SONYA YONCHEVA PRESENTS FIRST RECITAL ALBUM GEORGE

On January 24, 2025, Sonya Yoncheva releases her first recital album GEORGE on Naïve Records in collaboration with her company SY11 Productions. You can pre-order the album on the following link:

https://bfan.link/george

The recording includes art songs, duets, works for piano, piano and violin as well as spoken texts, all connected to one of France’s most famous authors of the 19th century, George Sand. Featured on the CD alongside Sonya Yoncheva are pianist Olga Zado, mezzo-soprano Marina Viotti and violinist Adam Taubitz. Sonya Yoncheva can be heard not only singing, but also reciting letters from and to George Sand as well as a poem by the renowned author.

“George Sand has always fascinated me”, says Sonya Yoncheva. “She was such a multi-layered woman, who dared to be herself throughout her life. Her unconditional love for the arts was one of the first sparks that inspired me to realize this project. I was intrigued by her artistic world: her salon, her friends, and how she lived surrounded by music and art. Her many affairs, to name a few: Alfred de Musset, Frédéric Chopin, and even rumors of a fling with Franz Liszt. She had all these men around her and was incredibly close to everything they were creating. For this project, I imagined Sand’s house, kitchen, and salon, with all these artists, lovers, and friends. And that is how this project was born. I wanted to bring this woman to life through my voice, through these works and melodies, also using her actual texts and thoughts, which show her vibrant nature.”

Recorded in March 2024 at the Salle de Musique in La Chaux-de-Fonds, the album features music by Frédéric Chopin, Léo Delibes, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Franz Liszt Jacques Offenbach, Francesco Paolo Tosti and Pauline Viardot. It will be available worldwide physically and on all common streaming platforms on the 24th of January, 2025.

GEORGE SAND

Born in 1804 under the name of Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil, but known under her pen name George Sand, she is considered one of the most famous authors of the European Romantic period. Sand’s works include tales, novels, plays and political texts.

She also was an advocate for women’s rights, fighting against prejudices of the conservative society. Breaking gender stereotypes, Sand’s clothing style was masculine, just like her pseudonym. In 1831, she obtained a permit to wear men’s clothes. Also considered scandalous was her habit to smoke cigars, and she and her friends referred to her using both female and male pronouns.

After leaving her husband, she had several love affairs, most notably with dramatist Alfred de Musset from 1833 to 1835 and with Frédéric Chopin from 1837 to 1847. Speculations surrounds her close relationships with the actress Marie Dorval and the composer Franz Liszt, with debates over whether these were also romantic.

A highly controversial and political artist, George Sand delved into themes in her books that challenged the norms of her society, including women conquering forbidden spaces, free love and gender identity, as in her novel Gabriel, where the protagonist is born as a woman but raised as a man.

OLGA ZADO

Olga Zado touches audiences and critics around the world with her deep poetic musicianship and sparkling, electrifying technique.

Olga gave her first solo recitals and performances with orchestras at the early age of 7. She has performed as a soloist at major European concert venues, such as the Berlin Philharmonie, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Philharmonie am Gasteig Munich, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Mozarteum Salzburg, Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, Teatro Filarmónica de Oviedo.

Born in Odessa (Ukraine), Olga Zado received her musical education at the Stolyarsky Special Music School for young prodigies in the piano tradition of Heinrich Neuhaus. After continuing her musical studies with Mihaela Ursuleasa in Bern, she received further important musical impulses from Leon Fleisher, Arcadi Volodos, Pavel Gililov, Jacques Rouvier, Bernd Glemser and especially from Sergei Babayan. Olga Zado is a Steinway artist.

Passionately dedicated to chamber music, she is the artistic director of the chamber music series “FinestClassics” in Mannheim, Germany.

MARINA VIOTTI

After studying flute, Marina Viotti first explored jazz, gospel and heavy metal. She earned a master’s degree in philosophy and literature, before she began her vocal training with Heidi Brunner in Vienna and continued at the Lausanne University of Music in the class of Brigitte Balleys, completing her studies with Raul Gimenez and Alessandra Rossi.

Marina Viotti’s first steps on the operatic stage after her studies took her to the Lausanne Opera, the Lucerne Theatre and, as part of the young ensemble, to the Grand Théâtre de Genève. She made her debut as Isabella (L’italiana in Algeri) at the Rossini Festival in Bad Wildbad in 2015.

Since then, she sang roles roles such as Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Melibea (Il viaggio a Reims), Nicklausse/Muse (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Dorabella (Così fan tutte) and Carmen at venues such as the Dresden Semperoper, Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona, the Staatsoper Berlin and the Opernhaus Zürich. Other opera houses and concert stages she has appeared at include Teatro alla Scala, Staatsoper Munich and the Rome Opera House.

ADAM TAUBITZ

The German violinist Adam Taubitz started playing the violin when he was five years old. He completed his studies in Freiburg with Wolfgang Marschner and subsequently

became Concertmaster of the Basel Radio Symphony Orchestra in 1989 under the

baton of Nello Santi.

In 1992, he became artistic director of the Basel Chamber Symphony and founded the Camerata de Sa Nostra in Palma de Mallorca in 1994. From 1997, he was Principal Second Violinist in the Berlin Philharmonic under the musical direction of Claudio Abbado. In 1999 he founded The Berlin Philharmonic Jazz Group. He is also a member of the Absolute Ensemble New York City and the First Violin of the Aura Quartett Basel.

Taubitz has made numerous recordings as a soloist and as a jazz musician.

TRACK LIST “GEORGE”:

1. “Casta diva” / Frédéric Chopin / from Bellini’s Norma

2. Letter from Alfred de Musset to George Sand

3. “Nuit de décembre” / Ruggero Leoncavallo / poem by Alfred de Musset

4. “Les filles de Cadix” / Léo Delibes / poem by Pauline Viardot-García

5. Nocturne, op. 9 No 2 / Frédéric Chopin

6. Letter from George Sand to Frédéric Chopin

7. “Ballade à la lune” / Jacques Offenbach / from the operetta Fantasio, based on the play by Alfred de Musset

8. “Madrid” / Pauline Viardot / from “6 Mélodies, VWV 1133-1137∕1176”

9. Romance pour piano et violon / Pauline Viardot / 6 Morceaux, No. 1 VWV 3003

10. Letter to Marie Dorval from George Sand

11. “Ninon” / Francesco Paolo Tosti / poem by Alfred de Musset

12. “Faible cœur” / Frédéric Chopin arranged for voice by Pauline Viardot / From “12 Mazourkes de Frédéric Chopin” VWV 4028

13. “Separation” / Frédéric Chopin arranged for voice by Pauline Viardot /From “12 Mazourkes de Frédéric Chopin” VWV 4022

14. “Liebestraum” / Franz Liszt / S. 541 No. 3 in A♭ Major

15. Text by George Sand

16. “Les Bohémiennes” / Pauline Viardot / after Hungarian Dances by Johannes Brahms