BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | OPERATIC ROLES | AWARDS
ALBUM REVIEWS
Interview - The Movementz (2009)
Giselle Minns is truly one of the more unique artists I have come across this year. A unique fusion between classical and contemporary music makes her a true music mover.
Her latest album "Turning Circles" is a classical crossover album, combining opera with more contemporary sounds including electronica, and pop. Her wide vocal range compliments this crossover. "My music has been compared to Enya and also a kind of Imogen Heap style."
As most artists, Giselle started early. "When I was three years old, my mother taught me vocal harmony and when I was five, I started piano lessons." She has since picked up the cello and the much coveted skill of writing her own music.
Put nicely, Giselle says that she gets her song writing inspiration from "the big Canadian sky; and life." Her songs are based on stories, but many are also fantastical stories that exist in other people's lives.
In terms of other artist inspiration, Giselle cites opera singer Maria Callas and the pop/electronica artist, Bjork. "Both have influenced the way I look at life and at my music."
For someone who is putting opera back into the mainstream vein, Giselle doesn't find the Canadian indie environment terribly challenging. "I find that Canada is extremely encouraging to emerging artists and there are many different avenues open for us to explore. The music network is supportive and informative and most doors are left ajar for us to fling wide open."
So what is the best part about making music? "The creative side to music is vital to me," says Giselle. "Creation and performance go hand in hand. The ability to work with other musicians sharing our common bond is awesome and listening to other people play and sing music is inspirational."
Giselle is currently planning her 2009-2010 tour of Turning Circles which will also feature an electronica symphony!
Interview by Lia Karidas
Web site:www.themovementz.com
Album Review - Rumblefish (2008)
The Phantom of the Opera: Giselle Minns
Though award-winning Canadian cellist, pianist and soprano Giselle Minns has already had quite a storied classical career as a professional opera singer, her crossover album, "Turning Circles" , should appeal to electronica-heads and new age music fans alike, as well as those opera lovers who have always made up her fanbase. For a style she's dubbed “classicaltronica,” Minns blends coolly contemporary beats with baroque strings and her opulent vocal stylings for epic, haunting tracks that sound timeless. Her songs seem as if they could be modern re-imaginings of classical opuses, though Minns wrote them herself. Like a hybrid of Enya and Sarah Brightman, she has created a musical world that is ethereal and otherworldly, while staying planted firmly in the technology of the modern world.
Recommended uses:
- Epic fantasy films
- Gothic videogames
- Modern historical dramas à la Amadeus or Marie Antoinette
Review By Rumblefish
Web site:www.rumblefish.com
Album Review - Classical Music Sentinel (2008)
The multi-talented Giselle Minns, singer, songwriter, lyricist, arranger and pianist, has released her first full-length CD titled "Turning Circles" in September of 2008. She describes it, or rather categorizes it as "Classicaltronica", which fits the style and sound rather well. Imagine if you can, a mix of Filippa Giordano, Sarah Brightman, Emma Shapplin, with a darker tinge à la Enya, all done with a powerful, classicaly trained voice and supported by strong, dramatic and emotional music, and you should get a clear picture of what Giselle sounds like.
These 11 well crafted songs, some with French and Italian lyrics, are all well laid out in their progression from intro to finish, and some of them play on your emotions and dwell on the mind. The type of song that would fit well in movies like "Lord of the Rings" or big, epic and gothic inspired video games. The electronic wizardry within the mix has a lot to do with the overall effect and mood of the music. For example, moments when the music sounds as if it is being heard on an old radio, or the music seemingly coming from far off, as if in a distant memory from long ago, or the piano sound coming to you from another room, all of these clever effects create and set the mood of this CD. The genre is definitely more Electronica than Classical, but there is one song titled "Trois Gymnopédies" that is based on the famous piece by Erik Satie.
Giselle was raised and trained in Opera and sung major roles around the world, collaborating with well known classical music figures.
What this CD lacks in classical content it makes up for with its clever electronic sound manipulation and moody arrangements. You can read more about Giselle and her awards, operatic roles, appearances etc...and listen to video/audio clips of her music at giselleminns.com
Review By Jean-Yves Duperron
Web site:www.classicalmusicsentinel.com
OPERATIC REVIEWS
Royal Opera House - Covent Garden - U.K.
"We enjoyed your performance very much...and (you) have an admirable control and conviction"
Rigoletto - Gilda
"Caro Nome should have been encored...exquisite interpretation...her sublime pianissimi in Tutte le Feste will linger long in the memory"
"The role of Gilda was poignantly performed by Giselle Minns, fine soprano with glorious clarity of tone who provided many of the vocal highlights of the evening"
"I would go a long way to hear Giselle Minns again...her singing tugged at the heart strings"
Giselle as Norina in Don Pasquale U.K.
La Fille du Regiment - Marie
"Most memorable are the strong presence, the rich virtuosic voice of the delightful Giselle Minns, a voice capable just as much as power as of delicacy, and perfectly even throughout the large register; all these qualities rendered the role of Marie believable. Nature has been kind to this young artist: she is as good an actress as a musician, a first rate singer, she has all the assets for a great career"
Le Nozze di Figaro - Susanna
"Stars of the show....Giselle Minns....exuded dramatic confidence"
Giselle with Daniel Howard (Baritone)in Don Giovanni. U.K.
Mozart's Mass in C minor
“Her poignant performance of Et incarnatus est displayed not only her splendid coloratura and clarity of phrasing but also her intelligence and sensitivity to the Mozart style"
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