Together Yolanda Kondonassis & Jason Vieaux

• Suite mágica
• 1 I. Preludio 02:18
• 2 II. Vals 02:03
• 3 III. Tango 04:21
• 4 IV. Candombe 04:18
• Fantasia
• 5 I. Claroscuro 07:33
• 6 II. Cadencial 05:00
• 7 III. Brasilado 03:10
• Hypnotized
• 8 I. Entrance 02:26
• 9 II. Elysian 03:01
• 10 III. Float Out 03:12
• 11 IV. Together 02:40
• 12 V. Awaken 01:45
• Sonata for Harp & Guitar 'Spirit of Trees'
• 13 I. Andante cantabile - Maestoso rubato - Tempo I 07:12
• 14 II. Canon: Allegro 01:34
• 15 III. Andante maestoso - Fuga: Allegro - Andante grazioso 06:40
• 16 IV. Moderato - Allegro conspirito 02:51
• 17 V. Andante appassionato 04:07
• Knock on Wood
• 18 Knock on Wood 07:10
• Total Runtime 01:11:21

Info for Together

Internationally acclaimed solo artists Yolanda Kondonassis and Jason Vieaux join forces to showcase the rich colors and unique repertoire for harp and guitar. Internationally acclaimed harpist Yolanda Kondonassis and virtuoso classical guitarist Jason Vieaux join forces to release their first duo recording, Together, which features original works for harp and guitar including Alan Hovhaness' Spirit of Trees, Xavier Montsalvatge's Fantasia, Máximo Diego Pujol's Suite Magica, and two world premiere recordings of works commissioned by the duo: Knock on Wood (2012) by Keith Fitch and Hypnotized (2013) by Gary Schocker.

The album marks Kondonassis' 19th album in a recording career that has been recognized with a Grammy Award nomination, and broken boundaries with hundreds of thousands of discs and downloads sold worldwide. It is Vieaux's 13th recording and follows his most recent album, PLAY, for which he received a 2014 Grammy nomination.

Kondonassis explains, 'A common thread in compositions written for harp and guitar is often a nod to world music cultures - Latin, Asian, Middle Eastern, and everything in between . . . the result is a sonic space unlike most chamber music territories.' Vieaux adds, 'Part of what we're doing is attempting to expand the repertoire for guitar and harp because we think the combination of these two instruments is beautiful.'

Since 2012, Kondonassis and Vieaux have performed to critical acclaim from New York to California. The Cleveland Plain Dealer praised the duo's performance as 'a joy from top to bottom' adding that 'Kondonassis and Vieaux deserve to be termed magicians for the way they shaped phrases with natural fluidity, grace and, when required, fiery drama.' The Buffalo News raved, 'it was difficult to hear where one instrument ends and the other begins - the mystical effect of one great intangible apparent throughout the program: the intuitive synchronicity of Kondonassis and Vieaux.'

Yolanda Kondonassis, harp
Jason Vieaux, guitar

Yolanda Kondonassis
is celebrated as one of the world's premier solo harpists and is widely regarded as today's most recorded classical harpist. Hailed as "an extraordinary virtuosa" and "sheer luminescence at the harp," she has performed around the globe as a concerto soloist and in recital, bringing her unique brand of musicianship and warm artistry to an ever-increasing audience.

Since making her debut at age 18 with the New York Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta, Ms. Kondonassis has appeared as soloist with numerous major orchestras in the United States and abroad such as The Cleveland Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Houston Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Dallas Symphony, New York Chamber Symphony, Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfonica de Puerto Rico, Phoenix Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, New World Symphony, and Florida Orchestra, to name a few. Other solo appearances include engagements at Avery Fisher Hall, the 92nd Street Y and Taiwan's National Concert Hall.

American Harp (Azica CD-71281), released in 2013 and featuring original harp solos by John Williams, Lowell Liebermann, John Cage, Elliott Carter, Stephen Paulus, and Norman Dello Joio, marks her seventeenth album in a recording career that has broken boundaries and sold hundreds of thousands of discs and downloads worldwide. Her extensive discography includes Solo Harp: The Best of Yolanda Kondonassis (Azica CD-71273), celebrating twenty years of critically acclaimed recordings, her Grammy-nominated Telarc release of music by Takemitsu and Debussy entitled Air, and the world-premiere Telarc recording of Bright Sheng's Harp Concerto, written for Ms. Kondonassis. Other titles in her Telarc discography include Salzedo's Harp, Debussy's Harp, The Romantic Harp, Music of Hovhaness, her own (and first-ever) recording of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons with The Orchestra of Flanders, Quietude, A New Baroque, Pictures of the Floating World, Sky Music, and Scintillation. Her many discs have earned universal critical praise as she continues to be a pioneering force in the harp world, striving to make her instrument more accessible to audiences and to push the boundaries of what listeners expect of the harp. "Certainly, the harp can be heavenly –and should be at times– but that's only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this incredible instrument," Ms. Kondonassis said in a recent interview.

Chamber music is a passion for Ms. Kondonassis and she enjoys every opportunity to indulge. The Cleveland Plain Dealer praised her recent debut performance with guitarist Jason Vieaux as "a joy from top to bottom." Recent seasons have included a tour of New Zealand with the Still/Chase/Kondonassis Trio and frequent appearances at festivals throughout the United States such as the Marlboro, Santa Fe, Spoleto, Tanglewood, Vail, Bay Chamber, Strings in the Mountains, Innsbrook, Great Lakes, and Mainly Mozart Festivals. Her concert collaborations have included performances with the Shanghai, Rossetti, JACK, Jupiter, Biava, and Vermeer string quartets, pianist Jeremy Denk, and flutist Marina Piccinini, among numerous others.

As an author, composer, and arranger, Ms. Kondonassis has published three books to date: On Playing the Harp, a comprehensive guide to harp technique and methodology that has quickly become a standard in the harp pedagogy literature, The Yolanda Kondonassis Collection, a compilation of her many original transcriptions, arrangements and compositions for the harp, and The Yolanda Kondonassis Christmas Collection, featuring Ms. Kondonassis' most popular arrangements from her acclaimed disc, Dream Season: The Christmas Harp. Carl Fischer Music publishes all of her works.

Her long list of national and international honors includes top prizes in the Affiliate Artists National Auditions in New York and the Maria Korchinska International Harp Competition in Great Britain. The first harpist to receive the Darius Milhaud Prize, she is committed to the advancement of contemporary music through both the performance and commissioning of new works for the harp. The recipient of two Solo Recitalists Grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and a 2011 Cleveland Arts Prize, Ms. Kondonassis has been featured on CNN and PBS television as well as Sirius/XM Radio's Symphony Hall and National Public Radio's All Things Considered, St. Paul Sunday Morning, Tiny Desk Concerts and Performance Today. In addition to her active performing and recording schedule, she heads the harp departments at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and The Cleveland Institute of Music, and has presented master classes around the world.

Ms. Kondonassis carries her passionate artistic commitment to issues regarding the protection of natural resources, air quality, and climate change. Royalties from several of her projects are donated to earth causes and she is the founder and director of Earth at Heart, a non-profit organization devoted to earth literacy and inspiration through the arts. Her first children's book, entitled Our House is Round: A Kid's Book About Why Protecting Our Earth Matters, was released in 2012 by Skyhorse Publishing.

Born in Norman, Oklahoma, Ms. Kondonassis attended high school at Interlochen Arts Academy. She continued her education at The Cleveland Institute of Music, where she received her Bachelor's and Master's degrees as a student of Alice Chalifoux. Yolanda Kondonassis plays a Lyon & Healy Salzedo Model harp. For more information on Yolanda Kondonassis, visit: www.YolandaHarp.com.

Jason Vieaux
“among the elite of today’s classical guitarists” (Gramophone), is the classical guitarist that goes beyond the classical. He has earned a reputation for putting his expressive gifts and virtuosity at the service of a remarkably wide range of music, and his schedule of recital, concerto, chamber music, teaching and recording commitments is distinguished with return engagements throughout the U.S. and abroad. Vieaux’s solo recitals have been a feature at every major guitar series in North America, as well as many of the important guitar festivals in Asia, Australia, Europe, and Mexico. Recent highlights include returns to the Caramoor Festival, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and New York’s 92nd Street Y. Vieaux’s appearances for Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Music@Menlo, Strings Music Festival, Grand Teton, and many others have forged his reputation as a first-rate chamber musician and programmer. His recent collaborations have included recitals with Escher Quartet, acclaimed harpist Yolanda Kondonassis, and accordion/bandoneón virtuoso Julien Labro. Vieaux’s passion for new music has fostered premieres of works by Dan Visconti, David Ludwig, Jerod Tate, Eric Sessler, José Luis Merlin and Gary Schocker.

Jason Vieaux has performed as concerto soloist with over 50 orchestras, including Cleveland, Houston, Toronto, San Diego, Ft. Worth, Santa Fe, Charlotte, Buffalo, Grand Rapids, Kitchener-Waterloo, Richmond, Edmonton, IRIS Chamber, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Chautauqua Festival, and New Hampshire Music Festival. Some of the conductors he has worked with include David Robertson, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Jahja Ling, Stefan Sanderling, Michael Stern, David Lockington, Steven Smith, and Edwin Outwater.

Vieaux continues to bring important repertoire alive in the recording studio as well. His latest album, PLAY, a selection of audience favorites celebrating Vieaux’s 20 years of professional touring, was released in January 2014 on Azica Records. Of PLAY, Soundboard Magazine writes, “If you ever want to give a friend a disc that will cement his or her love for the guitar, this is a perfect candidate,” while Premier Guitar claims, “You’d be hard pressed to find versions performed with more confidence, better tone, and a more complete understanding of the material.” Among his previous eleven commercial albums is an Azica disc of Astor Piazzolla’s music with Julien Labro and A Far Cry Chamber Orchestra. Bach: Works for Lute, Vol.1 hit No. 13 on Billboard’s Classical Chart after its first week and received rave reviews by Gramophone, The Absolute Sound, and Soundboard. Images of Metheny features music by American jazz legend Pat Metheny, who, after hearing this landmark recording, declared: “I am flattered to be included in Jason’s musical world.” Sevilla: The Music of Isaac Albeniz made several Top Ten lists the year of its release. Vieaux’s albums and live performances are regularly heard on radio and internet around the world, and his work is the subject of feature articles in print and online around the world, including such magazines as Acoustic Guitar, MUSO, Gramophone, and on NPR’s “Deceptive Cadence.”

In 2012, the Jason Vieaux School of Classical Guitar was launched with ArtistWorks Inc., an unprecedented technological interface that provides one-on-one online study with Vieaux for guitar students around the world. In 2011, he co-founded the guitar department at The Curtis Institute of Music, and he has taught at The Cleveland Institute of Music since 2001.

Vieaux is a member of the Advisory Board of the Guitar Foundation of America, and is affiliated with Philadelphia’s Astral Artists. His primary teachers were Jeremy Sparks and John Holmquist. In 1992 he was awarded the prestigious GFA International Guitar Competition First Prize, the event’s youngest winner ever. He is also honored with a Naumburg Foundation top prize, a Cleveland Institute of Music Alumni Achievement Award, and a Salon di Virtuosi Career Grant. In 1995, Vieaux was an Artistic Ambassador of the U.S. to Southeast Asia. For more Information, visit www.jasonvieaux.com;

This album contains no booklet.