No.1 for weeks on the ARIA Classical, iTunes and Limelight charts

Performed by ARIA-Award winner Tamara-Anna Cislowska and the composer herself, Butterflying is the first major survey of the piano music of Elena Kats-Chernin, showcasing the vast range of moods, emotions and addictive melodies for which the composer is loved.

Ever since her childhood in Uzbekistan, the piano has been – in her own words – Kats-Chernin’s ‘best friend’. At the age of six she wrote her first piano piece, Lullaby, which she later revised for her youngest son and is presented on this album as Lullaby for Nick. From this work to pieces written in 2015, Butterflying presents the full range of Kats-Chernin’s extraordinary compositional palette: irresistibly lyrical works such as Waltz of Things Past and Butterflying (originally composed for the opening ceremony of the 2003 Rugby World Cup), rags and waltzes, and iconic works such as Eliza Aria and Slicked Back Tango. The album features 14 world premiere recordings.
Many of the pieces are performed solo by Tamara-Anna Cislowska. Others are presented in versions for piano four hands, with Elena joining Tamara-Anna to resume their long-standing friendship and collaboration in performances which are half-composed, half-improvised.

Born and raised in Uzbekistan and now a resident of Australia, Elena Kats-Chernin is one of the world’s best-loved and most prolific composers. Her music featured at the opening ceremonies of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and the 2003 Rugby World Cup, whilst her Eliza Aria became known to a generation of Britons when it was featured in the Lloyds TSB ‘For the Journey’ ad campaign. In 2015 her widely-praised opera The Divorce was premiered on ABC TV, and her 2019 opera, Whiteley for Opera Australia is nominated for ‘Best new opera’ in the 2020 International Opera Awards.

Tamara-Anna Cislowska is one of Australia’s most acclaimed pianists, and in 2015 won the ARIA Award for Best Classical Album for her survey of the solo piano music of Peter Sculthorpe – an album which also won Editor’s Choice in BBC Music Magazine and was described as ‘a profoundly affecting release’ by Gramophone magazine.