The Saphrane Journal 2010
News 2010
20 December 2010
• Benjamin Hulett is performing in the Netherlands with Holland Symphonia: 21 december Alkmaar - De Vest / 22 december Leiden - Stadsgehoorzaal / 26 december Haarlem - Philharmonie. (Unfortunately the appearances were cancelled due to heavy snow fall in England)
29 November 2010
• Friday 19 November 2010 the Balanescu Quartet gave a concert in Brussels, Belgium. We uploaded one song of this concert. Apologies for the imperfect sound quality,
25 October 2010
• Saphrane has signed for the release of The Island by Romanians Alexander Balanescu and Ada Milea. Alexander is the leader of the Balanescu Quartet, whose music hovers between avant-garde, jazz and modern classical. Early next year we will release The Island, a mini opera, based on a play by Gellu Naum, a Romanian surrealist writer.
4 October 2010
• Rave reviews in the UK press for Benjamin Hulett for his performance as Quint in Britten's opera The Turning of the Screw last weekend: Benjamin Hulett is one of the most seductive-sounding Quints I have heard (Andrew Clark, Financial Times) • Strong performances from Benjamin Hulett's dangerously clean-cut Quint (Richard Morrison, The Times *****) • Benjamin Hulett is both seductive and repellent as Quint. (Rupert Christiansen, The Telegraph *****) • Benjamin Hulett's Prologue and Quint... are already notably well sung (George Hall, The Stage). We are proud to be able to release this great singer's first solo album this month. UK release date is set for 21 November.
16 September 2010
• Benjamin Hulett's cd Departures has been delayed, but is finally going into production this week. All lyrics will be printed in the booklet and we had to wait for the publisher's authorisation. The release is now scheduled for mid October. Pre-orders are accepted as from today.
• During this years Gergiev Festival in Rotterdam early september we made a new classical recording. As soon as everybody involved is happy with the result we will present more details of this very interesting program.
2 August 2010
• Saphrane has joined the twitter community. Stay updated and follow us. Go here and you will be connected.
14 June 2010
• Benjamin Hulett is a rising star in the classical music field. This great tenor has recorded a second album for Saphrane together with piano player (and conductor) Alexander Soddy, another rising star. The works on the cd Departures (S 62611) are all by English composers and have a relationship with travelling. The Joys of Travel by contemporary composer Giles Swayne was commisioned by Benjamin Hulett for this programme and is a world premiere.
27 May 2010
• Umbral is the duo that will release a new cd on Saphrane. The two classical guitar players Ignacio Correa and Sebastián Segarra hail from Uruguay and New Guitar Music from Uruguay (S 62608) will be their first album. The modern classical compositions by composer Sergio Fernández Cabrera have a distinct South American flavour. The release of these works is a world premiere and is scheduled for later this year.
• Mama Africa, the project initiated by the Brussels Jazz Orchestra, will be released in South Africa in a few weeks. The album will be released by Jassics, the label that also released the two Tutu Puoane cds.
19 April 2010
• Friday 16 April Sun City hosted the 16th edition of the South African Music Awards cremony and we are happy to say that Tutu Puoane's cd Quiet Now definitely has won in the category 'classical jazz'. We congratulate Tutu and her band and we would like to thank Dorothea Photinidis of Jassics for her efforts in making this possible!
5 March 2010
• Today it has been made public that Tutu Puoane's album Quiet Now has been nominated for the South African Music Awards (SAMA) for best traditional jazz album. We are looking forward to the ceremony!
• Friday 26 February Mama Africawas presented at the beautiful Antwerp venue De Roma. The Brussels Jazz Orchestrawith lead vocalist Tutu Puoane suprised the audience with their renditions of South African songs. The artists had decided to donate the entire entrance fee to the Miriam Makeba Center for Girls in Midrand /Johannesburg.
• The first designs have been made for an album by the Uruguyan guitar duo Umbral. This duo performs contemporary guitar music from Uruguay. Most of the tracks were composed by Sergio Fernández Cabrera. The release is scheduled for later this year.