info for Britten: Les illuminations, Op. 18 - Barber: Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Op. 24

Featuring the first recording of BRITTEN’s ‘Les Illuminations, Op. 18’ sung in English, from a brand new translation by Timothy Adès! Also includes the original French version. Coupled with Samuel BARBER’s dramatic masterpiece ‘Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Op. 24’, written just a few years after ‘Les Illuminations’.

"Kogan acquits herself with credit, and she combines limpid assurance with an idiomatic appreciation of Agee’s fragrant imagery… there’s an entirely new incarnation [of Les Illuminations] featuring an English translation of Rimbaud’s phantasmagorical verse made by Timothy Adès (b1941) – and which, it must be said, fits the composer’s vocal line like a glove… Kogan proves herself fully on top of the technical demands, her contribution evincing both plentiful personality and ample temperament… finely disciplined support throughout from Steven Lloyd-Gonzalez at the helm of the Britten Sinfonia. Expertly supervised by producer Andrew Walton and admirably engineered by Debs Stanton" (Gramophone)

Julia Kogan, soprano
Britten Sinfonia
Steven Lloyd-Gonzalez, conductor

Julia Kogan
is an international award-winning American-French opera singer, author, and presenter. She has performed at top venues around the world (Carnegie Hall, the Lincoln Center, etc.), released five solo albums and has had her work featured by The New York Times, The Washington Post, Opera News, BBC Radio 3 and 4, and many others.

Julia’s BBC Radio 4 documentary, The Lost Songs of Hollywood, was chosen ‘pick of the week’ by the BBC. She is the author of Hipstory, a book of Amit Shimoni’s art with text by Julia, as well as a series of children’s books, essays, and screenplays. For now, she remains the uncredited co-author of feature film Florence Foster Jenkins.

Steven Lloyd-Gonzalez
holds a Masters Degree in Conducting from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, having studied there with Andrew Mogrelia. He also received invaluable guidance from Sir Simon Rattle at this time. A period of further study followed, with renowned teachers, Christopher Adey, Frank Shipway and Kenneth Kiesler in the U.S.A.

Lloyd-Gonzalez also assisted the Conductor Vernon Handley for a period, during his tenure with the English Symphony Orchestra.

An association with the music of Sir Malcolm Arnold led to the opportunity of working with the composer on a concert devoted to his music in Muscat, Oman. Lloyd-Gonzalez returned to the Royal Opera House Muscat recently to conduct a rare performance of Arnold’s Organ Concerto. Other collaborations include work with composers Steve Reich, Alex Heffes, Thomas Simaku, Sven Helbig and Richard Rodney-Bennett. Frank Heckel’s ‘Skyfall Concerto’ recently received it’s first performance in Offenbach, Germany with Lloyd-Gonzalez as Conductor and Wayne Marshall as Organ soloist.

In 2005 Lloyd-Gonzalez was appointed Chief Conductor of Cairo Symphony Orchestra, Egypt. The youngest Conductor ever to be appointed to that role at the time. It was during his tenure in Cairo that he was asked by Daniel Barenboim and Mariam Said to assist in securing auditions for Egyptian musicians who wished to perform with the West Eastern Divan Orchestra. Further appointments have included; Chief Conductor, Kur Sinfonie Bad Nauheim, Principal Guest Conductor, Capitol Symphony Orchestra Offenbach and Associate Conductor of Neue Philharmonie Frankfurt, Germany.

Steven has appeared with some of the UK’s leading orchestras, including: London Philharmonic Orchestra, Scottish Ensemble, and BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Other International engagements have included appearances in the U.S.A. China, France, Germany, Kuwait, UAE, Egypt and Oman.

Steven is the recipient of a number of prizes, including; The Salveson Baton, The Silver Medal from the Worshipful Company of Musicans and The Michael Beech Conducting Award. He is also an Honorary Member of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. He is the featured Conductor on a number of film scores, including French director Philippe De Broca’s final film, ‘Vipère Au Poing’, and also a number of game soundtracks, including; ‘Headhunter’ by Richard Jacques for Sega, and ‘Xenosaga’ by Yasunori Mitsuda for Sony.

Booklet for Britten: Les illuminations, Op. 18 - Barber: Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Op. 24