New  cd  release
Camerata Kilkenny with Swedish soprano Maria Keohane

Bach arias and Swedish Folk Chorales (Dala Chorales)
Due for release on the Maya Recordings label in September 2019
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This beautiful recording was made in the Propstei St. Gerold, Austria in September 2018. Maria Keohane has written the following piece about how and why the pairing of these two apparently different musical worlds appealed to her:

“Pairing up Bach’s music with Dala Chorales is an idea that has been with me for a long time. I was brought up in Sweden surrounded by fiddle and folk music, but from a very early age a strong passion for art music also developed within me. In a child’s world the incongruity between these two musical arenas, as defined by us grown-ups, doesn’t exist. The only thing of relevance was the beauty exhibited by these different worlds, and above all they were one and the same. Their significance for me today surpasses beauty alone. I have gained respect and humility at being part of this treasure, a wish to share this with my musical partners, and above all, to succeed in bringing this music to an audience. Choosing a selection of arias from Bach’s cantatas and mirroring them in the Dala Chorales has been a challenging, but also a very natural process. The messages portrayed in the texts are of the same world. Virtuoso, multi-faceted music crosses over to the naked chorales, both in Bach’s world and in that of the Dala Chorales. My wish is to interpret Bach with sincerity and heart, waiving the enticement to present his music as a technical display of virtuosity. At the same time I hope to present the chorales from Dalarna with the seriousness that they deserve. Above all, I want to share with you the joy and passion that at one time was sparked by the presence of an oversized violin in the hands of a child”. - Maria Keohane