Noblesse

By Natasha Barbieri

Noblesse is a Christian classical crossover trio hailing from Romania. the members are Evelina Manea, Lorena Zeiler and Ramona Ghioalda. So how did they all meet? “Well, two of us (Lorena and Evelina) met when Lorena was born, as we are sisters,” they joke. “With Ramona we met when we were singing in a choir, ‘Voces’.”

During a break, their former pianist, Anda, started to play the song “In Christ Alone.” The girls share that, “All three of us came around the piano and started to sing. That was the moment when we clicked with each other and we thought that we should study that song and sing it in public. `In Christ Alone` was our first song and since then we never stopped singing together.”

When searching for their group’s name Lorena’s suggest of “Noblesse” and the others “immediately agreed”. They explain, “We liked both the meaning (it’s a French word and it means nobleness) and the sound of the word.”

The girls each have different voice types. Lorena is the highest as soprano, her sister Evelina is a mezzo and Ramona completes the trio with her alto range. This allows for some interesting combinations. “Usually Lorena, as the soprano, has the melodic line. But there are some songs (as `No Orphans of God` or `Yerushalayim`, for example) when the

melodic line is sung by Ramona or by Evelina because they have to sing many solo parts in that song, and Lorena does the harmony with the other girl. Or we have some songs when Evelina sings alto and Ramona mezzo, although the vast majority of the songs have the natural division of the voices: Lorena soprano (and the melodic line), Evelina mezzosoprano and Ramona alto.”

Their adventures as Noblesse have taken the girls e to the United States as well as Europe. “We have sung in Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, and in 2017 we plan to go in Portugal and Sweeden. We have also sang in the United States, in New York, Washington D.C., Florida, Georgia, California, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Arizona.” 

The trio’s first album was entitled “In Christ Alone”, named after the first song they sang together. “Most of the songs from this album are in English and it was recorded mostly with piano (we were 4 at that time, with Anda) and 3 songs with violin, played by a very good friend of ours and exceptional violinist, Leonard Furda.” They quickly followed it up with “Istoria Mantuirii.”

“The second album has the vast majority of the songs in Romanian and it`s a thematic album. It is called (in translation) `The Story of Salvation’ and the songs are, chronologically, about the creation of our world, original sin, the incarnation of Jesus Christ, His life on Earth, His death and Resurrection, the second coming, and Heaven.”

Next came the Christmas album entitled “Sounds of Joy.” It splits half of the songs in English and half in Romanian. English listeners can start off their collection with a bonus record called “Songs from the Heart”, which is a compilation of all the girls recorded English songs. “It also features a bonus track, which is a song that we sang with two great Romanian male voices (Andrei Barbu and Claudiu Agapie) and that can be found only on this album. This CD we made especially for our international visits, so the people can buy only our English songs.” Luckily for fans, the girls are already planning their next recording venture. “We hope to start working on the songs in 2017 and maybe finish it in 2018.”

Noblesse is clearly a Christian group but stylistically they appeal to fans of the classical crossover genre. “Lorena and Evelina studied a little bit of classical bel canto so the influence of this type of music in our voices is understandable. But we always liked classical crossover because we perceived it closer to our souls than the pure classical music.”

They want to continue moving forward with music videos and have plans to visit Brazil. When asked what their main ambition was they replied, “above all, we want to keep singing for the glory of our God in every project that we do.”

The girls were further exposed to the public through their appearances on Hope Television. “Our experience with Hope TV United States is very much related to our visit in Washington DC, when we sang at the Annual Council of the Seventh Day Adventist General Conference. As they are in the same building, those from Hope TV invited us to record three of our songs on their show, ‘Let`s Pray!`. It was a beautiful experience, they are very professional and we enjoyed working with them.” They have been in talks with the Hope TV director about future collaborations but tell us that “we won`t reveal more at this time. We will come in the future with further details.”

Learn more at noblessemusic.ro

Natasha Barbieri, Editor

Editor

Creator of Classical Crossover Magazine. For Natasha music has always been closely tied to her faith. At age 18, Natasha made her opera debut playing the part of the mother in Menotti’s ‘Amahl and the Night Visitors’ with the Eastern Festival Opera. At 20, she was a winner of the 2011 Young Artist Competition at Andrews University. Natasha graduated in 2012 with a Bachelor’s of Music. Natasha has released a series of Holiday singles “A Place Called Home” (2020), “One Little Boy,” and “The Perfect Year” (2021). In 2021, she was nominated for the ‘Future Classic Women Awards’ show on Men’s & Women’s Radio Station. Natasha is the creator and editor of ‘Classical Crossover Magazine’ a venture that has allowed her to interview many of the top stars in the genre including Sarah Brightman, Celtic Woman, Mirusia, Paul Potts, and more. During the covid-19 pandemic, she created an online concert series for the magazine that has seen her perform in the same line-up as Alex Sharpe, Lucy Kay, Barbara Padilla, Classical Reflection, and more on the virtual stage. In 2022, Natasha was included on the charity album “Stars of Classical Crossover: Christmas” in benefit of the Wallace & Gromit Children’s Charity.