Taneyev can be considered a point of connection between the generation of Russian composers from that of Tchaikovsky (with whom Taneyev studied) to that of Scriabin and Rachmaninoff. This album features his complete song opuses for voice and piano. Award-winning soprano Marcía Porter made her New York solo recital debut in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in 2005. An active recitalist, the soprano has performed in numerous venues throughout the United States, Italy, Brazil, and the Czech Republic. Porter has sung at such prestigious international festivals as the Prague Proms, Piccolo Spoleto Festival, the Ravinia Festival, and the Ameropa International Chamber Music Festival. Renowned dramatic mezzo-soprano Janet Hopkins, a 16-year veteran of the New York Metropolitan Opera, continues to thrill audiences on her concert tour of symphonic stages across America. Recent performances include The Defiant Requiem (Verdi Requiem) at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, El Amor Brujo (South Carolina Philharmonic), Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (Bowling Green Symphony Orchestra, Kentucky) and Alexander Nevsky (West Shore Symphony Orchestra, MI). A native Texan, the young tenor Hugo Vera is described as possessing a "truly heroic voice" that is both "beautiful and brilliant." Increasingly in demand and a recent addition to The Metropolitan Opera artist roster, Mr. Vera has performed 34 roles and 20 choral orchestral works with distinguished companies in the US as part of his musical and artistic development of the full lyric and spinto tenor repertoire. Christian Elser (Band Leader: Best Little Whorehouse in Texas) co-founded Glow Lyric Theatre in 2009, and has served as it's Executive Director and resident Music Director/Conductor ever since. He is also Associate Professor of Music at Presbyterian College in Clinton, SC, where he is Voice Division Director and Director of the PC Opera/Musical Theatre. Bass-baritone Jacob Will made his New York Philharmonic debut as soloist in the American premiere of the "Messa per Rossini," a performance televised live nationwide. An experienced concert artist, Mr. Will has appeared with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Vladamir Ashkenazy and with the Cabrillo Festival under the baton of Dennis Russell Davies. He has sung with the San Francisco Symphony in the "St. Matthew Passion," with the International Bach Festival of Schaffhausen, Switzerland, in the "St. John Passion" and with the Vienna Symphonic Orchestra in Frank Martin's "Le mystère de la Nativité."