The recently released album “Shakespeare Inspired” with the South African artists Michelle Breedt (mezzo-soprano) and Nina Schumann (piano) was awarded the German Critics’ Award as one of the “Quarterly Best Releases for the Third Quarter 2011”. The announcement was made on the 15th of August. The artists are in the prestigious company of others such as Julia Fischer, Gidon Kremer, Leif Ove Andsnes and Nelson Freire.
This release is a product of TwoPianists Records, South African Classical Music record label based in Stellenbosch. TwoPianists Records marks its place within the international critics domain sharing this prize with well-established labels such as Deutsche Grammophon, Naxos, Harmonia Mundi and many others.
“Shakespeare Inspired” was awarded 5 stars in the prestigious Diapason magazine, France, in June 2011.
South African-born Michelle Breedt has graced the most prominent concert and opera stages in Europe since her move to Germany in 1990.
Appearing at, amongst others, the Salzburg and Bayreth Festivals and working with such luminaries as Ozawa, Tielemann, de Billy and Harnoncourt, her rich mezzo-soprano voice has elicited ecstatic reviews.
Where Michelle Breedt has become known for her stellar performances of Wagner in particular, her versatility from the opera to the concert stage is remarkably captured on this disc.
