Isai Jess Munoz CD Release

UD Associate Professor of Voice and Opera Isaí Jess Muñoz and Collaborative Pianist Oksana Glouchko are receiving stellar reviews for their CD Visca L’Amor: Catalan Art Songs of the 20th and 21st Centuries, released in January 2021. 

Catalunya—or Catalonia—is a region of northeastern Spain along the French border of the Pyrenees Mountains. Music of the region has been underrepresented in vocal repertoire, in no small part because the regime of Francisco Franco actively repressed the Catalan language. With Visca L’Amor, Muñoz and Glouchko shine a well-deserved spotlight on the region’s rich cultural traditions. 

Focusing on the 20th and 21st centuries, the recording showcases six song cycles by Frederic Mompou, Eduard Toldrá, Joan Comellas, Ricard LaMotte de Grignon, Narcís Bonet, and finally a world premiere recording of a new commission by living Catalonian composer Elisenda Fábregas. This project not only furthers the scholarship in Catalan vocal literature, but also celebrates in song the human journey that is both tender and boisterous.

Audiences can listen to Muñoz and Glouchko discuss the CD on February 13, and perform works by Debussy, Liszt and others, as part of the University of Delaware Master Players Concert Series event My French Songbook: A Valentine’s Day Concert. The event also features the UD husband-and-wife team of School of Music Interim Director Mark Clodfelter, trumpet, and Collaborative Pianist Rebecca Wilt.

for Visca L’Amor: Catalan Art Songs of the 20th and 21st Centuries