Mark Abel – Dream Gallery album cover

The Dream Gallery release announced

I’m very pleased to announce the March 6 release by the Delos label of “The Dream Gallery: Seven California Portraits”, a massive song cycle for solo singers and full orchestra that depicts a group of archetypal Californians and the regions in which they live.

My first major label release, I co-produced the album and co-orchestrated the music with composer Mark Abel. I also played the piano throughout and we did some of the smaller recording sessions in my Torrance studio. Sharon Lavery, one of the Los Angeles area’s leading conductors, directed an ensemble of distinguished Hollywood session players.

The product of an intense year-and-a-half of composing and recording, Dream Gallery exposes both the state’s varied landscape and the fault lines of its characters’ internal worlds. Dispensing with postcard themes and stressing stark realism, the piece highlights these complexities through music that melds elements of classical, rock and jazz, and is performed by high caliber musicians from across California. Many thanks to Carol Rosenberger, the head of the Delos label, who has been extremely supportive!