This new collection, “Songs of Orpheus,” reunites two GRAMMY®-winning musical collaborators, mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor and pianist, composer and conductor Robert Spano. The album is O’Connor’s first recital recording and derives its title from Spano’s own “Sonnets to Orpheus,” written for Kelley O’Connor; also on the album are songs by Edvard Grieg, Claude Debussy and George Crumb. The new album, on Sono Luminus, is set for release on August 22, 2025.

The recording, which is O’Connor’s first recital recording, grew out of a longtime creative collaboration and friendship with Robert Spano. Their first project together was the premiere of Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar at Tanglewood in 2003, which was later released on Deutsche Grammophon (2006).  Since then, O’Connor has made numerous appearances with Spano, including several with the Atlanta Symphony, and Spano decided he’d like to write a song cycle for her.  That opportunity presented itself during the COVID pandemic, when performances ceased and allowed Spano time to set Rilke’s poetry to music. The result was “Sonnets of Orpheus," an intimate conversation between piano and soprano—to quote Rilke, it “draws one voice out of two separate strings.”

Complementing Spano's composition on the recording are two works new to O'Connor and one a beloved piece in her repertoire. Known for interpreting contemporary vocal music, O'Connor is also drawn to works that run counter to the popular conception of particular composers. George Crumb is known for pushing the boundaries of sound and technique to create surreal pieces of music. On this recording, O'Connor sings three early songs by Crumb, written in 1947 that are surprisingly melodic and approachable. Grieg’s Haugtussa (Norwegian for “mountain maid”), also new repertoire for O’Connor, offers an account of a woman’s life, infused with personality and charming descriptions of first love, interacting with her cows, gurgling brooks and other impressions of the natural world around her. Opening the album is one of O’Connor’s longtime favorites: Debussy’s Chanson de Bilitis. 

About Kelley O’Connor

The Grammy® Award-winning mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor is one of the most compelling vocal artists of her generation. O’Connor performs and inhabits a broad selection of repertoire and is sought after by many of today’s most accomplished composers. She performs with leading orchestras and conductors around the world, with preeminent artists in recitals and chamber music, and with highly acclaimed opera companies in the U.S. and abroad. The San Francisco Chronicle described her singing as having a “ravishingly velvet vocal tone” and “majestic calm and dark-toned beauty.”

She has an exceptional passion for works of living composers. Kelley O’Connor premiered an extended version of Thomas Adès’s America (A Prophecy) in her debut with the Gewandhausorchester under Andris Nelsons in 2024. She has recently premiered works by John Corigliano, Kareem Roustom, Joby Talbot, and Bryce Dessner. John Adams wrote the title role of The Gospel According to the Other Mary for O’Connor and she continues to be the eminent living interpreter of Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs, having performed this moving set of songs with orchestras around the world. “This was the kind of transporting, transformative singing that is deeply moving, life-affirming and all too rare,” wrote the Denver Post. She also created the role of Federico García Lorca in Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar, for which she has received unanimous critical acclaim; The New York Times noted that her “smoky sound and riveting stage presence made an indelible impact.”

For her debut with the Atlanta Symphony in Ainadamar, Kelley O’Connor joined Robert Spano for performances and a Grammy® Award-winning Deutsche Grammophon recording. Her recording catalogue also includes Mahler’s Third Symphony with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Lieberson’s Neruda Songs and Michael Kurth’s Everything Lasts Forever with the Atlanta Symphony, Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with The Cleveland Orchestra.

About Robert Spano

Robert Spano, conductor, pianist, composer, and teacher, is known worldwide for the intensity of his artistry and distinctive communicative abilities, creating a sense of inclusion and warmth among musicians and audiences that is unique among American orchestras, “making every performance radiate joy” (The New York Times). “What we heard,” wrote the Los Angeles Times, “was powerful music, powerfully played. There was no mistaking the authority from the podium.”

Spano has been Music Director of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra since August 2022 and will continue there through July 2031. In February 2024, Spano was appointed Music Director of the Washington National Opera, beginning in the 2025–2026 season, for a three-year term; he is currently the WNO’s Music Director Designate. As Music Director of the Aspen Music Festival and School since 2011, he oversees the programming of more than 300 events and educational programs for 630 students and young performers; he also directs the Aspen Conducting Academy, which offers participants unparalleled training and valuable podium experience.

After twenty seasons as Music Director with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, he now serves as Music Director Laureate. He was appointed Principal Conductor of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra & Music School in 2024, and will transition to Principal Guest Conductor in 2025-2026 following the appointment of their new Music Director.

With a discography of critically acclaimed recordings for Telarc, Deutsche Grammophon, and ASO Media, Robert Spano has garnered four Grammy® Awards and eight nominations with the Atlanta Symphony. Spano is on faculty at Oberlin Conservatory and has received honorary doctorates from Bowling Green State University, the Curtis Institute of Music, Emory University, and Oberlin. Maestro Spano is a recipient of the Georgia Governor’s Award for the Arts and Humanities and is one of two classical musicians inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.