This ATMA all-Respighi recording by the Orchestre symphonique de Laval is its first with current artistic director and principal conductor Alain Trudel. Canadian star soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian joins the orchestra for the lyric poem Il tramonto (The Sunset). Respighi found inspiration for his Botticelli Triptych in three celebrated Sandro Botticelli canvases. The Birds pay homage to the Baroque-era composers fancy for musically illustrating various aspects of life birdsongs, in this case, while Ancient Airs and Dances was inspired by the music of four Renaissance composers.

Acclaimed American composer Mark Abel’s sixth album for Delos extends his growing command of chamber writing while also delivering three major new vocal works. Celebrated sopranos Isabel Bayrakdarian (four times a Juno Award winner) and Hila Plitmann (a pair of Grammys and a longtime Abel collaborator) are joined by mezzo Kindra Scharich in presenting the song cycles Trois Femmes du Cinema and 1966, and debuting Two Scenes from “The Book of Esther,” a provocative excerpt from an opera in development.

Yes, there was another Cleopatra! She was married to Tigranes the Great, King of Armenia, and together they created an Armenia that reached from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean. The resplendent and regal voice of soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian is perfectly suited to the role of Cleopatra. Bayrakdarian shines in arias from three rarely heard operas about King Tigranes and his queen.

Through Romany Songland, soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian takes the listener on a journey through lieder by Brahms, Bizet and Dvorak, operetta by Lehar, Kalman and Herbert, and spicy Spanish songs.