Soprano Julia Belanoff Releases New Album, Winner In Your Heart

Julia Belanoff releases her debut album, "Winner In Your Heart."

Statement released about the album: "On the album, the young Bay Area soprano sounds more like a seasoned opera singer than a teenager at the beginning of a promising musical career. For an artist who is just 16, she displays a surprising level of maturity in both vocal range and subject matter. The album features 13 original tracks, each a blend of classical-style and pop music, complemented by lyrical musings on love, life and inspiration. The songs, nine of which are sung in English and four in Italian, are serenely beautiful and uplifting, backed by exhilarating orchestral music composed and arranged by producer Max DiCarlo."

"Max is amazing at creating melodies that capture your heart in a wonderful way," Belanoff said. "I listen to the music and discover all these little nuances in it, and then I write stories based on my own experiences and the flow of the songs."

Song descriptions from album insert:

On the title track, Belanoff sings about believing in oneself, in spite of what others think: "But now I see, I think I see, an end to this confusion / To gain the world's acceptance is not the right solution…"

"Goodnight San Francisco," which she describes as a love song to the City by the Bay, takes "listeners on a virtual stroll over fog-shrouded hills and through fields near the Golden Gate Bridge." 

"Tomorrow," which is first sung in English and later reprised in Italian, under the title "Domani," is an "uplifting composition about finding happiness amid sadness, achieving success from failure."

"It's about having hope for the future," Belanoff said. "So many people right now are having a really tough time during the recession, and I want to send a message all around the world that there is hope and there is tomorrow."

Performed alternately in Italian and English, "Pregherò" (English version: "A Wing and a Prayer"), "deals with faith; not the dogmatic kind that is exclusive to a specific religion, but a universal belief in a higher power that almost everyone can relate to, in their own way."

"Undoubtedly, one of Belanoff's most personal songs is "Moment," in which she sings of her first kiss: "You are leaning in / My world starts to spin / And I can't resist / Your soft, sweet lips.""

"On an album that is more operatic than frenetic, the most unusual selection, stylistically, is "The Legend," a stirring song about courage. With hypnotic synthesizer music and a pulsating drumbeat culminating in spoken, chant-like lyrics, some listeners may find the song reminiscent of the ambient group Enigma. But, like everything else on the album, it is pure Belanoff, with help from DiCarlo."

"Winner In Your Heart" is available on iTunes. More information about Julia Belanoff is available at www.JuliaBelanoff.com.

Julia Belanoff will perform in concert on March 10, 2012 at the Coastal Repertory Theatre, 1167 Main Street, Half Moon Bay, California 94019.Tickets: $26 for adults, $16 for 18 and under. Admission includes hors d'oeuvres and a post-concert meet-and-greet with the singer and musicians. Doors open at 7:00 p.m., concert at 8:00 p.m. For tickets, visit www.coastalrep.com or call (650) 726-0998.

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