Gunta Smirnova & Mikayel Balyan — GEWITTERNACHT (Official Album Trailer)

We are delighted to present the official trailer for "Gewitternacht" (Night of Storms) - the debut album of Latvian soprano Gunta Smirnova. "Gewitternacht" explores the musical world that emerged in the decades following Johann Sebastian Bach’s death in 1750—a symbolic turning point in music history. This period witnessed the rise of Empfindsamkeit (the Style of Sensibility) and Sturm und Drang, movements that placed emotion, individuality, and expressive musical language at the centre of composition, paving the way toward the Classical and later the Romantic era. Curated and researched by Gunta Smirnova, the album presents rarely performed vocal works by Bach’s sons and pupils—Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, Johann Gottfried Müthel, Johann Friedrich Agricola, and Friedrich Gottlob Fleischer. Through historically informed performance, Smirnova explores and brings renewed attention to forgotten repertoire. Eight of the nine works are presented here as world premiere recordings, revealing a remarkable yet largely overlooked chapter of eighteenth-century music history. Educated at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis and the Zurich University of the Arts, Gunta Smirnova has performed at renowned European music festivals, including Bachfest Leipzig, Musikfest Bremen, and the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, collaborating with leading European early music ensembles and conductors like Andrea Marcon, René Jacobs and Ton Koopman. Since 2024, she has been Lecturer in Historical Performance Practice for Singers at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music in Riga. Gunta Smirnova is joined by Mikayel Balyan, an internationally acclaimed specialist for historical keyboard instruments and professor at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna (MUK). Performing on a historic 1797 Schmahl Tangentenflügel, he brings the distinctive sound world of this exquisite repertoire vividly to life. Album release: 20 November 2026 Label: PRIMA CLASSIC Executive Producer: Edgardo Vertanessian Sound Engineer: Karel Valter Video Production: Elias Bötticher www.guntasmirnova.com