"Lava", "La Diva", "Bel Canto" - these are the names of some of Simone Kermes' highly acclaimed and successful albums. Her new album "Inferno e Paradiso" thematically revolves around "Heaven and Hell" around "Virtues and Deadly Sins" - musically mapped with 14 titles from four centuries from Baroque to Rock, from Bach to Sting, from Vivaldi to Led Zeppelin Each of the chosen arias or songs sings about a virtue or a sin. The focus of the recording with the baroque ensemble Amici Veneziani is, of course, baroque: from Leonardo Vinci comes the 'wrathful' aria 'In braccio a mille furie' (In the arms of 1000 furies), juxtaposed with 'patience' sung with Tomasi Albinoni's 'Dopo i nembi e le procelle' (Are thunderstorms and storms over). Giovanni Bonincini's aria 'M'incateni e se mi scoglo' (Whenever you loosen my chains) comes from an oratorio dedicated to St. Nicholas, the symbolic hero of charity, Antonio Caldara's 'Pompe inutili' denounces 'useless pomp', greed. With the world premiere recording of Johann Adolf Hasse's aria 'Non ha piú pace' Simone Kermes sings about envy, Antonio Vivaldi's 'Gelido in ogni vena' thematizes the 'ice-cold blood in every vein', for Kermes the virtue of 'moderation'. Bach's famous 'Erbarme Dich' is the epitome of humility for Kermes. Riccardo Broschi's 'Qual guerrio in campo armato' is about the virtue of diligence for Kermes. Of course, music by Kermes' beloved composer George Frideric Handel is not to be missed: 'Tu del ciel ministro eletto' ("Chosen Messenger of Heaven") takes chastity as its theme Simone Kermes builds a direct bridge to our time with the new album by transforming current pop and rock titles by the Finnish composer and arranger Jarkko Riihimäki into baroque hits: from Lady Gaga comes "Poker Face", for lust, with Udo Jürgens famous "Aber bitte mit Sahne" Kermes thematizes gluttony, Sting's "Fields of Gold" is for Simone Kermes the song of love, of maximum benevolence. Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" thematizes the pride before the fall (from the ladder to heaven) "Some 'arias' by Sting and Led Zeppelin seem so baroque, as if they had been lying dusty on London shelves since the 17th century," says Kermes. And so "Inferno e Paradiso" also sounds like a unified whole, a varied, exciting album, with virtuoso as well as contemplative music.