Insomnia Katharina Konradi & Ammiel Bushakevitz

• Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828): An die untergehende Sonne, D. 457:
• 1Schubert: An die untergehende Sonne, D. 45705:32
• Im Abendrot, D. 799:
• 2Schubert: Im Abendrot, D. 79903:25
• An mein Herz, D. 860:
• 3Schubert: An mein Herz, D. 86003:06
• Berthas Lied in der Nacht, D. 653:
• 4Schubert: Berthas Lied in der Nacht, D. 65304:01
• Die Nacht:
• 5Schubert: Die Nacht03:51
• Die Sterne, D. 939:
• 6Schubert: Die Sterne, D. 93903:30
• Schwanengesang, D. 957:
• 7Schubert: Schwanengesang, D. 957: No. 4, Ständchen03:49
• An den Mond, D. 296:
• 8Schubert: An den Mond, D. 29604:48
• Der Geistertanz, D. 116:
• 9Schubert: Der Geistertanz, D. 11601:58
• Des Fischers Liebesglück, D. 933:
• 10Schubert: Des Fischers Liebesglück, D. 93308:24
• Lied der Anne Lyle, D. 830:
• 11Schubert: Lied der Anne Lyle, D. 83003:27
• An die Nachtigall, D. 196:
• 12Schubert: An die Nachtigall, D. 19601:59
• Meeres Stille, D. 216:
• 13Schubert: Meeres Stille, D. 21601:53
• Der zürnenden Diana, D. 707:
• 14Schubert: Der zürnenden Diana, D. 70705:23
• Gesang der Norna, D. 831:
• 15Schubert: Gesang der Norna, D. 83103:28
• Rosamunde, D. 797:
• 16Schubert: Rosamunde, D. 797: No. 1, Romanze03:23
• Der Zwerg, D. 771:
• 17Schubert: Der Zwerg, D. 77105:38
• Nacht und Träume, D. 827:
• 18Schubert: Nacht und Träume, D. 82703:19
• Total Runtime01:10:54

Info for Insomnia

“A wave of intrigue for the exotic guitar swept across Vienna during the first half of the 19th century and Schubert and Diabelli were in the midst of this so-called “Guitaromania”. Schubert never owned a piano, but had access to guitars and possibly even owned one or two. Also, many of Schubert’s close friends played guitar, including Mayrhofer, Vogl, Hüttenbrenner and Grillparzer. Schubert composed at a desk, not using any instrument, but many of his song accompaniments have an uncanny resemblance to guitar patterns. An example of this is his song Die Nacht, which was in most likelihood composed for guitar and voice – the accompaniment bearing a strong resemblance to the piano part of “Wohin?” from Die schöne Müllerin.”

Ammiel Bushakevitz, guitarist, pianist and author of these lines, found a musical ally in soprano Katharina Konradi and in this recording of Schubert songs for piano and guitar.

The recording, co-produced with BR-KLASSIK and now released by Berlin Classics, is dedicated to the theme of "Insomnia", Sleeplessness. Katharina Konradi writes about it:

“Night and sleep are two important companions of mine, they heal everything, and can restore our world to order over and over again. Even if it is only for the time that they last. The meaning of night as a healer is something that it took me time to understand. Doubt and fears, joy or sorrow: I try to put all that aside over night and decide the next morning what is true and what is not.”

The decision to arrange some of the Schubert songs for guitar was made intuitively by the musicians - Konradi's soprano is, in Bushakevitz's opinion, suited like no other for this delicate combination of instrument and voice. Katharina Konradi names the unique challenge of this combination as follows:

“With the guitar I had to set my voice at a new level, find a more intimate, lighter and maybe more relaxed tone. Because when I sing to the guitar, my bodily tension is different. I feel myself closer to my accompanist, almost as if we had a tacit agreement that we were making music just for ourselves. The great challenge then is to draw the audience into this intimacy and make them part of something almost secret.“

Katharina Konradi, soprano
Ammiel Bushakevitz, piano, guitar

Katharina Konradi
was born in Bischkek, Kyrgyzstan, and is the first soprano from this country to have an international career as a lied, concert and opera singer. She made her debut as Ännchen in Weber’s Der Freischütz at the Hamburg State Opera in 2018 and has since been a member of the regular ensemble there. Before then she was under contract for three years at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden.

She sings the major soprano roles and it was not long before other renowned opera houses offered her engagements, for instance as Zdenka in Arabella by Richard Strauss at the Semperoper in Dresden (2018/19), as the young shepherd in the production of Tannhäuser at the Bayreuth Festival (2019 and 2021) and as Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier conducted by Vladimir Jurowski, directed by Barry Kosky at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich (2020/2021). Besides singing in productions at her home opera house, the Hamburg State Opera, Katharina Konradi returns to the Bavarian State Opera in the 2021/22 season, again to sing Sophie, as well as Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro.

Katharina Konradi is also highly sought-after as a concert soloist in major concert halls. She has given concerts with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the Symphony Orchestra of the MDR, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble. She sings in concerts conducted by Thomas Hengelbrock, Manfred Honeck, Paavo Järvi, Kent Nagano, Daniel Harding and Gustavo Dudamel.

In the season 2021/22 Katharina Konradi will sing in a performance of Ein Deutsches Requiem by Johannes Brahms conducted by Thomas Hengelbrock in Neumarkt. She is also a soloist in Mozart’s Mass in C minor at the Cologne Philharmonie (Cologne Chamber Orchestra / Christoph Poppen) and in Mozart’s Requiem conducted by Michael Sanderling in Porto in November. She performs in the traditional ZDF Advent Concert together with the Staatskapelle Dresden conducted by Petr Popelka in the Frauenkirche in Dresden, and in the concert Christmas in Vienna in the Konzerthaus in Vienna (broadcast on ORF Austrian TV). The year 2022 begins with a rousing programme for the New Year with the Czech Philharmonic in Prague (conducted by Manfred Honeck). The season closes as it began: in July 2022 with Ein Deutsches Requiem by Brahms in Madrid and Granada (conductor: David Afkham).

Lied interpretation is a special preoccupation for the young soprano. She regularly gives recitals at the Schubertiade in Vilabertran, the Schubertiade in Hohenems/Schwarzenberg and in the Wigmore Hall in London. She has given recitals at the Philharmonie in Cologne and in the Boulez Hall in Berlin. She will give concerts accompanied by Malcom Martineau in Madrid and in the Konzerthaus in Vienna. She enjoys an artistically fruitful association performing chamber music together with the Trio Gaspard and the Schumann Quartet.

She began her vocal training with Julie Kaufmann in Berlin and subsequently completed her Master’s Degree in lied interpretation with Christiane Iven and Donald Sulzen at the Munich Academy of Music and Theatre. She won the German Music Competition in 2016 and will be supported until the end of 2021 by the BBC in the context of the New Generation Artist programme.

In March 2021 her highly acclaimed CD Liebende on which she is accompanied by Danel Heide, was released by AVI Music and features songs by Strauss, Mozart and Schubert.

Ammiel Bushakevitz
Born in Jerusalem, Israel, and raised in South Africa, Ammiel Bushakevitz began playing piano at the age of four. A citizen of the Israel, the USA and South Africa, he is based in Berlin and Paris, performing regularly across Europe, North America, Africa, Asia and Australia. His concerts include venues such as New York’s Carnegie Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Philharmonie de Paris, Shanghai’s Concert Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and Berlin’s Konzerthaus. He appears at the festivals of, Salzburg, Aix-en-Provence, Bayreuth, Lucerne, Cape Town, Milan, Heidelberg, Vancouver, Tel-Aviv, Melbourne, Beijing and Montreal; the Festival Pontino di Latina in Rome, the Casals Festival in Spain and the Schubertiades of Schwarzenberg, Hohenems, Vilabertran and Jerusalem.

Ammiel studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Leipzig and the Conservatoire Nationale Supérieur de Musique in Paris, under Phillip Moll and Alfred Brendel. One of the last private students of the late Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Ammiel was invited in 2011 by Fischer-Dieskau to accompany his masterclasses at the Universität der Künste in Berlin and at the Schwarzenberg Schubertiade in Austria. Ammiel is recognized as a leading song pianist of his generation, performing with such singers as Dame Felicity Lott, Christian Gerhaher and Thomas Hampson. He also received notable mentorship from Brigitte Fassbaender, Barbara Bonney, Thomas Quasthoff and Matthias Goerne. ​

He is a top prize-winner at numerous competitions, including the Wigmore Hall Competition in London, the Schubert Competition in Stuttgart, the Johannes Brahms Competition in Austria, the Hugo Wolf Competition in Stuttgart, the Prix International Pro Musicis in Paris as well as the Concours Léopold Bellan. He is especially noted for his interpretation of the works of Franz Schubert, for which he received the 2011 International Schubert Institute Award in Vienna. Ammiel’s other awards include the European Union Commission Award, the DAAD International Scholarship for Artists, the Prix de la Ville de Lausanne, Switzerland and the city of Leipzig's Richard Wagner Award. Ammiel is a laureate of over a dozen international music competitions, as a solo pianist, vocal accompanist and chamber musician.

​ In 2013 Ammiel released his debut solo CD, recorded in the Salle Fleuret in Paris. His discography includes numerous award-winning albums as a soloist and song pianist for BIS (Sweden), Pentatone (Holland), Hänssler Classics (Germany), SOLFA (Spain), Naxos (Hong Kong) and Gramola (Austria). His recording of Schubert’s Moments musicaux was used as the soundtrack of the 2017 Austrian film, Gwendolyn. Upcoming releases will appear on labels including Berlin Classics, Alpha and Harmonia Mundi.

Passionate about education, Ammiel has presented masterclasses at the University of Queensland (Australia), the University of Barcelona (Spain), the Sichuan Conservatory (China), the Beijing National Opera, the Victoria University National School of Music (New Zealand), the University of Colorado (USA), the Heidelberg International Lied Centre (Germany) and the Jerusalem Music Academy (Israel). He dedicates time to mentoring aspiring young musicians in developing countries, and has offered music workshops and benefit concerts in Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, China, Mexico and Morocco.

Ammiel is an alumnus of the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD), a member of the Société des Arts Sciences et Lettres de Paris, a member of the International Hugo Wolf Academy and an honorary member of the International Richard Wagner Society. In 2014 Ammiel was named Edison Fellow of the British Library, London. In addition to his musical activities, he is artistic director of the International Arts Association, Les Voix d’Orphée, in Paris, France.

This album contains no booklet.