Buy CD
$14.99

Reviews, Accolades, Awards

"Best Holiday CD"

LifeStyle Music Award 2007
voted and presented by Broadcasters worldwide

"Best Holiday CD"

New Age Magazine 2000 

"Best Holiday CD"

New Times, Seattle 2000

"Christmas Spirit Award" & "Recording of Exceptional Merit Award"
WRST Wisconsin

"Heavenly Peace is a tour-de-force for Darlene Koldenhoven, a true renaissance talent."
GRAMMY® Award Winner, Dave Grusin
 

"Given the tragic events of the last few months, this nation could use a little heavenly peace right about now! Critically acclaimed for her soaring range, Grammy-winning Koldenhoven is best known as the featured soprano on Yanni, Live at the Acropolis. But on this radiant solo outing, she presents beautiful and emotive holiday fare that can also serve as memorial music, since the tunes help listeners rediscover an inner sense of hope, joy, and comfort. Featuring unique arrangements of four traditional carols, three original seasonal compositions and three spiritual tracks, the album is sequenced to share the story of the first Christmas. The lyrics tell about what the characters must have felt like-their fears, insecurities, amazement-unfolding in a chronological manner from the annunciation to Andrew Lloyd Webber's emotive "Pie Jesu," a petition of mercy and grace for ourselves as well as for those who have passed on before us. The music has threads of hope and joy weaving throughout from song to song, keeping Heavenly Peace from getting bogged down in weighty sentiment. Interestingly, in the trio of songs with lyrics by K.A. Parker, Koldenhoven expresses the sounds of the culture during the era of christ's birth; she also uses wordless vocals on "Emmanuel" to capture a faint bittersweet essence that seems so right for this post-attack season." ­PJB
New Age Voice Magazine, Nov. 2001

"Here's your best chance to experience incredible musical invention with total spirituality.... "Heavenly Peace"is a tour-de-force for Darlene Koldenhoven, a true renaissance talent: composer, arranger, keyboardist, programmer, and engineer, but mostly an absolutely heavenly singer, blessed with a stunning range and a magnificent sense of musicality..... Indeed, tidings of comfort and great joy."
-Dave Grusin, Grammy & Oscar winning Recording Artist, Producer, Keyboardist, Composer "On Golden Pond"


"How wonderful it is when you hear music that touches you immediately and simultaneously on the aesthetic and emotional levels. The heart and the mind are in an unison joyful state. Darlene Koldenhoven’s Heavenly Peace is a great musical statement in performance, in arranging and in sonic quality. But in all the realms it portrays you can hear and feel the care, the love, the commitment to the final result. It does not celebrate Christmas spirit alone, it celebrates the goodness within ourselves. A constant dosage of "Heavenly Peace" will do good to your soul. It is great music and I highly recommend it."
-Oscar Castro-Neves, Composer, Producer

"I love your CD, "Heavenly Peace". Your voice is an amazing instrument and you use it so musically. I especially love "Gabriel to Mary, Weaping," "Angels Pastorale," "Balulalow" and, well, many more. Thank you for sharing your music with me. Oh yes, the arrangements are magical too!"
-Gloria Loring , Recording artist formerly on Days of Our Lives"

"Traditional music is always considered sacrosanct. It is refreshing that Darlene has been inspired in a tasteful and spiritual manner to express these timeless expressions of the glories of Christmas in her album, Heavenly Peace."
-Seth Riggs , Vocal Coach to the Stars

"I now have a new favorite Holiday CD. Perfectly challenging and pleasant."
-Alex Wurman, Filmcomposer, Los Angeless March of the Penguins

"This is music for the new millennium. Very healing."
-Misha Sega, Filmcomposer, Los Angeles

"Darlene's vocal stylings are a gift of musical grace--effortlessly exploring a wide range of emotions and genres with confidence and dexterity.
For the past twelve years it has been my pleasure to employ her talent on just about all my recordings and live shows. She is a consummate vocal artist in virtually all musical styles and makes the hardest challenge look easy and sound fantastic!
HEAVENLY PEACE is candy to the ears and nourishment for the soul. Darlene's unique and moving treatment of Lloyd Webber's PIE JESU is worth the price of the whole collection."
-Paul Johnson , Arranger/Composer/Producer

"Your new CD is g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s! My hat would be off to you if I wore a hat. I've never heard anything quite like it. The orchestrations - give me a break - drop dead gorgeous. And your singing, well, it's Dar!"
-Ron Harris , Woodland Music Press

"Darlene at her best. While the wonders of her craftsmanship shine throughout, so does her heart."
-Morgan Ames , Producer, Arranger, Inner Voices

Darlene Koldenhoven - HEAVENLY PEACE: "Listeners who crave something beautiful and inspiring for the coming C-mas season will find this album pure delight for their ears! Darlene has a vocal execution that is flawless, and energy that seems boundless on these traditional Christmas songs. The orchestration is simple, but wonderful... the compositions hold clearly to the form that was intended by the composers, but there are elements of jazz, world & (just about) every other style of music on the globe. If you aren't inspired by her singing, you're dead already, so forget it. There are sections where the bass lines really remind me of Jaco Pastorius, though I couldn't see him listed in the credits (who was that bass man, anyway?). Koldenhoven is one of the most talented vocalists I've ever heard, and any listener who enjoys great music will fall in love with this in short order. The CD gets a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED from us!"

-Rotcod Zzaj, Improvijazzation Nation e-zine