This is not a Lullaby

A year and a half ago, my life changed completely when I became a mother.

Suddenly I had this tiny being to love and care for with everythingI had. I felt a strength from deep within that would allow me to weather any storm, face any scary monster, only to protect and cherish this little man. At the same time, I still had my own plans and ambitions, with the release of my debut album, a tour of the new opera I co-created, and a busier concert schedule than ever before. After the grandeur of a performance, the applause, the flowers, I would come home late at night to the tiny and vulnerable. We’d sit in the rocking chair in the dark while my son nursed and I softly sang to him. My heart bursting with an all-encompassing love, and at the same time feeling just utterly, completely and desperately exhausted. In art and classical music we are often presented with the picture-perfect mother, having achieved her sole purpose in life and fulfilling this role with great satisfaction and ease.

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With This is not a lullaby, I want to tell the real story of motherhood, of unbreakable bonds, and of life’s big transitions. This is not a lullaby will be released on May 7, 2021 by audiophile label TRPTK. Together with cellist Maya Fridman and pianist Artem Belogurov, we present Miecyslaw Weinberg’s Rocking the child (1973) on poems by Gabriela Mistral, Josef Malkin’s Russian Songs (2020) and John Tavener’s Akhmatova Songs (1993). The album was recorded in the Main Hall of Philharmonie Haarlem, with some of the best acoustics in the Netherlands.

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This project is made possible by the Sena Performers Foundation, Amarte Foundation, Stichting MusicaNostra and the many generous patrons of the Voordekunst crowdfunding campaign.