Welcome to the official website of Karl Jenkins and Adiemus
LATEST NEWS
STELLA NATALIS SPENDS A
FOURTH WEEK AT NO.1 (December
2009)
Karl Jenkins's new album, Stella Natalis
continues its run at No.1 on the UK Specialist Classical
Chart, spending a fourth week at the top spot. Click here
to see the current week's chart (hosted by Gramophone.co.uk).
FREE
MP3 DOWNLOAD
(December 2009) To celebrate the release of
Stella Natalis, EMI is offering you the chance to
download a copy of the track 'Palace Of The
Crystal Bridge' absolutely free.
Click here to sign-up to the Karl Jenkins mailing
list and receive your free MP3
download!
SKY NEWS
ENTERTAINMENT FEATURE
(November 2009) Sky News broadcast a feature highlighting the
importance of the Christmas market for classical CD
sales and featured an interview with Karl Jenkins
on the release of Stella Natalis.
Click here to watch the piece.
BIRTHDAY CONCERT
AND AWARD FOR KARL JENKINS
(November 2009) Karl Jenkins celebrated his birthday at the
Wales Millennium Centre on 14 November by conducting
a concert marking three special occasions: his birthday,
the fifth anniversary of the opening of the Wales
Millennium Centre and the 10th anniversary of the
devolution of Wales. The concert brought together
Sinfonia Cymru and three choirs (Cor Caerdydd,
Cordydd and Cantata) with soprano
Rebecca Evans, harpist Catrin Finch, singers
Elin Fflur, Geraint Llry Owen and former X
Factor runner up Rhidian Roberts, virtuoso
euphonium player David Childs and rising young
cellist Steffan Morris. All the music performed
was by Karl Jenkins, who was later presented with the
Cymry for the World award. Among the actors on stage
and in the audience for the WMC Awards ceremony were
Sian Phillips, Robert Hardy, Sir Derek
Jacobi and Jonathan Pryce.
STELLA
NATALIS TOUR CONDUCTED BY KARL JENKINS
(November 2009) Karl Jenkins will be touring England for five dates
to celebrate the release of his new album, Stella Natalis.
An exclusive EMI artist, Karl Jenkins's name shines bright
amongst contemporary classical composers, having reached
global stardom with such works as Adiemus, Requiem
and The Armed Man. Released on the 2nd November 2009
Stella Natalis embraces Karl's signature melodies with the
Christmas message in a benchmark new work for all audiences.
Karl will be accompanied by Tenebrae, the renowned
choir led by Nigel Short, as well as a specially
created ensemble of musicians led by John Gibbons.
STELLA NATALIS- THE NEW ALBUM
(October 2009) Karl Jenkins has composed a new work for choir and
orchestra, Stella Natalis, as a gift to music
lovers
of all stylistic and spiritual backgrounds for the 2009
holiday season. Its coupling, Joy to the world,
features arrangements by Jenkins of carols from around the
globe in keeping with his inclusive and universal approach
to the message of music. The performers represent a mixture
of classical and popular artistry. “It has been a
privilege,” said Karl Jenkins recently, “to feature
the astounding talents of fellow EMI artists Kate Royal
[soprano] and Alison Balsom [trumpet] and to introduce BBC
Radio 2 Young Chorister of the year 2008, Alice Halstead.
The choir is Tenebrae, whilst as a counterpoint to their
‘classical’ sound, I have revisited my past and
re-introduced the ethnic sound of Adiemus, featuring Mary Carewe, who sang on the first Adiemus album Songs of
Sanctuary, and Mae McKenna. My orchestration has the usual
classical and ethnic percussion mix, the latter played by
Jody K Jenkins and Zands. The orchestra is the Marylebone Camerata, a hand-picked group of the finest young players in
London, assembled by cellist Jonathan Byers.”
“Stella
Natalis means ‘star of birth’ or ‘star of origin,’ continues
Jenkins, “and the music conveys the Christmas message of
peace, goodwill, compassion and a new beginning whilst using
a wider palette of inspiration than is usual in such
treatments: Zulu text, reference to Hindu gods, as well as
the Old Testament, all make an appearance! The libretto, for
the most part, is by Carol Barratt together with some
established text in Latin and English.”Joy to the
world consists of a set of idiosyncratic arrangements by
Karl Jenkins to carols from England, Germany, France, Spain,
the West Indies and the African-American Go tell it on the
mountain. Karl Jenkins’s 65th birthday concert at the Wales
Millennium Centre in Cardiff on November 14 will feature
music from this new EMI CD.
Click here for more information.
FREE
MP3 DOWNLOAD
(October 2009) To celebrate the release of
Stella Natalis, EMI is offering you the chance to
download a copy of the track 'Palace Of The
Crystal Bridge' absolutely free.
Click here to sign-up and receive your free MP3
download!
MILLENNIUM CENTRE BIRTHDAY CONCERT - 14 NOVEMBER 2009
(October 2009) To mark his 65th Birthday with an all-Welsh
celebration, the world’s most popular classical composer
Karl Jenkins joins us for an uplifting evening
showcasing his best-loved music and launching his latest
work, a special composition to mark 10 years of
devolution in Wales. Massed voices of Welsh choirs Côrdydd,
Côr Caerdydd,Aelwyd y Waun Ddyfal and Cantata
take to the spectacular Donald Gordon stage alongside
Sinfonia Cymru with a stellar Welsh line-up of soloists,
including Neath-born international soprano Rebecca
Evans, favourite harpist Catrin Finch and talented
singer Elin Fflur. Karl will be sharing the podium for
the evening with conductor Gareth Jones. As well as
excerpts from the million-selling Adiemus: Songs of
Sanctuary, Requiem, Stabat Mater and
The Armed Man, Karl
Jenkins lifts the baton for the very first time on his
latest work.
Click here to find out more and to buy tickets
KARL
JENKINS ON KARL JENKINS
(September 2009) A new 10-minute documentary of Karl Jenkins
talking about his life and music, from his childhood in
Wales and classical training, through his work in jazz
and advertising, to his recent series of large-scale
choral works including The Armed Man. This film,
produced by Boosey & Hawkes, includes an interview with
Karl Jenkins at his home in South Wales. It features
music from Jenkins' EMI recordings together with footage
from the 2005 South Bank Show film on the composer.
Click here to watch the film.
EMI VIDEOS
ON YOUTUBE (September 2009)
EMI have uploaded several promotional
and music videos to their
YouTube channel. Here follows a few of them...
PERFORMANCES OF MUSIC BY KARL JENKINS Click here for a complete list of forthcoming performances of music by Karl Jenkins.
Karl Jenkins has composed a new work for choir and
orchestra, Stella Natalis, as a gift to music
lovers
of all stylistic and spiritual backgrounds for the 2009
holiday season. Its coupling, Joy to the world,
features arrangements by Jenkins of carols from around the
globe in keeping with his inclusive and universal approach
to the message of music. The performers represent a mixture
of classical and popular artistry. “It has been a
privilege,” said Karl Jenkins recently, “to feature
the astounding talents of fellow EMI artists Kate Royal
[soprano] and Alison Balsom [trumpet] and to introduce BBC
Radio 2 Young Chorister of the year 2008, Alice Halstead.
The choir is Tenebrae, whilst as a counterpoint to their
‘classical’ sound, I have revisited my past and
re-introduced the ethnic sound of Adiemus, featuring Mary Carewe, who sang on the first Adiemus album Songs of
Sanctuary, and Mae McKenna. My orchestration has the usual
classical and ethnic percussion mix, the latter played by
Jody K Jenkins and Zands. The orchestra is the Marylebone Camerata, a hand-picked group of the finest young players in
London, assembled by cellist Jonathan Byers.” 