The pain and beauty of love are poignantly intertwined in Amar, the new collaboration between singer-composer Kristin Amarie, her songwriting partner David Lanz, and American tenor Jay Dref. Dref’s rich, clear tone, paired with Kristin’s pure, emotive vocals and supported by sweeping strings and piano, is very effective. The track carries a nostalgic quality reminiscent of the early 2000s crossover era. We asked Kristin, David and Jay a few questions about their new duet.
Crossover Music Magazine (CMM): Where did the inspiration for “Amar” come from?
Kristin Amarie (KA): Wanting to create a song filled with beauty and emotions, I sat down by the piano and felt these particular notes coming to me. I played them slowly and carefully and ended up with the composition “Andante Amar”.
CMM: Do you hear fragments of music that developed over time, or did you hear the whole composition at once?
David Lanz (DL): Amar began with Kristin’s original instrumental theme for ANDANTE AMAR that we recorded with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra in early spring 2025.
KA: When I first heard the final recording from Prague, I knew that I had “heard” this song before… I tried singing to the orchestration, but it didn’t work all the way through.
DL: She wanted to rework the song structure and sing and create lyrics to the melody, so I initially wrote a lyric in English entitled, TO LIVE ANOTHER DAY.
DL: Amar being sung as a duet in Italian was her first choice. At that point, we contacted our Italian friend, Tony Mangione, who contributed Italian lyrics and also translated my original lyrics into Italian. We worked on a new B section and then sent it to Kurt Bestor.
KA: Kurt added a beautiful bridge later on as we re-arranged Andante Amar for vocals and re-named the song “AMAR.”
CMM: You are collaborating with the incredible Jay Dref. Tell us about how you became connected and the qualities that drew you to his voice?
KA & DL: In 2024, while we were exploring the idea of doing a version of Caruso, Kristin happened to find Jay’s version on Spotify. She loved his voice, his tone, and his ability to sing in between classical and pop styles. Now fast forward to 2025, and Jay immediately came to mind for the AMAR duet… We reached out to him, sent a demo, and the rest is history!
CMM: Did you have specific ideas about the orchestration of the piece when you started, or did it evolve?
KA & DL: We had recently worked with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra on ANDANTE AMAR, the piece that we built AMAR on. Logistically, it would have been impossible to return to Prague and work with the CNSO, on AMAR. Our ace in the hole, so to speak, was the wonderful musicians who make up the Utah Film Orchestra. Kurt Bestor, our orchestrator and writing partner on AMAR, lives in Salt Lake City and quite often works with the Utah Film Orchestra. So that part of the production was fairly easy to put together.
AMAR is a duet, and that element of the piece needed the most time. Jay and Kristin’s parts and the writing of the lyrics needed to evolve and go back and forth until it was right.
CMM: What emotions do you hope listeners feel when they hear “Amar?”
DL: On first listen, you would say that AMAR is a song about emotions. Even if you don’t understand Italian, the feelings and passion in the performance takes your breath away. Kristin feels the song is much more than a love song. There is an unconditional, universal love being expressed here. A love for your family, and even all creation.
CMM: Jay, what did it feel like to be approached by this amazing musical duo?
Jay Dref (JD): I was truly honored to be invited to record a song with Kristin and David. I’ve admired their work for a while—it’s absolutely beautiful. Her voice and his songwriting style are both so distinctive and captivating.