03.05.2010 – Shannon Mercer Releases FRANCESCA CACCINI O VIVA ROSA
For immediate release
Soprano Shannon Mercer Releases New Recording
FRANCESCA CACCINI: O VIVA ROSA
One of Canada’s brightest young vocal stars, Shannon Mercer releases her sixth recording on Analekta, which features the music of Florentine composer Francesca Caccini.
In one of the first albums entirely devoted to the works of this remarkable composer, Shannon once again reveals herself an artistic and intuitive performer of Baroque vocal music. Joining Shannon on this disc are frequent musical partners Sylvain Bergeron (theorbo, baroque guitar), Luc Beauséjour (harpsichord, organ) and Amanda Keesmaat (cello).
Release dates:
Canada – March 9
International – March 23
Catalogue number: AN 2 9966
Shannon Mercer explains some of the interpretive challenges of this recording:
“The most challenging aspects of Francesca Caccini’s music are her amazingly long phrases and evocative and sonorous texts that I really wanted to convey as clearly as possible. I had to explore new approaches to the trills, vocal control and breathing in a completely different way. It’s almost as if we were creating something completely new, or solving an equation. We had to be spontaneous and creative, and use our improvisational skills, and that’s what we love most about this repertoire. But we were all driven by the importance of bringing the work to light and recognizing the talent of this remarkable composer!”
Francesca Caccini (1587- c.1641), often nicknamed «La Cecchina» (“The Songbird”), was one of the most prominent female composers in the Baroque period. Born into a musical family, Caccini held a position with the Medici Court as teacher, vocal coach, composer and musician, (singing and playing the lute, guitar and harpsichord). She was widely recognized even in her own time as an extraordinarily talent and composed an impressive number of works, of which very few scores remain. Thankfully a significant resource still exists. A 36 tableaux portrait of Caccini, Il primo libro delle musiche, is a collection of her works that unusually includes both sacred and secular songs – madrigals, canzonettas, and laments – many of which are set to her own poems. The works on this recording are all derived from Il primo libro.
SHANNON MERCER
Her voice has been described as luminous and her acting witty and feisty — Shannon Mercer has been hailed as “one of Canada’s most promising young sopranos” and a “Leader of Tomorrow (Maclean’s).” Her award-winning discography includes Wales ~ The Land of Song, the 2009 JUNO Award-winning Gloria!: Vivaldi’s Angels, Bach and the Liturgical Year, Mondonville, English Fancy, (Analekta) and Marin Marais’s Sémélé (Glossa). She also starred the comic opera Burnt Toast, now on DVD. Shannon can also be seen on the big screen across the UK and Europe on March 23rd when the film version of Monty Python funny-man Eric Idle’s Not the Messiah is shown in movie theatres (check out the trailer on YouTube).
More about Shannon at www.shannonmercer.com
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Media contact:
Megan Ross – Moira Johnson Consulting
Office: (613) 565-0666
Email: megan@moirajohnson.com
