New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Ann Sweeten's new offering Flying Solo Silhouette is her first original solo piano album and is a reflection on the work she has done at Imaginary Road Studios over the past decade and across 5 albums (and 55 compositions) co-produced by Sweeten and Will Ackerman. The goal was to offer a dozen of these compositions as solo piano pieces for the first time and to create a playlist sequence that would flow seamlessly from one to the other but yet stand apart to showcase the very wide diversity and breadth of her compositions and nuance of performance.
The album is approximately one hour and all compositions were re-mixed and re-mastered completely to create this new entity. Ackerman has said: "I have witnessed a brilliant pianist and composer become ever more brilliant with each release. Flying Solo Silhouette is a collection of her finest work."
Critics have been giving Ann Sweeten rave reviews throughout her career. The following is a sampling of the accolades awarded to her: "A pianist whose abilities are unrivalled"; "musical genius"; "beauty incarnate"; "inimitable"; "reminiscent of something written by the great impressionists, out of the ordinary"; "one of the most instantly recognizable 'voices' in contemporary instrumental music"; "musical Narnia"; "exquisite music performed by a consummate musician"; "the touch of a master"; "a true maestro at work"; "outstanding technique"; "her astute control of nuance and tempo will beguile you"; "astounding ability to paint a vivid picture"; "the music bears hints of the musical masters' phrasing in the music. I hear notes of Barber, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Brahms"; "You can't call this music 'Jazz', nor can you pigeonhole it as 'New Age' because it's purely/simply 'Ann'"; "I could feel a Higher Power within each song. It is hypnotically intoxicating. Sweeten is a gifted and anointed spirit to be sure."
Whatever words you may use to describe this artist, her music is always timeless, elegant and classic, always, Ann Sweeten.
Albums available at Annsweeten.com, MVD, CDBaby, Amazon and iTunes.
After over 20 years of enamoring audiences on the concert stage and on radio/internet airwaves, Ann Sweeten's signature style is recognized world-wide. Often placed in the New Age genre, her style is decidedly unique, embracing not only the classical realm, but aspects of jazz, film scoring, and popular music. Sweeten's music has aired and been reviewed across the world to wide critical acclaim. One of the most decorated pianists of the past decade with albums consistently ranking in the Top 5 NAR and ZMR
Radio Charts, Sweeten is also one of the most-played modern instrumentalists in North America. A truly well-rounded individual and artist, Ms. Sweeten is a staunch environmentalist, animal activist and vegetarian. In addition to her concert and recording career, she is also a professional actress/singer/dancer with Actor's Equity Association. Ann Sweeten is herself a breast cancer survivor twice over, is involved with the Arts in Healthcare Initiative, and is currently battling leukemia.
Sweeten's journey in the performing arts began at the age of 6 in both music and ballet in Westfield, NJ. She received a Hammond organ for Christmas that year after showing interest in keyboards and was soon to master it, though the first year she had to stand to reach the pedals. For her ninth Christmas, she received a Baldwin piano and soon began intensive study with Russian-born concert pianist
David Sokoloff. Under his tutelage, she learned to play the music of the great masters. She sites Sokoloff as her greatest mentor, whose influence in developing her technique and in encouraging her musicality, was paramount. All during these years, Sweeten was also dancing the classic ballets (Swan Lake, Les Sylphides, Sleeping Beauty) with a regional ballet company in NJ. A dean's list scholar throughout academia, Sweeten earned a B.A. from Smith College in foreign languages, graduating Cum Laude, and continued study in Paris and later at the
Boston Conservatory.
Sweeten did a brief two-year stint as female front and lyricist to the pop/rock band FALLOUT. Then she began appearing on cruise ships, in cabaret clubs and resorts playing and singing a wide range of material including jazz, pop, folk, new age and Broadway music. Sweeten began composing around 1989 in the midst of her musical theatre career, starring in such roles as Aldonza (Man of La Mancha), Sister Amnesia (Nunsense), Miss Mona (Best
Little Whorehouse in Texas) and Velma
Kelly (Chicago). When she started introducing her own original material to her set lists, the response was overwhelming. In 1997, Sweeten released her debut album, Prism. By Sweeten's third album, Reflections (2000), her music was selling on listening stations at major record chains (Borders Books & Music, Sam Goody's) weekly by the hundreds. Fans began to write in depth of the effect of Sweeten's music on their lives, speaking of the music as hope, as giving the power of healing or a way of finding peace. She has stated "the fact that my music touches people so strongly is the greatest reward I receive from my music and I have been moved to tears by the personal stories people have shared with me." Having written well over 100 musical scores to date, Sweeten is also author to all of her albums' liner notes and is a poet in her own right. In 2008, Steinway and Sons welcomed Sweeten into its prestigious international roster of Steinway Artists, touting her a true Renaissance woman.
Track Listing
A Light Rain 4:56
Dawn on Red Mountain 4:48
Veil of
Tears 4:48
Elysian Fields 5:00
Afterglow 4:11
Nikki's Song 3:57
December Snow 4:40
Broken Wing at North Light 4:38
Eclipse 5:28
The Hourglass 5:38
Falling Leaves 5:03
On Wings of Light 4:53
