Press comments"Balbeisi captured Rossi’s 'Lamento di Zaida,' witnessing her lover abducted, alternatively pleading and fiercely defiant to the gods, her voice glorious."
Review from the Kansas City Star, Libby Hanssen, 2015 "The gorgeous combination of voice and viola da gamba (an ancestor of both the guitar and the cello) was often heard in Europe during the Renaissance--but rarely since. Reviving that practice is Cantar alla Viola, featuring singer Nadine Balbeisi and viola da gamba player Fernando Marín. David Garland welcomes the duo to the WNYC studio to perform and talk about Spanish, Italian, and English music of the Renaissance, plus their unique take on Brazilian Bossa Nova." „Nadine Balbeisi has a voice of extraordinary purity, flawless in her intonation, perfectly balanced across her entire range and always singing with effortless composure. As the grief-stricken Mary Magdalene or as the angelic observer of the birth of Christ in Pasqualini’s lovely miniature, she is superbly sensitive.“ MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL Recording Of The Year 2011 “…I was already a strong admirer of her from her work with the duo ensemble Cantar alla Viola. Her highly expressive and utterly pure voice is the perfect instrument for this repertory. Her performances on this disc are, in a word, ravishing.” |
NewsCantar alla Viola CD nominated for International Classical Music Award! :
The french magazine Diapason has selected the CD Lamentarium as recommended outstanding CD of the month! Diapason d'Or January 2015:
"Lamentarium. Works by Rossi, Marazzoli, Pasqualini. Nadine Balbeisi, Theodora Baka, Atlante Double discovery: a bouquet of exceptional Roman laments and two singers who bring out infinite nuances of pain and the sensual delight of tears." |
“This music is truly lovely, focused and - perhaps most noticeably - reflects many moods...Nadine Balbeisi and Fernando Marín obviously have a great deal invested in the music, its emotional impact, the purposeful tension between text and music, at which we can safely say Corkine was expert.”
Mark Sealey, MusicWeb International
“Nadine Balbeisi and Fernando Marín perform with studied intelligence... Corkine’s music has been well realised.”
Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International
From the Magazine “Concerto” G8128 April/May 2010 Coming from the Chambre separée. Robert Jones: The Second Booke of Songs and Ayres. Cantar alla Viola: Nadine Balbeisi (Sopr.). Fernando Marín (Lyra-viol). La Má de Guido (2090) (p)2009 (Vertrieb Codaex) CD
"Lyra-viol: This instrument is not one that you run into everyday. It is a particular English form of the viola da gamba, set up mainly for the possibility of playing chords. The set of metal resonance strings give this alto version of the (young) Barytons its special sound. What did one do with the Lyra-viol? One could wondrously and smoothly accompany a voice on this instrument, with a range of over three Octaves, without necessarily needing a chordal instrument to fill in the harmonies. Therefore predestined for “Chamber Music” in trusted intimacy – and exactly this is what the soprano Nadine Balbeisi and they Lyra-viol specialist Fernando Marin cultivate. As a Duo, Cantar alla Viola holds a rather singular position. Incidentally, one does not necessarily have to hold this instrument between the legs and use a bow; one also has the option of placing it on the legs and plucking it like a lute. Even small imitations-playful ones, sometimes plucked and then sometimes bowed are all there, without further ado. More flexibility is hardly thinkable in the chambre separée for musically inclined people.
The Second Booke of Songs and Ayres by Robert Jones, contemporary of Dowland, has the appropriate delicate and subtle “intricate Song” for the performers. The singing is entirely in the prevailing taste of the period, for which the singer has the right feel. It requires affect, but in this particular combination only in small doses. Fernando Marin used performance technique advice from writings by Gannasi and Castiglione. He leads the bass line smoothly, like a second singer, and with as equally clean gestures, effortlessly creates the supportive harmonies. It is something for fine ears in romantic hours of early baroque. "
Reinhard Kriechbaum
From the Early Music Magazine “toccata- alte Musik Aktuell” Sep/Oct. 2009
"Originally from Jordan and the USA, Nadine Balbeisi studied at the University of Michigan and at the Conservatory of Music in Cologne. From the very first seconds of the CD "Blas de Castro" she knows how to grasp the listeners under her spell. Accompanied solely by Fernando Marín on the Vihuela de arco or the Lyra-viol, this CD becomes an unbelievably thrilling and intense listening experience. Presented on this disc is the complete polyphonic works by Juan Blas de Castro (c.1561-1631), a close friend of the spanisch poet Lope de Vega. I must give a heart-felt recommendation for anyone searching for an extraordinary CD with Spanisch Renaissance works."
