Album Notes

Bell' Alma Duo Artists

Michele Antonello Frisch is principal flute of the Minnesota Opera Orchestra. She has played with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and has been a featured soloist with the Aspen Festival Chamber Orchestra, Rocky Mountain Conservatory, Wintergreen Festival, and the National Flute Association. She has toured throughout Europe with the Kairos Trio, giving concerts and master classes. She is in demand as a recitalist, clinician, and adjudicator and serves on the faculty of Northwestern College in St. Paul.

Kathy Kienzle, principal harpist of the Minnesota Orchestra, has also performed as harpist and soloist with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Kienzle has premiered concertos by Liebermann and Rautavaara with the Minnesota Orchestra and has been a featured performer at the World Harp congresses in Paris, Tacoma and Prague. She has been a prize winner in both the American Harp Society and the International Harp Competition in Israel. Kienzle is a member of the faculties of the University of Minnesota and MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis.


Bell’ Alma Duo
“La Belle Vie” French Opera Fantasie
Following the stunning success of their first CD “O Bell’Alma” Music from the Opera, this premier flute and harp duo have now released their second recording!
“La Belle Vie” includes opera arias and fantasies from the French Romantic period, all newly arranged for the Duo. This is flute and harp duo music of great passion
and lyricism, with two original works by the composers Laurent Petitgirard and Daniel Sturm. Also programmed on this enchanting CD are rarely heard arias of Debussy
and Duparc, as well as two fiery fantaisies by Taffanel and Demmerseman.

Flutist and harpist play as one “beautiful soul”
-- Minnesota Public Radio interview February 2, 2008

“...richly imaginative… beautiful and mellifluous. Frisch’s tone is invariably full-bodied”
-- Pan Flute magazine, UK

“The performances are first rate and have the singing quality we have come to expect from this exceptional duo.”
– The Flute Network

Also available: “O Bell’ Alma” Music from the Opera
One of the “Best New Recordings from North America”
– Gramophone Magazine (UK)
“This fine recording…is just dazzling in its clarity, emotional intensity, and singing
performances. Frisch’s flute tone emulates the expressive nuances of the human voice with subtle shading, a variety of colors, and soaring vocal lines…she transcends the instrument and communicates the intentions of the composer and the emotion of the song.”
– The Flute Network