Bella Sorella (2008)

This California-based trio consists of Nova and Susanna Jiménez, who are not sisters but married to brothers, and Japanese pianist Shinobu Kameyama. Their first album, Popera, featured only the Jiménez sisters on the cover, but the whole concept has come a long way with this release. Both musically and from a marketing standpoint it's far superior to Popera. The earlier disc featured mostly operatic duets, in which the two singers, despite studies at the University of the Pacific and the New England Conservatory, achieved ... Read More

This California-based trio consists of Nova and Susanna Jiménez, who are not sisters but married to brothers, and Japanese pianist Shinobu Kameyama. Their first album, Popera, featured only the Jiménez sisters on the cover, but the whole concept has come a long way with this release. Both musically and from a marketing standpoint it's far superior to Popera. The earlier disc featured mostly operatic duets, in which the two singers, despite studies at the University of the Pacific and the New England Conservatory, achieved only minimal competence. For this disc, they've incorporated Kameyama into the whole concept (she gets her own pastel-colored dress), making them into three little maids from school, more intriguing than a duo even though the forces haven't really changed. They've hired couturiers who could acquit themselves reasonably well at a spring sorority formal. And the best news is that they've seized on the few things that worked well on the first album and pretty much discarded the rest. The... Read Less