Naïve’s astonishing new signing, cellist Sonia Wieder-Atherton, releases her debut album on the label featuring a collection of ancient folk melodies played on solo lyrical cello with string orchestra.

New signing Sonia Wieder-Atherton releases her fascinating debut album for Naïve entitled ‘Chants d’est’ – Songs from Slavic Lands’. Cultures born out of the vast, oppressive Austro-Hungarian Empire fought to retain their own language and identity. Music was the voice of resistance. Wieder-Atherton, through the music of composers such as Rachmaninov, Mahler and Prokofiev, goes on a musical journey of discovery into the way music, in this dark period of history, gave a voice to those who did not have the right to speak. The cellist is accompanied by Sinfonia Varsovia under Christophe Mangou.

As an interpreter of a very broad repertoire reflecting her imaginative world, a designer of projects, and a musician sought after by many contemporary composers, Sonia Wieder-Atherton occupies a special place on today’s musical scene. Her statu s as one of today’s most potent musical personalities was acknowledged when she was awarded the Grand Prix Del Duca in 1999 by the French Académie des Beaux-Arts.