''Inspirato'' is the fifteenth studio album by

Yanni Yiannis Chryssomallis (; born November 14, 1954), known professionally as Yanni ( ), is a Greek composer, keyboardist, pianist, and music producer. Yanni continues to use the musical shorthand that he developed as a child, blending jazz, clas ...

, released in 2014. To create the album, Yanni collaborated with opera tenor

Plácido Domingo José Plácido Domingo Embil (born 21 January 1941) is a Spanish opera singer, conductor, and arts administrator. He has recorded over a hundred complete operas and is well known for his versatility, regularly performing in Italian, French, ...

and producer

Ric Wake Ric Wake is an Anglo-American record producer who has won two Grammy Awards. During his tenure as staff producer with Sony Music Entertainment, he has worked with vocalists such as Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Lucero, CoCo Lee, Taylor D ...

to select distinguished vocalists to perform songs that Yanni had previously released over his career.

Content and production

The album's tracks are based on selected songs from throughout Yanni's career, but have newly created lyrics sung by distinguished vocalists having opera backgrounds. The dominant language of the album's lyrics is Italian. The album, with its lyrical and classical elements, was characterized as reflecting a radical change in Yanni's style. Despite the album's use of opera singers, Yanni emphasized the album was "not opera." Yanni collaborated with tenor

and producer

to match Yanni’s songs to the respective vocalists. In part because of the distinguished vocalists' schedules, the project is said to have required four years to complete.

Contributors to album

The following individuals contributed to ''Inspirato'' (listed alphabetically). File:Domingo part.jpg ,

File:D-01-Placido-Domingo-Jr.jpg , Plácido Domingo Jr. File:Renée_Fleming_4_Shankbone_Metropolitan_Opera_2009.jpg ,

Renée Fleming Renée Lynn Fleming (born February 14, 1959) is an American soprano and actress, known for performances in opera, concerts, recordings, theater, film, and at major public occasions. A recipient of the National Medal of Arts, Fleming has been nom ...

File:Vittorio grigolo 026a.jpg ,

Vittorio Grigolo Vittorio Grigolo (correctly Vittorio Grigòlo, born 19 February 1977) is an Italian operatic tenor. Early life Grigolo was born in Arezzo and raised in Rome. He began singing by the age of four. When he was nine years old he accompanied his moth ...

File:LaurenJelencovichRooftop2012.png , Lauren Jelencovich File:Katherine Jenkins - Live 2011 (21).jpg ,

Katherine Jenkins Katherine Jenkins (born 29 June 1980) is a Welsh singer. She is a mezzo-soprano and performs operatic arias, popular songs, musical theatre, and hymns.Chloe Lowery Chloe Elaine Lowery is an American singer and songwriter. By the age of 12 she was signed to RCA Records. She was featured on two film soundtracks during that time, '' Boys and Girls'' and " Joe Somebody." She toured with Big Brother and the ...

File:20160810MicaëlaOesteCropped.jpg, Micaëla Oeste File:Nathan-pacheco-2011.jpeg , Nathan Pacheco File:20140419RolandoVillazónCropped2.jpg , Rolando Villazón File:RussellWatson-Broadlands-2007.jpg ,

Russell Watson Russell Watson (born 24 November 1966) is an English crossover/popular singer, almost in the tenor range, who has released singles and albums of both quasi-operatic-style and pop songs. He began singing as a child, and became known after per ...

File:YanniPressPhoto.jpg ,

File:PrettyYendeCropped428px.jpg , Pretty Yende

Track listing

''Inspirato'' includes the following tracks. Except for the adaptation ''Ode À L'Humanité'' (''Aria''), all songs were written and composed by Yanni.

Production

* Produced by

* All music composed by Yanni, except "Ode À L'Humanité". The song is loosely based upon a short, but beautiful part of the 19th century French opera, Lakmé, by Léo Delibes. * Engineered by Yanni & Travis Meck * Arranged and mixed by Yanni * Orchestrations by Yanni & Colin O'Malley * All music recorded at Yanni's Private Studios * Mastered by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering, Los Angeles * Executive Producers: Yanni, Plácido Domingo, Ric Wake & Don Franzen * Art Direction & Design: Norman Moore, DesignArtLA.com * Cover Photography: Krystal Ann * Additional Photography: Silvio Richetto & Whit Padgett

Reception

''Inspirato'' peaked at #1 in ''Billboard's'' Top New Age Album category for 2014 and 2015,Yanni / Inspirato/ Awards (tab) / ''Billboard'' albumsarchive
, Allmusic, viewed 2015-02-17. and was ''Billboard's'' No. 11 selling New Age album of 2014."YEAR END 2014"archive
, Billboard.com. In March 2015, ''Inspirato'' received the Best Album of the Year award from ''Reviews New Age'' (Spain). The album's extension of Yanni's style into the lyrical and classical was characterized by ''Reviews New Age's'' Alejandro Clavijo as being an overwhelming success.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Yanni albums 2014 albums Plácido Domingo albums