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RUTH RETURNS, WHILE JOHANNA “HARPS”
Welcome back to Anonymous 4 veteran, Ruth Cunningham, who has returned to the fold to sing in place of founding member Johanna Maria Rose. Also a founding member of the group, Ruth went her own way 10 years ago, to pursue studies in sound healing and improvisation, to record collaborative projects with other musicians as well as create her own solo programs. Ruth will be touring regularly and recording with Anonymous 4, as well as continuing her own work. Meanwhile Johanna’s destiny is taking her to an exciting collaboration with Alyssa Reit and her ensemble, Singing Harp. Johanna will be wearing a number of hats for this wonderful troupe that brings fairy tales to life with music, theatre, and storytelling. Go to Johanna’s “Catching Up” feature for further details of her adventures Looking ahead into the 2007-2008 season, A4 will perform and record The Cherry Tree, a new a cappella program interweaving two of the group’s favorite repertoires: medieval English carols and traditional American harmonies (you can hear us singing these repertoires on our CDs On Yoolis Night and American Angels). Next in line for take-off is our second “a cappella project with instruments:” Lost Girls will feature American folk songs about girls who face many kinds of challenges. A4 will also continue to tour Long Time Traveling with violin/mandolin master Darol Anger and guitar guru Scott Nygaard |
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 Gloryland - A4’s recording of American Favorites is a long-running hit When we first began to work on the music for our American Angels recording, we had been singing together for many years; but a couple of us were new to singing Anglo-American spiritual vocal music. It wasn’’t long before we were all deeply in love with the tunes we had chosen; and soon it became clear that our concert-going and CD-listening audience had fallen in love with them, as well. We simply had to sing more American tunes. Because of that, and because of the great success of American Angels (80+ weeks on the Billboard Classical Top 25 and counting . . . ) we returned to the studio in October 2005 for another recording of American music. Gloryland is the diary of our second pilgrimage to the roots of Anglo-American vocal music. The journey has led us to more of the most beautiful religious ballads, folk songs, folk hymns, and gospel songs ever to be found. Each sung poem contains a world of meaning in itself: together they tell a story of love and loss, hope and redemption.Our
versions of the religious
ballads and folk songs on this program follow the performances of
traditional
singers from the Ozark and the Appalachian mountains. We sing shape
note tunes
in the spare three-part harmonizations in which they first appear in
the
nineteenth-century tunebooks. Similarly, we have chosen to perform two
gospel
songs as they were originally set by their composers. The other hymns
and
gospel songs on Gloryland were arranged by members of
Anonymous 4. Click here for track list, sound clips and purchase info |
| American Angels is a #1 smash hit
American Angels spent almost a year on the Billboard Classical Top Fifteen list since its release in March '04, peaking at #1. Online giant Amazon.com lists American Angels among its "Top 100 Overall Customers' Favorites" (which includes all categories, including pop and rock), and in the "Top 10 Customer Favorites in Opera & Vocal" for 2004. The reviews have been glowing (we blush to say) and, more important, they come from a wide range of reviewers -- classical, of course, but also folk, country and pop outlets.
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It was a
couple of years ago that we thought
we'd explore some of the great musical heritage of our own country, and
the idea of 
Ruth has just released two new solo cds: Light and Shadow: Chants, Prayers and Improvisations and Harpmodes: Journey for Voice and Harp. Both are available for purchase at her website 
Anonymous
4 has been involved in some intriguing projects and collaborations, but
there is really nothing like Richard Einhorn's Voices of Light, an
oratorio
written to accompany the 1928 classic silent film, "The Passion of Joan
of Arc" (dir. Carl Dreyer). The combination of image, text and music is
powerful, and we've never known it to leave an audience
anything other than deeply moved.