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September Marks the Release of Anne Akiko Meyers' Serenade: The Love Album

Leonard Bernstein’s  "Serenade" is paired with ten world premiere arrangements from seven living composer-arrangers of love-inspired music from stage and screen

London Symphony Orchestra/

Keith Lockhart, Conductor

Release Date: September 18, 2015

Violin virtuoso Anne Akiko Meyers explores and celebrates the facets of love with a stunning new album of works for violin and orchestra.

July 9, 2015 (New York, NY) – This September, eOne will release Anne Akiko Meyers’ 31^st album: Serenade: The Love Album, an exploration of love in all its dimensions, featuring Leonard Bernstein’s “Serenade” and ten world premieres from seven living composer-arrangers.  “Serenade” is one of Leonard Bernstein’s masterpieces, and was recorded in anticipation of the composer’s upcoming 100^th birthday celebration.  It is based on a reading of Plato’s Symposium, in which seven ancient Greek philosophers debate the meaning of love. Anne Akiko Meyers, a champion of living composers, commissioned seven renowned composer-arrangers to create ten works for violin and orchestra from love-inspired music from stage and film to pair with the Serenade.  The London Symphony Orchestra and conductor Keith Lockhart join Anne in this recording, which will be released on the celebration of Anne’s own parents’ 50^th wedding anniversary, produced by Susan Napodano DelGiorno and engineered by GRAMMY-award winner Silas Brown.

Leonard Bernstein’s "Serenade," originally titled Symposium, is a five movement tour de force for violin, strings, harp, and percussion.  It was premiered by Isaac Stern in Venice on September 12, 1954, with the composer conducting and is Bernstein’s most popular piece for solo instrumentalist and orchestra.

New works on the album include orchestrated arrangements of modern classics such as Brad Dechter’s versions of “Laura,” Gershwin’s “Someone to Watch Over Me,” and a bluesy, honky-tonk iteration of “Summertime.” “Gabriel’s Oboe,” arranged by J.A.C. Redford, with its acrobatic, high notes, is juxtaposed poignantly with the solemn beauty of Steven Mercurio’s take on “Emmanuel.” Matthew Naughtin’s tongue-in-cheek “Jalousie,” bookended by elements of the Tchaikovsky Violin concerto, energetically flows into Astor Piazzolla’s soul-busting “Oblivion,” arranged by Peter von Weinhardt, and to the magical luster of Leigh Harline’s “When You Wish Upon a Star,” arranged by father-son composing duo Steven and Adam Schoenberg. Dechter’s soaring reworking of “I’ll Be Seeing You” and Bernstein’s “Somewhere” from West Side Story close out the album. Complete tracklisting is below.

Serenade: The Love Album was recorded on the ‘Ex-Vieuxtemps’ Guarneri del Gesu violin, dated 1741, which is considered by many to be the finest sounding violins in existence.  Anne Akiko Meyers has been awarded exclusive lifetime use of this instrument.  This year, she was featured in a story with the violin on CBS Sunday Morning (http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/violinmaking-a-historic-art/?utm_source=01-14-09_Contacts&utm_campaign=277b502655-Anne+Akiko+Meyers+Serenade&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1497688fe3-277b502655-59975090) .

Anne Akiko Meyers was the top-selling classical instrumentalist on Billboard in 2014, a year in which she released two critically-heralded and popular albums.  The Four Seasons: The Vivaldi Album, released in February 2014, debuted at #1 on the classical Billboard charts, and American Masters, released in September, was named one of the Best of 2014 by Google Play and called “the most noteworthy new music encounter” of the year by the Chicago Tribune.

For more details about Serenade: The Love Album and Anne Akiko Meyers’s upcoming concert appearances, please visit www.anneakikomeyers.com.

About Anne Akiko Meyers

Known for her passionate performances, purity of sound, poetic interpretations, innovative programming and commitment to commissioning new works, Anne Akiko Meyers is one of the most celebrated violinists embraced around the world today.  Possessing a rare ability to connect with audiences from the concert stage, online, in television, and radio broadcasts, Meyers has actively maintained an extensive touring schedule for close to 30 years, and regularly performs in recital and as guest soloist with many of the world’s top orchestras.  She is a best-selling recording artist who has released 32 albums and was the top-selling traditional classical instrumental soloist on Billboard’s charts in 2014.

2015 fall highlights include a nationwide PBS broadcast special and Naxos DVD release of the world premiere of Samuel Jones Violin Concerto with the All-Star Orchestra led by Gerard Schwarz as well as the French premiere Mason Bates’ Violin Concerto with Leonard Slatkin and the Orchestre de Lyon. Two new recordings will be released this season-Naïve Classiques celebrates Arvo Pärt's 80th birthday with works for violin and orchestra, led by Kristjan Järvi and the MDR Leipzig Orchestra and “Serenade: The Love Album” a recording with Keith Lockhart and the London Symphony Orchestra, of Leonard Bernstein's Serenade and ten newly commissioned arrangements from the American Songbook and Golden Age of film. Meyers will also perform recital and solo appearances throughout the Americas and Europe.

Please visit www.anneakikomeyers.com for more information.

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Serenade: The Love Album Track Listing

Leonard Bernstein: Serenade (after Plato's "Symposium") (1954)

1.              I. Phaedrus; Pausanias (Lento; Allegro marcato)

2.              II. Aristophanes (Allegretto)

3.              III. Eryximachus (Presto)

4.              IV. Agathon (Adagio)

5.              V. Socrates; Alcibiades (Molto tenuto; Allegro molto vivace)

6.              Ennio Morricone & Andrea Morricone: ‘Love Theme’ from “Cinema Paradiso”

(arr. Angela Morley)

7.              David Raksin: Laura* (arr. Brad Dechter)

8.              George Gershwin: Someone to Watch Over Me* (arr. Brad Dechter)

9.              George Gershwin: Summertime* (arr. Brad Dechter)

10.            Ennio Morricone: ‘Gabriel's Oboe’* from “The Mission” (arr. J.A.C. Redford)

11.            Michel Colombier: ‘Emmanuel* (arr. Steven Mercurio)

12.            Jacob Gade: Jalousie* (arr. Matthew Naughtin)

13             Astor Piazzolla: Oblivion* (arr. Peter von Weinhardt)

14.            Leigh Harline: Wish Upon A Star* (arr. Adam Schoenberg & Steven Schoenberg)

15.            Sammy Fain: I'll Be Seeing You* (arr. Brad Dechter)

16.            Leonard Bernstein: ‘Somewhere’* from “West Side Story” (arr. J.A.C. Redford)