Raquele Magalhaes / Sanja Bizjak PATCHWORK

Raquele Magalhaes is an eclectic musician, fascinated by the chamber music, displaying her musical talents in classical, improvised or interdisciplinary performances. 

She owes her current momentum to the confidence of the French state who awarded her a grant throughout her years at the National “Conservatoire” of music (CNSMD) in Paris and in Lyon. Raquele Magalhaes received the first prize for flute in Alain Marion’s class in Paris and successfully undertook a PhD with Philippe Bernold in Lyon. She was a pupil of Celso Woltzenlogel in Brazil and Philippe Pierlot in France, Great Masters of the flute advised her, such Jean-Pierre Rampal, Paula Robison, Felix Renggli, Ransom Wilson, Michael Faust, Keith Underwood, Benedek Csalog. 

She was a prizewinner at the Maria Canals international competition in Barcelona, at “Jeunesses musicales” in Bucarest, and five times first prizewinner at Brazilian National Competitions. She began her career as a soloist at the age of eleven with the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, the Rio de Janeiro University Symphony Orchestra and the Piracicaba Symphony Orchestra (Brazil). She pursued her soloist career with the National Orchestra of Lyon, the Pays de Savoie Orchestra and the Conservatoire Prizewinners’ Orchestra (France), the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra (China), the Ensemble Link Together (Germany) and the Galicia Symphonic Orchestra (Spain). 

Raquele Magalhaes was appointed Pricipal Flute with the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra in China in 2005-2007 and with the Conservatoire Prizewinners’ Orchestra in France from 2002 to 2005. She worked with Myung Whun Chung, Zsolt Nagy, Yo‐Yo Ma, Daniele Gatti, Josep Pons, Ilan Volkov, Lionel Bringuier, Leon Fleisher, Stefan Blunier, Mark Foster, Stefan Asbury, Pascal Rophé, Rumon Gamba, François-Xavier Roth. 

 Her great interest for chamber music has led her to participate in a variety of Festivals in Europe, Brazil and the Far East, such as : Croisement Festival (China), Martinu Festival (Czech), Classique au Vert Festival, Boucard Festival, Louberon Festival, Toulouse les Orgues Festival (France), International Brazilian Flute Association Festival, Londrina Festival (Brazil), Mednarodni Cikel Kocertov (Slovenia). She has performed in the Cité de la Musique, Salle Cortot, Orsay Museum Auditorium, Théâtre Mogador and the Salle Gaveau in Paris, Auditorium de Lyon in Lyon the Oriental Arts Center in Shanghai, the Orgelpark in Amsterdam, the Salla Cécilia Meireles and the Centro Cultural do Banco do Brasil in Rio de Janeiro, the Shiodome Hall and the Kobe Arts Center in Japan. At these venues, she has shared the stage and played chamber music with Maurice Bourgue, Sergio Azzolini, Wu Wei, Kenneth Weiss, Davitt Moroney, Karina Sabac, Alain Planès, Lise Berthaud, Philippe Bernold, Ariane Jacob, Xu Zhong, Emilie Gastaud, Theodor Comann, Romain Garioud and Alain Meunier. 

 In 2011 Raquele Magalhaes obtained her CA teaching Diploma and European Masters in Musical Education at the CNSMD in Paris. She worked with the composers Hugues Dufourt and Jérôme Combier for her research program entitled: “The contribution of plastic arts to musical interpretation”. She is professor at Fontenay-sous-Bois and Savigny-sur-Orge Conservatories. 

Raquele Magalhaes is the artistic director of the association “A Fleur de Notes” which develops Chamber music projects all over Europe. She is a member of the Orchestre Divertimento conduncted by Zahia Ziouani, as Principal Piccolo. 

In January 2013 she recorded for Naïve with the Choeur Accentus works of Janacek – a recording which received the highest recommendations from the cultural magazines Diapason d’Or and Telerama.

The composer Pierre Farago has dedicated his piece Borée to Anne-Gaëlle Chanon and Raquele Magalhaes who gave the world premiere performance in March 2014 at the Orgelpark in Amsterdam.

For the 2015-2016 season will welcome one new CD by evidence classics label from Raquele Magalhaes, Patchwork, gathers eastern-european composers from the XXth century.

Magdalena Kožená SONGS

Magdalena Kožená's multi-lingual recital shows this singer's formidable talent for performing widely varying musical styles. Beginning with her idiomatic French (of which we had a substantial sampling on her previous French arias disc . . . she uses her light but well-placed and penetrating mezzo to illuminate Ravel's seductive Madagascar Songs. Listen to how Kožená creates a nearhypnotic effect with her passionate repeated cries of "Nahandove". In Shostakovich's Satires (5 Romances for Soprano and Piano ) Kožená embodies the composer's varied emotional states, from bemusement to sarcasm, and, in the concluding "Kreutzer Sonata", repressed frenzy . . . After Shostakovich's sharp edges, Respighi's lush romantic rhapsody "Il Tramonto" allows Kožená the opportunity to luxuriate in long, expansive melodic lines as well as in the resonance of pure Italianate vowels, for which the singer provides an engaging fullness of tone and depth of expression. From this we turn to Schulhoff's "Drei Stimmungsbilder" (for mezzo-soprano, violin, and piano), which begins with a lazy, quasi blues song about the sea and ends in a Debussian impressionistic haze. Kožená's creamy tone and gentle delivery make even the German language sound soft and inviting. In Britten's "Charm of Lullabies" . . . her sincerity and unerring musical instincts shine through, communicating the power and poignancy of Britten's songs. The well-chosen selections offer a variety of accompaniments, from the flute, cello, and piano trio in the Ravel, to the string quartet in the Respighi, with Malcom Martineau's sensitive pianism providing fundamental support throughout. DG's recording provides vividly realistic sonics, placing the singer and instrumentalists in natural, well-balanced perspective. In sum, this is an excellent recital disc that will please connoisseurs of the voice as well as collectors of uncommon repertoire.

(Record Review / Victor Carr Jr, ClassicsToday.com / 01. September 2004)

Ravel wanted his "Chansons madécasses" to sound 'new, dramatic and erotic' and Kozená succeeds, performing them on full throttle, her phrases dripping with desire and anguish. In Shostakovich's "Satires" she negotiates the composer's difficult blend of emotion and irony with masterfull control. And she pares her voice down to gripping simplicity for Britten's "English Lullabies". Martineau's accompaniments are beautifully well-jugded -- almost another voice rather than an accompaniment. This feels less like an recital than an exploration of limits -- limits that Kozená will keep pushing back.

(Record Review / Warwick Thompson and Carzena Hugh-Jones, Classic FM / 01. May 2004)

Much interest in Magdalena Kozená's powerful new recital disc will be centered on Erwin Schulhoff's "Drei Stimmungsbilder" ("Three Atmospheric Portraits"), op. 12. This haunting piece by the singularly talented composer . . . is well worth hearing. The gifted mezzo is helped in no little part by the ideal accompaniment provided by Malcolm Martineau who also lends strong support to Ms. Kozená's moody singing of Britten's spooky "A Charm of Lullabies". The Czech singer's charmingly accented English lends the music an extra brooding quality. Written for Peter Pears, the music is a showcase for Ms. Kozená's ravishingly beautiful low voice. It would be hard to find a better performance of Respighi's magnificent work for soprano and string quartet, "Il tramonto" . . . none have found the sensuous heart of the music better than Kozená. The Henschel quartet plays splendidly, as do the instrumentalists in Ravel's "Chansons madécasses" . . . Young Magdalena Kozená proves a master of these challenging works, each and every one. This is an impressive follow up to her first recital and is, for this reviewer, the lovely mezzo's finest work on disc to date. The recording is first rate . . . Highly recommended.

(Record Review / James Canmer, Fanfare (Tenafly, NJ) / 01. November 2004)

A treasure-trove . . . this is a recital you can listen to in one sitting, marvelling at the artistry of a great singer. (Record Review / Matthew Rye, Daily Telegraph (London) / 11. December 2004)