Kim André Arnesen is one of Norway’s most frequently performed contemporary composers. International recognition of his music includes a performance of the beautifully evocative Cradle Hymn at the White House for Barack Obama in 2016. Arnesen’s association with Denver’s Kantorei resulted in their commissioning the warmly expressive The gift I’ll leave you and the eloquent Making or Breaking. Even When He Is Silent sets a text written by a prisoner on a concentration camp wall, and Arnesen’s own summing-up of Flight Song is that ‘music making is the song of new life, fragile as the fall of a feather’.

Kim André Arnesen’s choral music is supremely approachable and full of expressive appeal. His sound-world is comparable with that of the hugely popular Eric Whitacre, and with this Naxos debut we are confident that Arnesen’s work will have a comparable impact and reach an ever wider public.

Formed in 1997, Kantorei Denver established itself as one of the USA’s premier choral ensembles after performing as an auditioned choir for the 2003 National American Choral Directors Association Conference at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Having become a choir of national recognition, Kantorei frequently hosts composers and conductors of international renown. Kantorei has recently worked with such important choral conductors as René Clausen, Anton Armstrong, Simon Carrington, and Eric Whitacre.

Artistic Director Joel M. Rinsema joined Kantorei in 2014 from the Grammy Award-winning Phoenix Chorale, his recordings with them on the Chandos label earning a total of eight Grammy nominations and two wins.