Hopes & Dreams: The Lullaby Project

HOPES & DREAMS: THE LULLABY PROJECT

Fiona Apple, the Brentano String Quartet, Lawrence Brownlee, Rosanne Cash, Joyce DiDonato, Janice Freeman, Rhiannon Giddens, Angélique Kidjo, Patti LuPone, Natalie Merchant, Dianne Reeves, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Pretty Yende, and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Available April 20, 2018

The Lullaby Project pairs pregnant women and new mothers with professional artists to write and sing personal lullabies for their babies, supporting maternal health, aiding child development, and strengthening the bond between parent and child. In New York City, the project reaches mothers in hospitals, homeless shelters, schools, and at Rikers Island Correctional Facility. Extending across the country and through several international pilot programs, the Lullaby Project enables partner organizations to support families in their own communities.

On April 20, 2018, Decca Gold (Universal Music Group) releases an album of original lullabies written by Lullaby Project participants and performed by leading artists, including Fiona Apple, the Brentano String Quartet, Lawrence Brownlee, Rosanne Cash, Joyce DiDonato, Janice Freeman, Rhiannon Giddens, Angélique Kidjo, Patti LuPone, Natalie Merchant, Dianne Reeves, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Pretty Yende, and Catherine Zeta-Jones. The recording was produced by Glen Roven, Ira Yuspeh, and Mitch Yuspeh.

Joyce DiDonato lends her renowned vocal talents to the project’s title track, “Hopes and Dreams,” recorded with the Brentano String Quartet. Joyce has been involved with the Lullaby Project for over five years and met Elsa Negron, the mother who wrote “Hopes and Dreams,” when she performed the song at a special concert hosted by Carnegie Hall. Elsa commented, “I was astonished that anyone – especially a famous musician and an opera singer at that – wanted to sing my song. The message I wanted to send to my daughter and future children is that you can do anything you set your mind to do.” Joyce, who along with producer Glen Roven was a driving force in initiating the idea of a Lullaby Project album, said about Elsa and the mothers involved in the program, “This project, for me, the common denominator is music and love… I don’t think there is any more important relationship than that between mother and child… and it is quite incredible to meet a young woman who has written this for her child, and then she gives me the honor of being able to give voice and breath to it.” Joyce sings in another two tracks, “Peace” – by Tamilles Fernandes with Deidre Struck and “Dream Big” – by Shaylor Johnson with Thomas Cabaniss, in which she’s joined by Lawrence Brownlee with Rhiannon Giddens, Patti LuPone, Angélique Kidjo, Gilberto Santo Rosa, Young People’s Chorus of New York City, and the Dream Big
Choir.