‘SEA STORM’ PROJECT: BELGIAN COMPOSER AND AMERICAN RECORDING LABEL TEAM UP TO KICKSTART SYMPHONIC MUSIC CREATION DESPITE COVID-19 CRISIS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BRUSSELS (Belgium), North Hampton (NH, USA), Olomouc (Czech Republic)
Friday 29 May 2020, 12:00am (Brussels Time)

SUMMARY

Countless concerts cancelled, album releases suspended or postponed, artists’ residencies or projects delayed, recordings and concert tours abandoned…

As the worldwide lock down has struck the world of classical music and its orchestra's heavily, time has come to think about and act for the revival of cultural and creative life - as it must happen. But this revival will be blooming only with help, commitment, and support of audiences and concerned citizens. To make a bold creative statement in the midst of this forced silence, whilst inviting the public to actively participate and contribute, the innovative US recording label PARMA Recordings and Belgian upcoming composer Dimitri Arnauts, have teamed up to crowdfund on Kickstarter, record and release on a collective album a new symphonic creation, ‘Sea Storm’, with a long-established professional Czech symphonic orchestra, the Moravian Philharmonic. The resulting album will be released on PARMA's record label, Navona Records, which represents a fine collection of today's leading innovators in orchestral, chamber, and instrumental music. International distribution will happen through PARMA Recordings and Naxos of America.

Creatives and Artists have indeed been struggling these months of worldwide Covid-19 Isolation or Quarantine, to keep their audiences moved, enchanted, entertained and inspired by their enduring artistic work and initiatives…

Helping to revive the life of Music and the livelihood of its craftsmen and -women is thus extremely valuable and a blessing for culture, community, and society in general, and artists will owe their supporters a duty of respect and gratitude.

THE MUSIC & THE COMPOSER

Waves rolling, a gentle ocean breeze, early morning ships sounding their horns, migratory birds flying over: everything culminates when a sudden and violent sea storm strikes, only announced by the rumbling of the thunder, and followed by the expected return of the sun...

‘Sea Storm’ is a large symphonic soundscape written for the full forces of a modern Symphonic Orchestra. Using a distinctive, and unashamedly tonal, impressionistic color palette, it depicts the atmospheres and events of a turbulent day at the seashore and at large on sea.

More precisely, 'Sea Storm' is part of a larger body of new symphonic poems composed by Belgian composer Dimitri Arnauts, centered around the marvelous and sublime places and ecosystems around our world: EARTHSCAPES. The different parts of these 'EARTHSCAPES' will be streamed online in exclusivity and downloadable by the crowdfunding (see below) backers as per their level of support, at the end of the campaign on 18 June 2020.

Dimitri Arnauts (°1973) is a Belgium-based composer who has dedicated himself to uplift and delight hearts, souls, and minds through the reaffirmed beauty of melody, tonal harmony, polyphony, and counterpoint, and through the innumerable colors of instruments and human voices. He has written numerous works of various sizes and settings, being mainly cantatas, psalms, oratorios, concertos, symphonies, and symphonic poems, and other types of vocal or orchestral works.

Dimitri Arnauts said: “I am very honored and delighted by PARMA Recordings’ selection of my symphonic poem for its next Navona Records release... I look forward collaborating with the outstanding musicians from the Moravian Philharmonic, conductor, sound engineers and technicians, as well as with PARMA’s dedicated team – staying all safe, healthy, and well. But first, we hope to build sufficient momentum around our crowdfunding campaign, to make this exciting revival of symphonic life and creation a reality, despite the challenging and tragic crisis times.”

CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN

The composer has launched on Kickstarter a crowdfunding campaign to support the recording of his first symphonic CD contribution. The crowdfunding campaign has started on 20 May 2020 at 00:01 AM. It will end on 18 June 2020. Kickstarter has already selected the project as one of their recommended ‘Projects we love’.

The rewards foreseen for this Crowdfunding campaign are particularly interesting and fulfilling for every keen music lover that would support the project: every support level involves access or custom delivery of new original symphonic or contrapuntal music (for example: preludes and name-fugues, where the main melodic theme equates every letter of a given name with a note) written by the composer – in a tailored way. Supporters can thus contribute as a - modest or generous - Maecenas to the history and deployment of musical creation.

The Kickstarter web address where the project is described and pledges can be made, is: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dimitriarnauts/sea-storm-for-real

After one day of activity, the ‘early bird’ campaign had already gathered more than 41% of the full funding target. This is surely a good start that will help the composer to build further on for a successful 30 days of funds collection, but further amplification and growth are still much needed to attain the funding goal.

Note: All pledges will be collected by Kickstarter.com at the end of the 30-day campaign on 18 June 2020 – only if sufficient funds for the realization of the project have been pledged in total. Otherwise no pledges will be debited at all (‘All or nothing model’).

PRODUCTION, RELEASE AND DISTRIBUTION

Provided the crowdfunding campaign is successful, "Sea Storm" will be released alongside other orchestral works by other living composers in 2021. The album will feature original album art design and layout, a wide-spread outreach campaign, and international distribution through PARMA Recordings and Naxos of America, to see the release shared with a broad audience.

PARMA will contribute services for the recording, post-production, and marketing of the piece. PARMA will conduct all the session planning and contract the orchestra, conductor, engineer, and producer on Dimitri Arnauts' behalf. PARMA will produce the recording session, then edit, mix, and master the resulting audio. The resulting album will be released on PARMA's record label, Navona Records, which represents a fine collection of today's leading innovators in orchestral, chamber, and instrumental music. PARMA will leverage its connections, relationships, and press contacts to market the upcoming release to various publications and media outlets. PARMA’s Publicity Team will conduct outreach to major publications such as Gramophone Magazine, BBC Magazine, The Whole Note, I Care If You Listen, and many more for critical acclaim and coverage, along with other blogs, magazines, and radio stations for airplay and promotion of the release.

Danielle Lewis, Senior A&R Representative at PARMA Recordings, said:

“Dimitri Arnauts' compositional style is smart and thoughtful, resulting in carefully conceived music that will not only appeal strongly to classical and symphonic appreciators, but also to those who simply love well-written music. ‘Sea Storm’ embodies this completely and by recording and promoting this piece at the professional level, we aim to give Mr. Arnauts’ music the well-deserved exposure and critical review to advance his career as a contemporary composer.

In these uncertain times of COVID-19, it’s incredibly important that artists continue creating music and art. PARMA strongly believes in the quality of Mr. Arnauts' music and we kindly ask for your support to help continue sharing beautiful art in this crucial time.”

Additionally, Dimitri Arnauts’ piece will be entered into PARMA’s Performance Outreach Program. This program is specially designed by our team to develop live performances for its composers’ work. PARMA is connected to thousands of composers, performers, and ensembles, and have programmed and curated a variety of performances for its artists including its annual non-profit Music Festivals throughout the world.

END

CONTACTS
Dimitri ARNAUTS
Tel: +32 471 41 53 49
Email: dimitri.arnauts@outlook.com

PARMA Recordings
Email: press@parmarecordings.com

​Preferred click-through link for online articles:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dimitriarnauts/sea-storm-for-real

or

https://www.dimitriarnauts.com/seastorm

ABOUT THE COMPOSER

Dimitri Arnauts (°1973) is a Belgium-based composer who has dedicated himself to uplift and delight hearts, souls, and minds through the reaffirmed beauty of melody, harmony, polyphony, and counterpoint, and through the innumerable colors of instruments and human voices.

He has written numerous works of various sizes and settings, being mainly cantatas, psalms, oratorios, concertos, symphonies, and symphonic poems, and other vocal or orchestral works.

As an autodidact, Dimitri feels free to follow the paths of his heart, both in the aesthetics of his music as in the emotion and message it aims to convey. He established from the very beginning the foundations of his musical art on the proven strength and poetic power of tonal harmony, euphony, complex polyphony, fugue, and counterpoint.

This science of the art of music writing, he wanted to rediscover it for himself and learn it in an autonomous manner: without theoretical study or academic recipe-books that would have him ending up fixed, dried out and losing his path to peer pressure... instead, by following only the voice of his heart, the means and visions of intuition, the desire of his soul and the capabilities of his spirit.

Musically, Dimitri Arnauts admits humbly and gladly to be a modest and indebted disciple of the great Johann Sebastian Bach, at whose service he had the privilege to be moved, formed and inspired - through a year-long vocal practice of his Cantatas, Passions, Oratorios as a chorister.

His first concert contribution as a composer occurred in June 2012, when an excerpt of his tone setting of Psalm 100 (11') was performed by the Choir and Orchestra of the Chapelle des Minimes in Brussels, under the direction of Julius Stenzel.

In 2018 he conducted the premiere of his 'Requiem Sancti Michaelis' (50') at St.-Catherine Church, in Duisburg, Belgium. In May of the same year, his four-hands piano suite 'Humble Memories' (90’) was premiered at BOZAR, Brussels, on the new Maene-Barenboim straight-strung piano.

​He completed that year choral and orchestral conducting courses, in Oxford, UK (James Jordan and Steve Pilkington, USA) and in Sherborne, UK (with Maestro Rodolfo Saglimbeni, Venezuela and Amy Bebbington, UK), and film music composition courses at the HKU Utrecht, The Netherlands (with Pr. Rens Machielse).

He has also been selected to participate in the first edition of the International Masterclass ‘Sacred Music Today’ in Stockholm, Sweden, under the high patronage of the Lutheran Church of Sweden and the Pontifical Council for Culture of the Catholic Church.

The same year, his chamber music contribution to the international Flute Infinity project was premiered at the Slovacki Theatre in Krakow, Poland. This project resulted in a collective CD, issued by the DUX label, and proposed for nomination at the Polish Classical Music Awards by the label.

Dimitri started a position as Artistic and Choir Director of St-Cecilia's Choir at Saint-John-the-Evangelist Church in Tervuren, Belgium, as of December 2019.

He has published four albums of original music online, comprising organ solo works, choral works, vocal improvisations, electronic six-part fantasies, piano and synthesizer musings and two full-length concert movies, totaling about 9 hours of new music, as well as numerous creative art videos and music clips.

His music has been premiered, performed or recorded internationally in various places: Belgium (BOZAR Brussels, Duisburg), Poland (Slovacki Theater Krakow, Tokarnia), United Kingdom (Chester, London), Germany (Hamburg), Lebanon (Beirut), Austria (Vienna), USA (New York, Princeton, etc...)

In early 2020, four of his planned symphonic premieres were cancelled due to the COVID-2019 Crisis and ensuing international restrictions.

During this COVID-19 Confinement period, he composed and produced a set of music videos with new original soundtracks, in collaboration with several established or upcoming artists from the USA, Lebanon, Austria, Belgium, Japan and Hungary.

In Autumn 2021, Dimitri's first full-size chamber opera will be created at the old Laeiszhalle-Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Germany.

Dimitri is also founding member of the new international composer collective Muse11, and an active member of the Flemish Composers' Archipelago COMAV...

www.dimitriarnauts.com

www.muse11.net

ABOUT PARMA RECORDINGS

Since 2008, PARMA Recordings has produced nearly 1000 commercial releases, and music from their distributed labels has been featured in settings and situations from CBS to Carnegie Hall, Microsoft to the Musikverein, and Nintendo to National Geographic.

Notably in 2019, their Navona Records release THE ARC IN THE SKY by Kile Smith and The Crossing was nominated for a 2020 GRAMMY in the 'Best Choral Performance' category.

More recently, they recorded the music for the unique children's book 'The Wild Symphony' by best-selling author Dan Brown ('The Da Vinci Code', 'Inferno') which will be published in September 2020.

Source: www.parmarecordings.com

ABOUT THE MORAVIAN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

The Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the foremost and oldest symphony orchestras in the Czech Republic. It is based in the historical capital of Moravia, the city of Olomouc, and has been a leader of music activities in the region for the past 70 years.

Its artistic development was directly influenced by distinguished figures from the Czech and international music scene. Namely, they include conductors like Otto Klemperer and Václav Neumann, violinists Josef Suk and Gidon Kremer, or violoncellist Pierre Fournier.

During its long history, The Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra has put together an exceptionally broad, rich, and varied repertoire. Its focus is mostly on the grand figures of classical music of the 19th and 20th century.

Nonetheless, it also seeks to promote contemporary Czech and worldwide musical compositions, as evidenced by the fact that the Orchestra has performed over 250 new compositions. Moreover, the Orchestra is an authentic performer of Czech classics such as Antonín Dvořák, Bedřich Smetana, Leoš Janáček, and Bohuslav Martinů.

The Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra takes pride in having a rich discography under its belt and performing at renowned international festivals both in the Czech Republic and abroad.

Source: www.mfo.cz

ABOUT NAXOS OF AMERICA

Naxos of America, Inc. has become the leading independent digital and physical distributor of classical music in North America. Naxos of America (NoA) offers marketing, e-marketing, publicity, physical and digital e-commerce services, licensing opportunities, streaming services, sales and customer service for all new releases and active catalog titles for Naxos and all of its distributed labels. It is a subsidiary of the Naxos Group, founded in 1987 by Klaus Heymann.

As of October 2015, NoA physically distributes the Naxos labels and over 400 CD and DVD labels that bridge the many genres of music and performing arts. This impressive roster of labels allows the Naxos of America sales team to approach retail each month with over 60,000 titles. Whether servicing traditional retail accounts or direct-to-consumer orders, the location of the NoA warehouse allows shipments to reach 50% of the U.S. population within 48 hours.

Naxos of America is also the largest digital distributor of classical, jazz and world music. The catalogs and new releases of over 700 labels are delivered worldwide each month to hundreds of high-resolution digital download, streaming and mobile sites such as Apple Music, Amazon MP3, HDtracks, Spotify, and Pandora, among others.

Recordings and artists from Naxos, and the NoA distribution family, have garnered 51 GRAMMY® Awards and 5 Latin GRAMMYs®. Three GRAMMY®s for “Producer of the Year, Classical” were awarded to producers whose bodies of work included Naxos and distributed label recordings. NoA labels are also recognized with numerous ClassicsToday 10/10 ratings, Opera News Critic’s Choice designations and National Public Radio features.

Source: www.naxosusa.com