World renowned lyricist and novelist Paulo Coelho (The Alchemist) collaborates with Ute Lemper to bring us this enchanting album, The 9 Secrets.

“The superb international chanteuse Ute Lemper is never less than magnetic.”

Time Out New York

In 2015, Ute completed her composition The 9 Secrets to the words of Paulo Coelho, based on his book Manuscript Found in Accra. This creation was released on CD in fall 2015 on the label EDEL in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, and on the STEINWAY Label internationally in February 2016. She recorded the song cycle, The 9 Secrets, in New York with some of the finest musicians from around the world. Instruments used during recording include exotic ancient Arabic guitars, shepherd flutes, rebec and percussions. The one and only Gil Goldstein played accordion and wrote masterful string arrangements. Ute is thrilled and honored about this collaboration with Paulo Coelho, who is one of the most important legendary authors of our time.

“On The 9 Secrets, titles like ‘Solitude,’ ‘Beauty,’ ‘Movement,’ ‘Sex’ and ‘Love’ have a cosmic resonance intensified by Ms. Lemper’s sinuous droning melodies and chameleonic voice. That voice can rise to a piercing feline cry or subside to a seductive murmur... Mr. Coelho’s lyrics on the record are metaphysical, apolitical and compassionate.”

- New York Times

“The Nine Secrets is as gorgeous as it is ambitious and exotic.Musically rich, elegantly performed, and brilliantly arranged, this is a high-water mark in an already distinguished catalog. Lemper’s fans will be delighted.”

- AllMusic Guide

Album Credits

9 Secrets / Ute Lemper • STNS 30056

Release Date: 02/12/2016

Música Callada recorded February 5 & 6, 2009 at The Recital Hall of the Performing Arts Center, Purchase College, State University of New York.
Secreto recorded January 28, 2011 at Patrych Sound Studio, New York City.
Producer/Engineer: Silas Brown, Legacy Sound
Assistant Engineer: Andy Ryder

Art Direction: Oberlander Group
Cover photo: Michael Lubik
Piano: Steinway Model D (New York)
Piano Technicians: Hideaki Onishi, Ed Court, Ismael Cunha
 

About the Artist

Ute Lemper’s career is vast and varied. She has made her mark on the stage, in films, in concert and as a unique recording artist on more than 30 CDs. She has been universally praised for her interpretations of Berlin Cabaret Songs, the works of Kurt Weill and Berthold Brecht and the Chansons of Marlene Dietrich, Edith Piaf, Jacques Brel, Léo Ferré, Jacques Prevert, Nino Rota, Astor Piazzolla many others and also her own compositions, as well as her portrayals in musicals and plays on Broadway, in Paris, Berlin and in London’s West End.

While Ms. Lemper has continued to perform and revive the works of Brecht and Weill, her professional theatre stage debut in a musical was in the original Vienna production of Cats in the roles of Grizabella and Bombalurina. She went on to play Peter Pan in Peter Pan (Berlin) and Sally Bowles in Jerome Savary’s Cabaret (Paris) for which she received the Moliere Award for Best Actress in a Musical. She played Lola in The Blue Angel (Berlin) under the direction of Peter Zadek and Maurice Bejart created a ballet for her, La Mort Subite (Paris). Ute also appeared in many Weill Revues with the Pina Bausch Tanztheater, and she created the part of Velma Kelly in London’s production of Chicago in the West End, for which she was honored with the Laurence Olivier Award, and moved to the Broadway production after one year to receive the American Theatre Award.

Ute Lemper’s solo concerts, which include Kurt Weill / Berthold Brecht Recitals, Dietrich and Piaf / Jacques Brel / Leo Ferre / Kosma / Prevert / Sondheim evenings, and Berlin Cabaret Evening have been produced in prestigious venues throughout the world. Her symphony concerts include The Seven Deadly Sins, Songs from Kurt Weill, Songbook (Michael Nyman) and Songs from Weill, Piaf and Dietrich with the symphony orchestras of London, Israel, Boston, Hollywood, San Francisco, Berlin, The Paris Radio Symphony Orchestra, The Illusions Orchestra (Bruno Fontaine) and the Michael Nyman Band (Michael Nyman). She also appeared in Folksongs with the Luciano Berio Orchestra (Luciano Berio) and with The Matrix Ensemble (Robert Ziegler) performing Berlin Cabaret Songs. She performed with the best symphony orchestras all over the world from Buenos Aires to Sydney.

Her celebrated recordings for DECCA include Ute Lemper Sings Kurt Weill (Vols. I and II), Three Penny Opera, The Seven Deadly Sins, Mahogonny Songspiel, Prospero’s Books (Michael Nyman), Songbook (Michael Nyman/Paul Celan), Illusions (Piaf/Dietrich), City of Strangers (Prever/Sondheim) and Berlin Cabaret Songs (German and English versions). She was named Billboard Magazine’s Crossover Artist of the Year for 1993-1994. In early 2000, Decca / Universal Music released Punishing Kiss, featuring new songs composed for her by Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, Philip Glass, and Nick Cave. Her following release on Decca But One Day, features new arrangements of Weill, Brel, Piazolla, Heymann and Eisler songs, as well as the first recordings of her own compositions, for which she wrote both lyrics and music. She also recorded Crimes of the Heart, Life is a Cabaret and Ute Lemper Live for CBS Records and for POLYDOR, Espace Indecent, Nuits Etranges and She Has a Heart.

In film, her many credits include L’Autrichienne (Pierre Granier-Deferre), Prospero’s Books (Peter Greenaway), Moscow Parade (Ivan Dikhovichni), Prêt-à-Porter (Robert Altman), Bogus (Norman Jewison) and mote recent releases, Combat de Fauves (Benoit Lamy), A River Made to Drown In (James Merendino) and Appetite (George Milton). She has appeared on television in Rage/Outrage, The Dreyfus Affair (Arte), Tales from the Crypt (HBO), Ute Lemper Sings Kurt Weill (Bravo), Illusions (Granada), Songbook (Volker Scholendorff), The Wall (Rogers Waters) and The Look of Love (Gillian Lynn).

Ms. Lemper was born in Munster, Germany and completed her studies at The Dance Academy in Cologne and the Max Reinhardt Seminary Drama School in Vienna. She lives in New York with her four children.

About Steinway & Sons label

The STEINWAY & SONS music label produces exceptional albums of solo piano music across all genres. The label — a division of STEINWAY & SONS, maker of the world’s finest pianos — is a perfect vessel for producing the finest quality recordings by some of the most talented pianists in the world.