Yana Mann. Photo by Vladimir Osnovin
In 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, Russian mezzo Yana Mann decided to start working on the release of her first studio album: Los poemas de bar. The intimate collection of songs, written and composed by NY–based Colombian composer Julián De La Chica, explores the most ordinary conversations that take place after 3:00 am in a New York bar. And this would be not only Yana’s first album, but also the “Recording premiere” of the song cycle composed by De La Chica, years ago.
- Buy and stream Poemas de bar.
The result of the album is exquisite, with new sounds (close and warm), full of stories, experiences and memories. Although the time of the pandemic meant a time of silence and uncertainty for many, for Yana it meant the opposite: produce and sing. By September 2020, Yana jumped into this new Zoom’s world and started working remotely, along with Julián, on the production of the album. Both artists, Yana from her studio in Dubai, and Julián from his studio in Brooklyn, would begin the details of this new production.
The album was released in May 2021, achieving a very good reception not only from the general audience, but also from critics. Later, Yana was invited by the Brooklyn–based record label Irreverence Group Music, to present the premiere of the work during her anticipated debut at the prestigious Carnegie Hall in New York City. And what could be more perfect than the Weill Recital Hall, known for its intimacy, as well as its majesty, to present this sonic trip.
Yana Mann and Julián De La Chica at Carnegie Hall, NY. Photo by Fadi Kheir.
The concert was on February 12, 2022, and with a full house, Mann dazzled with her voice, the precision of her sound, and her dialogue with the piano (performed by De La Chica himself). In the first part of the recital, Yana, dressed in sober black, presented Los Poemas de Bar, Op. 12, while in the second part, in dramatic red, she presented a new work written for the occasion and dedicated to her: Las Arias Florentinas, Op. 15. Critic Grella said In the program notes: “The result is a human connection, familiar shapes but new sounds. And with the bar stories coming through the voice, a feeling of duende that is something beyond genres and styles, just De La Chica’s own compositional voice. Tonight, that’s inseparable from the clarity and color of Yana Mann’s singing. She is both an excellent interpreter of the Poemas, and the dedicatee of the Arias.”
- Read more: Interview Yana Mann by IGM
Las Arias Florentinas were composed by De La Chica in the summer of 2021, while he was visiting Florence with his family. According to him, his experience of the pandemic and the cancellation of live music brought him immense sadness. But one day (in Florence), while walking through the lonely city, he saw the announcement of a concert in an old chapel. The feeling was wonderful: “To be witnessing music in its purest state again, listen to a soprano, in the beauty and intimacy of this small chapel, and also in Florence. Of course I came out with my head full of ideas, and that’s how the arias were born, which by the way I decided to call them that, as a tribute to the Italian opera of the 17th century.” says De La Chica.
Yana Mann and Julián De La Chica at Carnegie Hall, NY. Photo by Fadi Kheir.
The arias are composed in a minimalist style, as is the style of De La Chica. The sounds of the piano come and go, as they intertwine around Yana’s voice. Yana seems to personify an ancient muse, who wanders through the streets of Florence. De La Chica’s music has the conviction of easily enveloping the listener. His music, although austere, is powerful, and although you could say it is minimal, it is complex. And these concepts, along with repetition and circles, quickly captivate the listener.
Now Yana will take the arias to a new album, and this exploration–her exploration of new music, plus “the heartbreaking melancholia of Mann’s voice,” will bring a wonderful result, I’m sure. Yana will collaborate with De La Chica again, and we hope that for this occasion, it will not be remote but live, also with everyone present, for the enjoyment of our senses.
- Watch Blanca, the new video of Yana Mann.
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