Gareth Koch Releases Album ‘Carmina Burana’

April 26, 2024

Remastered and Released to streaming for the first time in 2024 here is one of Gareth Koch’s Master Works.

My first encounter with the Carmina Burana was as a young chorister in a performance given in 1983 at the Sydney Opera House. The choir and orchestra were directed by one of my teachers, the late and great Richard Gill. The excitement of that musical experience made a lasting impression on my musical consciousness.

During the European summer of 1995 in Vienna I began a draft version of the Carmina Burana for Solo Guitar. Transcribing the medieval & folk-inspired movements came first, then the challenge of the mighty opening chorus O Fortuna. In an attempt to interest record companies in the project I recorded a ‘demo’ version of O Furtuna, in a single take, in a Viennese cellar!

My publishers and several record companies showed great interest in my interpretation of Orff’s work and very quickly plans started to come together to record in a venue in Vienna. Unfortunately, these plans fell apart due to some pre-existing contract obligations. An opportunity arose to record the work in Australia, and this prompted my return.

The recording of Carmina Burana for Solo Guitar was completed in 1997 over three consecutive nights in Newcastle’s Christ Church Cathedral. The natural resonance & ambience of the cathedral compliment the recording. There are no added effects to this recording which is completely natural & live sounding.

Recording the Carmina Burana was both a physical and mental achievement that has become one of the highlights of my career. The opportunity to re-master the recording and release it digitally brings back to mind the exhilaration of that performance in that venue, over those three nights – still deeply embedded in my memory. It is the synthesis of a lifelong interest in medieval music and the desire to create an exciting and unique live performance piece for guitar.

About Gareth Koch
Gareth Koch is an ARIA Award winning multi-instrumentalist, recording artist, guitar soloist, composer & songwriter. He has recorded a sizeable repertory across multiple genres spanning works for classical guitar, flamenco, original compositions, arrangements, medieval projects, rock & songwriting. He has appeared at major festivals within Australia, Europe, Asia and North America.

Born in Milan, Gareth began his musical studies on piano and clarinet, and at age 12 was accepted into the Mozarteum in Salzburg. He received his Bachelor of Music degree at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music before winning scholarships for advanced guitar study at The Royal Madrid Conservatorium & the Vienna Academy of Music. He holds a PhD in Music & has lectured in music across Australian & European universities.

In 2002 Gareth formed the first guitar supergroup with Karin Schaupp & The Grigoryan Brothers, Slava & Leonard. Saffire – The Australian Guitar Quartet soared to #1 on the Classical Music Charts and even featured on ARIA pop charts. The quartet released a total of 3 best-selling albums & was Australia’s biggest selling classical act for several years.

Gareth is involved with many cross genre projects & has released a succession of collaborative albums with Martin Kennedy & with ARIA Hall of Fame inductee Steve Kilbey (The Church). His recent release ‘The Guitar Player’ received a coveted 5 star review from The Sydney Morning Herald. Gareth’s current output has a strong rock bias with classical overtones & his writing is increasingly focussed on the ethereal nature of music.

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Neil Tatar Releases Single ‘Nightwalker’

March 27, 2024

It’s 3 AM, you are awake, walking alone in the darkness… and everyone knows there are things that go bump in the night. This is Nightwalker, a cool instrumental that is eerily comforting. Neil’s guitar sets a nice foundation for Tom Eaton, who adds a unique touch to create a special listening experience.

Neil Tatar is an award winning composer, guitarist and pianist. An improviser and expressive musician by nature, his composing and performing reflect his meditative approach to music. Influenced by his many years of working with legendary cellist David Darling and guitarist Will Ackerman, his passionate expression is clearly heard in his approach to everything he plays. Neil’s music has been described as “peaceful, reflective instrumental music”, offering his listeners a meditative & healing experience. It can be heard on SiriusXM Spa, Music Choice Soundscapes, Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora, Amazon, Bandcamp, InsightTimer and more. Neil is also a C.A.R.E Channel artist, with his music played in over 1,000 hospitals and Hospices.

Each of his albums have received international airplay and recognition, and have reached a #1 ranking worldwide on Zone Music Reporter’s radio airplay chart. In addition, Neil was voted Best New Artist by ZMR for his album ”Where Did The Time Go”, a collaboration with Grammy® Award-winning cellist David Darling released in 2013. Since then he has released “Learning To Fly” in 2015, and “After The Rain” in 2018, recording both at Imaginary Road Studios under the guidance of legendary producer and guitarist Will Ackerman.

Presently, Neil continues his improvisational approach to composing and recording his uniquely beautiful music, providing his listeners with some interesting new releases.

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Peter Calandra Releases Album ‘Spirit’

March 27, 2024

Spirit, the 2024 release by Peter Calandra, is an album of beautiful piano based compositions. The 13 tracks on the album contain 10 original pieces composed by Peter along with 3 arrangements of early 1970’s songs Calandra played as a teen in bands. The music ranges from sweet folk-like solo piano melodies to spacious, soulful piano accompanied by deeply ambient synthesizer washes and lyrical ballads. Quiet music for a loud world.

Kathy Parsons (mainlypiano.com 12/13/2023): “Peter is an artist who is very comfortable in a wide range of music genres, and if I had to put this piece into a category, it would likely be ambient, but like so much of Peter’s music, it really defies classification and is simply a beautiful piano solo by Peter Calandra and one of my favorites for the year. Very highly recommended!”

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Peter Calandra is an award winning, prolific composer and keyboard player whose solo albums are wonderfully diverse, spanning world music, jazz, contemporary jazz, new age, pop, and neo-classical. Three of his recent albums of original music — First Light (2015), The Road Home (2017) and Carpe Noctem (2018) were nominated for ZMR Awards.

As a Film & TV composer, Calandra scored over 100 films and wrote over 2000 compositions for television. He has composed music for every major television network including the FIFA World Cup Theme for FOX Sports, the Special Olympics World Games and Invictus Games Theme for ESPN, as well as writing music for the Kennedy Center Honors on CBS from 2015 thru 2020.

Calandra has been immersed in the New York City music scene for most of his life. As a keyboard player he performed in the Broadway productions of Miss Saigon, The Lion King, Les Miserables, The Phantom Of The Opera, and Little Shop Of Horrors. He has also performed with the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra, NY Pops Orchestra, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Don Cherry, Aretha Franklin, Allen Ginsberg, Annie Golden, Donna McKechnie, Lillianne Montevecchi, and he spent 16 years as the keyboard player in the NYC-based Climax Band, the creative vehicle for artist and musician Larry Rivers.

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Bob Yonker Releases Album ‘The Seeker’

March 27, 2024

The songs on this album were almost entirely composed in the moment during the recording session. It was my intent to just allow the musical tones and energy of the Universe to flow through to create an album that will “speak” to the listeners in whatever way is needed.

Bob Yonker creates solo piano music with the intent of calming the mind, soothing the soul, and healing the planet one note at a time.

Growing up in the northeast, Yonker’s earliest musical memory is of his mother singing and playing the piano in his childhood home. He can remember his curiosity while watching her play and was always fascinated by the sounds created by the piano and how it worked.

At the age of 4, he started playing simple songs all by himself. At 6 he started lessons, but after a year, his teacher realized that Bob was playing by ear and not reading the notes. Bob had had his sister play the song for him and he would then learn it by listening, and was “found out” after playing his piece for a recital in the wrong key. He later did learn how to read, but has always been more comfortable playing his own style and his own compositions best.

Being told by colleges that his style of music was not what they were looking for without classical training, Bob decided to change career paths and received a degree in agricultural science from Penn state, and worked many years helping the environment, while working second jobs in group homes for the mentally challenged, which he enjoyed immensely, as well as being the organist for his hometown church.

In the 90’s, while still working full-time, Bob went back to school and received a triple degree in Special Education, Elementary Education, and Early Childhood Education, which allowed him to switch career paths once again to become a special needs teacher.

Now “re-passioned” from his teaching career, Bob has returned to his first love – music – and has composed 7 albums of contemplative, contemporary, and meditative solo piano music as well as one Christmas album. His 8^th, and latest, album, The Seeker, is comprised of songs improvised on the spot at the recording studio with the intent to bring calm and joy and maybe even emotional healing to the listener. Many pieces were inspired by Bob’s new life in Europe with his wife Karen. Bob has performed for local fans in the town where he lives and has begun working cooperatively with a local therapist in sound healing and breath sessions playing intuitively for those participating.

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Evening Ocean Releases New Album ‘The Great Love’

February 23, 2024

Starting 17 years ago with Evening Ocean’s first album The Attraction, then again in 2011 with The Kiss, Evening Ocean returns 12 years later on fire with a stunning album of wordless beauty and hushed intimacy: The Great Love.

The album opens with the upbeat synths of “Believe In Good Things”, showing Evening Ocean at a creative peak and doesn’t let go until the very last note. It mesmerizes the listener with what could be called passionate ambient. The album floats over a Bermuda’s Triangle of hopeful melodies nested inside haunting strings; while fractured ambient pianos are hand painted with lush synth textures and otherworldly effects.

The Great Love has the feel of a heartbreakingly beautiful movie, with raindrop notes now a fevered séance – painting the ether with a love felt too deeply for words. Evening Ocean performs an act of sonic cinematography that lingers in a way that only a favorite album can.

Track Listing

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“The Great Love” is the third album from Evening Ocean, the band name of 17 years for Robert Shahidi who wrote, performed, mixed and produced as the two albums prior. An album 12 years in the making, Evening Ocean’s prior 2 albums “The Attraction” & “The Kiss” reached 14 million streams on Pandora and reached the top 25 on Echoes, the syndicated nationwide radio show for electronic music played on over 80 radio stations nationwide.

At 31 songs, the new album pushes the limits of a single CD. The elusive sound is captured as an unapologetic love letter to electronica. Seeking visuals that matched the album’s range of instruments and emotions: synths/strings, pianos, upbeat, melancholy and haunting, Robert studied AI mediums that were just being made available when the album was being finished. Robert’s videos for Believe In Good Things, What We Hear, The Outside World and Keepsake made their debuts on VEVO and helped Evening Ocean become a Featured Artist on the new music video platform GOGOPIX.TV

“The Great Love” is a magical, electronic instrumental album and visual journey showing Evening Ocean at their creative peak. Fans of electronica music will quickly list it among their favorite albums of 2024.

“The Great Love” was mastered by Zino Mikorey in Berlin. He also mastered for Ludovico Einaudi, Nils Frahm, Olafur Arnalds and Rival Consoles.

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Gareth Koch Releases Single ‘Rumba Flamenca Arabe’

February 23, 2024

The rumba is an upbeat & rhythmically syncopated flamenco style, ideal for dancing & festivities. It is an incredibly flexible genre, able to assimilate a multitude of influences such as Latin, Arabic or pop-contemporary. The rumba is arguably the most recognisable & widely listened to of all flamenco music. It’s lively tempo & irresistible groove, make it hugely popular around the world.

Gareth Koch is an ARIA Award winning multi-instrumentalist, recording artist, guitar soloist, composer & songwriter. He has recorded a sizeable repertory across multiple genres spanning works for classical guitar, flamenco, original compositions, arrangements, medieval projects, rock & songwriting. He has appeared at major festivals within Australia, Europe, Asia and North America.

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Shoshana Michel Releases Solo Piano Album ‘Storyteller’

February 19, 2024

Soundslikecafe is proud to present this wonderful solo pianist from the USA.

The music from Storyteller was inspired by and reflects different facets of Shoshana’s life, emotions, people and memories. It is a blend of compositions written not so long ago and those that were, but for one reason or another were not recorded, until now.

About

Shoshana Michel is a classically trained contemporary solo pianist. She has performed different genres of music at different venues from ragtime at Knott’s Berry Farm to contemporary solo piano at The Galleria at South Bay in Redondo Beach, California.

Storyteller is Shoshana’s seventh solo piano album. Her music has been used in documentaries, a promo film, has received accolades, nominations and awards and is featured on Sirius XM Radio – The Spa, Calm Radio, Whisperings Solo Piano Radio and many other stations worldwide.

Shoshana’s playing has been described as “graceful and flowing” and “refined and elegant”. Her music will inspire, stir the heart and touch the soul. The music she writes is inspired by life experiences, people and emotions. Shoshana feels that music is healing and is passionate about sharing her music with others. She currently resides with her avian family in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Album Credits

All pieces composed and performed by Shoshana Michel

Produced by Shoshana Michel

Recorded on a Shigeru Kawai SK7L

Engineered and mastered by Joe Bongiorno at Piano Haven Studio, Sedona, AZ

Graphic art and design by Matt Strieby

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Neil Tatar Releases Single ‘When We Met’

January 26, 2024

“When We Met” offers an intriguing conversation between piano and violin. It tells a story that is reminiscent of meeting that special someone for the first time. Celebratory in nature, “When We Met” presents a musical expression of some of life’s most meaningful memories.

“Neil Tatar carries the heart of a romantic around with him. His emotions are rarely hidden and seldom contained. His music is as direct and honest as music can be. He’s not hiding anything and the result is music which is breathtakingly honest and deeply affecting. That Neil writes and performs on both the guitar and piano with equal grace creates a broader palette from which to draw. The result is a listening experience that never for a moment fails to beguile the mind and touch the heart.”

-Will Ackerman, Grammy Award Winner & Windham Hill Records Founder

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Presently, Neil continues his improvisational approach to composing and recording his uniquely beautiful music, providing his listeners with some interesting new releases.

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Orchestra Indigo Releases Album ‘The Small Hours’

January 14, 2024

Our first feature album for 2024

Orchestra Indigo is an ambient music project created by recording artist Rick Randlett. Like many new artistic projects, the impetus for it was the the Covid pandemic, with it’s months of isolation and no live performances. Reaching back to his college studies in composition, orchestration, and electronic music, Rick is creating a unique orchestra electronic hybrid with neoclassical overtones that envelopes the listener in relaxing waves of sound.

A message from Rick…

“The Small Hours is a soundtrack for one sleepless night from midnight to dawn. Sitting alone, in a small dark room with drink in hand, a man contemplates his life, and ponders the decisions that have brought him to this place.”

Track Listing

1. Midnight (4:28)

2. The Small Hours (4:16)

3. Moments Of Uncertainty (5:48)

4. Walking Dark Streets (3:42)

5. After The Rain (6:22)

6. Hour Of The Wolf (4:33)

7. Meditation On Departed Friends (4:28)

8. Sleepless Once More (5:13)

9. 4:44 AM Blues (3:52)

10. Dawn’s Arrival (4:57)

11. Day Spring (5:20)

About

The fascinating story behind the emergence of new age artist Orchestra Indigo and its beautifully melodic and deeply inspiring debut album ‘Farewell to Memories’ has its roots in the lockdown early in the pandemic, when musicians around the world, with their regular gigs suddenly stripped away, were trying to figure out their next creative steps.

Having released his fifth blues rock oriented album ‘Night Songs’ in February 2020, multi-talented singer/songwriter, guitarist and keyboardist Rick Randlett had every intention of hitting the road in support of the project. That had been his m.o. for years, playing up to 125 regional club and festival dates in and around his adopted home state of Florida for nearly a decade and a half after launching his solo career in 1999 with ‘All Alone’. Three of his releases reached the Top Ten on the Roots Music Report charts, and he collaborated on the album ‘Hauntings’ with fellow blues singer Cassie Keenum in 2017.

Turning his anxiety over the sudden work stoppage into a fresh stream of creativity, he began exploring ambient, new age style compositions. Rick embraced the freedom of composing longer pieces combining piano melodies with an array of dynamic colors he created using synthesized strings.

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Robin Meloy Goldsby Releases ‘Dearest Things’ EP

December 18, 2023

We are proud to feature this stunning artist new to Soundslikecafe

Robin Meloy Goldsby has sculpted a place for herself as a master of gracefully played ambient music that elevates the elegance of any occasion. With decades of experience in the world’s best piano rooms enlightening her work and sparking creativity, Goldsby’s 2023 recording of beautiful solo piano music — Dearest Things — invites her audience into the musical sphere of European Grand Hotels, castles, and gardens. Robin performs regularly at Excelsior Hotel Ernst in Cologne and maintains a summer artist residency at Brenners Park Hotel & Spa in Baden-Baden. Her recordings are featured daily at Mediterana, an award-winning wellness oasis in Germany.

“Powerful, emotional music . . .” Matt Stuart, Time Magazine

Robin Goldsby is a Steinway Artist with over 200 million streams on Pandora. She has been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered and NPR’s Piano Jazz with Marian McPartland. Goldsby has performed solo piano music at Buckingham Palace for King Charles, for German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, and for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court installation of Chief Justice Debra Todd. Goldsby serves as a cultural ambassador for organizations dedicated to transatlantic relations and women’s rights.

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Tag: instrumental

Gareth Koch Releases Album ‘Carmina Burana’

Neil Tatar Releases Single ‘Nightwalker’

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Peter Calandra Releases Album ‘Spirit’

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Connect

Bob Yonker Releases Album ‘The Seeker’

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Connect

Evening Ocean Releases New Album ‘The Great Love’

Track Listing

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Gareth Koch Releases Single ‘Rumba Flamenca Arabe’

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Connect with Gareth

Shoshana Michel Releases Solo Piano Album ‘Storyteller’

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Album Credits

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Connect with Shoshana

Neil Tatar Releases Single ‘When We Met’

Orchestra Indigo Releases Album ‘The Small Hours’

Robin Meloy Goldsby Releases ‘Dearest Things’ EP

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