International singer Rocky Duval (mezzo-soprano) is releasing her debut album of baroque hits on Crossover Records. Treacherous Fate: Baroque Arias features music from Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, and Purcell, with the Juno-award winning baroque ensemble, L’Harmonie des saisons, and direction by Eric Milnes. It will be released on November 1st, 2021 on all streaming services, including Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, and Pandora.
A few months before the pandemic, Rocky Duval recorded this album – a tour de force of her incredible vocal prowess – with a small independent classical label ready to release it into the world. That label went under a few months later, and Ms. Duval opted to wait to release the album until the wave of summer 2020 releases was over. A good choice, because Crossover Records (a subsidiary of Emitha LLC) decided to sign her, and partner to get this music into the ears of as many people as possible. Recorded at baroque pitch, Rocky worked alongside director Eric Milnes to find music that not only featured her singing, but also highlighted one of the baroque era’s finest qualities: musical collaboration. Track 5, “Es ist vollbracht” features the acclaimed viola da gamba player, Mélisande Corriveau.
Tracks include, “Thy Hand Belinda…when I am Laid In Earth” by Henry Purcell, “Crude Furie degli orridi abissi” and “O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings to Zion” by G. F. Handel; the much lesser performed “Barbaro Traditor” by Vivaldi – a piece which was so hard to find the sheet music for, the artists ended up writing out the parts by ear for the instrumentalists; and two pieces by J. S. Bach, “Et Exultavit” from Magnificat, and “Es ist vollbracht” from St. John Passion.
About Rocky Duval:
New York based opera singer, performance poet, actor, and TEDx speaker Rocky Duval has been performing professionally since the age of 11 and has appeared in opera, television, stage, concert, and off-Broadway.
Ms. Duval has performed with many companies, including The Metropolitan Opera Guild, The Glimmerglass Festival, Festival Bach Montreal, Opera on Tap NY, Frequent Flyers Aerial Dance, The Westchester Baroque Festival, The Colorado Music Festival, The Seattle Symphony, Opera Steamboat, The Barcelona Opera Studio, among others.
She has performed at a wide range of venues internationally including, The Apollo Theatre, The High Line, on Spanish National Television (La1), CBGB, WQXR’s The Green Space, Opera America, Monestir Pedralbes Barcelona, Schauspielhaus Bochum, The English Theatre Frankfurt, as well as ARTE television, Germany.
Other highlights include: The Flower Power Duet with OperAerobics, with over 30K views, which was described as “What the world was waiting for” and “what the [redacted] did I just watch?”.
Since March 2020, Rocky has taken to the screen and is passionate about opera innovation. As a specialist in early music and contemporary classical music, she has been in three filmed operas, one opera podcast with Experiments in Opera, and an exciting virtual learning platform that takes Rossini’s La Cenerentola to children all over the world.
Rocky is an Executive Producer for Opera on Tap, and has a thriving business as a public speaking coach. Her clients have gone on to do TED talks, book launches, and successful webinars. She holds a Bachelors of Music from the University of Washington, and a Diploma in Coaching from NYU.
www.rockyduval.com
