Album Notes

The Chiaroscuro Duo is a partnership of two spectacular musical artists:

Cynthia Mei, violinist, who had previously performed with San Francisco Symphony and is now head of the Adorno Ensemble (www.adornoensemble.org)

Aileen Chanco, a Juilliard-trained, internationally touring pianist with other solo CDs to her credit (aileenchanco.com)

For this album they performed solo pieces and collaborated on three pieces. One of these is the sonata by the American composer John Corigliano, who was ecstatic about the recording of this award-winning work. The last piece on the recording, Womanwork, was written by the American Composer Mark Fish (www.markfish.com) and was inspired by two poems by Maya Angelou.

In a letter to Mark Fish about the CD, John Corigliano wrote, "I very much enjoyed your piece. Lyrical and dramatic, it makes its points beautifully and simply."

Mark Fish's music has been performed in the United States, Europe, South America, and South Africa, in venues including Carnegie Hall. Like the Chiaroscuro Duo, he lives in the Bay Area but works with musicians from all over the United States. His most famous piece is Ferdinand the Bull, a musical setting of the children's story about the little bull that likes to "sit just quietly and smell the flowers." He is now arranging it for string orchestra, for a future performance by the London Mozart Players.