Nadia Birkenstock - Strange New Land (CD) - CD

Details: Nadia Birkenstock voc, celtic harp Gabriele Steinfeld violin Elisabeth Wand violoncello Tom McConville fiddle Romin Katzer percussion Oliver Jochims bodhran Nadia Birkenstock was born in Solingen in the north west of Germany. She started playing the piano at five and grew up listening to lots of classical music. Her first contact with the Celtic harp was when she saw the legendary Scottish harp duo "Sileas" perform, and she instantly fell in love with the sound of the instruments, the voices and the spirit of Celtic Music. Thanks to a scholarship, she received her first vocal training in the USA (Westover School, Connecticut) and afterwards studied voice at the Music Conservatory of Duesseldorf in Germany. She taught herself to play the Celtic Harp at 16 and attended masterclasses with Kim Robertson (USA), Bill Taylor (Scotland) and others. During her vocal studies she created her first solo performance program for Celtic harp and voice. This was very well received and Nadia has since appeared to great acclaim in concerts at festivals, folk-clubs, concert halls, churches, castles and many stunning venues in Central Europe. Festival appearances include the "Rencontres Internationales de la Harpe Celtique" at Dinan (France, Brittany), the "Schlossfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci" (Berlin), the Venne Folk Festival, Celtic Days Hude, Keltenfest Buchberg (Switzerland) Nadia has also appeared on tv and radio with WDR, SWR, RBB, France Musiques, Celtic World Radio Australia and others). She also frequently plays for the Irish Embassies in Cologne, Munich and Frankfurt. Besides her repertoire of traditional Celtic folk songs and harp tunes, she is also successfully performing her own songs and compositions. And now she released her fourth album "Strange New Land". As different as the character of the tunes, so different also the choice of their handpicked guest musicians: Fiddle legend Tom McConville, Gabriele Steinfeld, one of the most popular baroque violinist across Europe and Elisabeth Wand, with their voluminous cello sound between Bach and Apocalyptica, and Oliver Jochims (bodhran) and Romin Katzer (percussion), which give the songs additional Groove.