Labyrinth show is 90min long including a 20 min intermission.
Sting to Perform Songs from his Critically Acclaimed Classical Album
Accompanied By Renowned Lutenist, Edin Karamazov.
In support of a special edition of the critically-acclaimed album,
Songs from the Labyrinth – a personal tribute
to late 16th-century Elizabethan composer, John Dowland (1563–1626)
- Sting will embark on a tour of Australia and Asia, joined by esteemed
lutenist, Edin Karamazov. The Tour, which opens at the Sydney Opera
House on 30th November, in which Lushington Entertainments
is proud to announce live dates at the Esplanade Concert Hall (1700
seats) in Singapore on Monday, 8th December 2008 and at the Jockey
Club Auditorium (1000 seats) in Hong Kong on Wednesday, 10th December
2008.
Songs from the Labyrinth began as a Deutsche Grammophon
recording project in 2006 which surpassed all expectations by debuting
at the top of the classical charts in the US, UK, France, Canada
& Germany. The album remained on Billboard’s #1 classical
charts for fifteen consecutive weeks and was the top selling
classical album of both 2006 and 2007. A DVD, entitled
The Journey and the Labyrinth, followed the CD and was also released
on Deutsche Grammophon. It was filmed appropriately at Sting's 16th-century
manor house in Wiltshire (Lake House), in the ancient gardens of
his home in Italy (Il Palagio), and at a live concert at St Luke’s
Church in London.
To accompany the upcoming tour, Deutsche Grammophon will release
a special edition of Songs from the Labyrinth which features three
bonus tracks, including Sting’s own Fields of Gold and Message
in a Bottle, which he performs with Edin Karamazov on lute, as well
as a special, live version of Dowland’s Have You Seen the
Bright Lily Grow, recorded in New York in September 2006.
The original Deutsche Grammophon release also garnered critical
success. It was hailed as “a remarkable triumph” by
London’s The Guardian and “exquisite“ by Japan’s
Sankei newspaper whilst France’s Le Monde commented: “the
poetry of this album, sung with painstaking care, comes from the
exactitude & honesty with which the pop artist renders Dowland’s
texts”.
Sting was first introduced to the music of John Dowland in the early
1980s, and has said that Dowland’s music has been “gently
haunting” him for more than twenty years. Songs from the Labyrinth
honors the life of John Dowland by not only recreating his music,
but also his words. Sting incorporates short recitations of a letter
John Dowland wrote in 1595 to Queen Elizabeth’s Secretary
of State, Sir Robert Cecil, into the album, pleading his allegiance
to the English throne in the hope of an invitation into the Royal
Court, providing further insight to Dowland’s life and times.
Edin Karamazov has been Sting’s partner in this project from
its conception. A protégé of the legendary conductor
Sergiu Celibidache, Edin Karamazov began his musical career with
the classical guitar, continuing his studies of the Baroque Lute
at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. His
2003 recording Come Heavy Sleep set new standards for lute playing
and, as a soloist, he has performed and recorded with leading international
early music ensembles and artists including the Hilliard Ensemble,
Hesperion XX, Mala Punica and Andreas Scholl. Newly signed as an
exclusive Decca artist, Edin Karamazov’s first recording on
the label will be released this Autumn; entitled The Lute is a Song,
the album traces 400 years of lute music from the Renaissance to
the present day and features guest artists Kaliopi, Andreas Scholl,
Sting and Renée Fleming.
Joining Sting and Edin Karamazov on this tour is the British a cappella
choir Stile Antico, who are featured in all the European performances
of Songs from the Labyrinth to date, giving vocal accompaniment
to some of the more raucous tavern songs and gentle lullabies that
are found in Dowland’s wide-ranging music. An ensemble in
their own right, Stile Antico have won numerous awards for their
recordings of 16th and 17th music as well as a Grammy award nomination
for Best Small Ensemble Performance. Their next recording, Song
of Songs, will be released in 2009.
Fans in Asia will get this chance to hear the unique collaboration
of Sting and Edin Karamazov and to discover the music of John Dowland,
interpreted and presented for today’s audiences.
CRITICAL ACCLAIM FOR
STING AND “SONGS FROM THE LABYRINTH”
“Sting makes Dowland’s Elizabethan sound-world
seem incredibly modern. Deeply intimate ballads, whose compositional
complexity come up newly-minted by Sting’s simple vocal
approach with lute accompaniment.”
Stern
"Sting is now a true Renaissance man ... The pop singer
of today tackles what he rightly sees as the
pop music of the late 1500s"
Los Angeles Times
“. . . one listens to [Sting] with pleasure, for hours
on end . . . Karamazov is one of the day’s greatest
players of his instrument. His virtuosic, colourful lute solos
on this album are islands of delight.”
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
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The public sale for both Singapore and Hong Kong will be on Monday,
7th July 2008.
Universal Music represents Sting.
www.sting.com
www.lushington.com
A LUSHINGTON ENTERTAINMENTS EVENT |
