Masterly and sensitive, powerful and quiet - a virtuoso. The artist had managed in a wonderful way to intoxicate her audience.”
About « Winter Tales »
Cheerful Christmas Carols, mysterious midwinter chants and gentle cradle songs:
The repertoire of the album « Winter Tales » has gradually grown over the last couple of years in countless life-performances that have each year in december enchanted thousands of listeners in concert halls, churches and castles throughout Europe.
On this studio recording Nadia's vocals and harp playing are delicately joined by whistles, bodhran, percussion, fiddle, guitar, hammerd dulcimer, strings and organ.
About Nadia Birkenstock
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” (Patsy Seddon, Mary Macmaster) 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.
In 2001 her first solo album “Emerald Isles” was released with a repertoire of Celtic music and Nadia's own compositions, followed by “Wandering between the Worlds” (2003) “Winter Tales” (LAIKA 2006) and "Les Berceuses de Coline” (Grandie Nature 2007). The next album with Nadia's latest original songs is scheduled for November 2008.
Musical cooperations include live projects and recordings with the English folk band “Morris Open”, Sebastian Fuhrmann (percussion, piano, bouzouki), Mckinley Black, Jo Freya, Dominique Dantand (organ), Cathrin Pfeifer (accordeon), Northern Lights (string quartet), Bernd Roth (diatonic accordeon), Sarath Ohlms (percussion), Gabriele Steinfeld (violin, “Freiburger Barockorchester”).
Nadia plays a celtic harp that is build by the German harp maker Frank Sievert (rosewood, tuning: E flat, 34 gut strings).
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