June 19, 2026 New Releases from Navona and Albany Records

On ROOTS & RIVERS, the Santa Fe Desert Chorale expands the American choral canon with a curated selection of commissioned works. The album infuses Indian classical music into Western forms, explores the immigrant experience of poet Claude McKay, and reimagines folk songs, hymns, and spirituals. Above all, ROOTS & RIVERS stands as an offering of gratitude for the outpouring of new American choral music.

The Crossing, conducted by Donald Nally, delivers a meditation on memory, exile, and the written word by composer Aaron Helgeson. THE BOOK OF NEVER is inspired by the 1000-year-old Novgorod Codex, a desperate attempt of one monk to preserve the culture of an ex-communicated community being strangled by authoritarian rulers.

One might assume there’d be little surprises left to experience in a centuries old genre — au contraire, mon frère. On FIGMENTS VOL. 4, Navona Records highlights an assortment of adventurous classical composers who follow their voice and uncover new modes of expression — a noteworthy addition to a contemporary classical music series that delights ears and challenges assumptions.

Synesthesia features heavily on MOSAICOS. Acclaimed oboist Lindsay Flowers presents a selection of music influenced by the visual and the lyrical: by architecture, Art Nouveau, and romantic poetry, to name but a few, and the music is as enchanting and as its influences suggest.

Reza Vali’s SALMAK is a rich dialogue between tradition and modernity performed by the FLUX Quartet. The six-movement work explores connections between traditional Persian and Western classical music through a hybrid approach Vali calls the “mixed tuning system.”

Large is the number of early 20th-century pianist-composers whose talents were crowded out by the rise of modern popular music. ARNE OLDBERG: THE COMPOSER AT THE PIANO remedies this injustice in one particularly meritorious case, shedding new light on the seminal, composer/concert pianist (1874–1962).

Originality and inclusivity are front and center on ENDEAVOR, the third installment in the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra’s Musical Landscapes in Color project. Featuring works by diverse, living composers, the album makes a vibrant splash in the pool of contemporary repertoire.