David Bowie:
Life on mars, Intro:
First sounds from Mars-rover Perseverance 2021
George Crumb:
Apparition - The Night in Silence Under Many a Star
Johannes Brahms:
Feldeinsamkeit, Op. 86, No. 2
Hugo Wolf:
Im Frühling
Franz Schubert:
Ganymed, D. 544, Outro:
Sound of Ganymede plasma waves GII G1
Abendstern, D. 806
Der Wanderer an den Mond, D. 870
Augusta Holmes:
Les sept ivresses - II. Le vin
Rebecca Clarke:
Lethe
Grace Slick:
White Rabbit
Claude Vivier:
Hymnen an die Nacht
Gustav Mahler:
Um Mitternacht
Ana Sokolović:
Tanzer Lieder - I. Sur une étoile
Camille Saint-Saëns:
Mélodies persanes, Op. 26 - VI. Tournoiement (Songe d'opium)
Shel Silverstein:
The ballad of Lucy Jordan
NASA:
Auroral Kilometric Radiation (University of Iowa)
Sound of solar wind, Parker solar probe
Karlheinz Stockhausen:
Tierkreis - 12 Melodien Der Sternzeichen:
VI. Fische – Pisces
XIV. Löwe - Lion
Eric Idle, John Du Prez:
Galaxy Song
Olivier Messiaen:
Katchikatchi les étoiles
China Forbes, Thomas Lauderdale, Johnny Dynell, Alba Clemente:
Una notte a Napoli
Robert Schumann:
Abendlied, Op. 107, No. 6

The third collaboration between mezzo-soprano Olivia Vermeulen and Jan Philip Schulze (piano/synthesizer), In Heaven follows their earlier themed albums Dirty Minds and Hello Darkness, albums which were highly rated and won for instance an Edison Award and a Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik. While the first two albums explored earthly themes of eroticism and mortality, this programme turns upward toward the heavens. The concept imagines a cosmic odyssey, blending art song, contemporary music, pop, and psychedelic classics into a voyage through utopian visions, distant planets, and the eternal human fascination with space. Interspersed with NASA sound recordings, the album situates the listener between heaven and earth, fantasy and reality, intoxication and transcendence . The repertoire is strikingly eclectic: David Bowie’s Life on Mars opens with real Martian storm sounds, while George Crumb, Brahms, Schubert, and Wolf provide lyrical reflections on stars, dreams, and transcendence. The programme flows seamlessly into Augusta Holmes’s exuberant drinking song Le vin, Rebecca Clarke’s opium-tinged Lethe, and Grace Slick’s psychedelic anthem White Rabbit. French and German masters like Saint-Saëns, Mahler, and Messiaen appear alongside Stockhausen’s Tierkreis, Monty Python’s satirical Galaxy Song, and Pink Martini’s Una notte a Napoli. The album closes with Robert Schumann’s radiant Abendlied, underscoring the dialogue between the infinite cosmos and human longing . Together, Vermeulen and Schulze create a soundscape that is at once virtuosic, witty, and deeply imaginative. Supported by percussion and bass in selected tracks, their performances draw on colour, theatricality, and stylistic versatility to transform familiar works into cosmic meditations. In Heaven ultimately reflects on humanity’s dreams of escape, intoxication, and utopia while acknowledging the grounding reality of earthbound existence. The result is a kaleidoscopic journey playful yet profound, rooted in classical artistry yet open to pop culture that challenges boundaries and offers listeners a musical mission into space.