What sets GRAMMY® Award winner and three-time nominee Darlene Koldenhoven apart from the rest? It could be her worldwide 1.5 billion viewing audience on PBS as the memorable soprano soloist in Yanni, Live at the Acropolis, her work in the war-torn jungles of Sierra Leone where she coached musicians and singers whom she took on tour in the US and Canada, or her recent donation of time and performances in India with U.N. humanitarian ambassador and Grammy Winning-composer Ricky Kej, for his concert and videos Shanti Samsara, to raise awareness of climate change and animal cruelty causes she holds dearly.
Her new and 9th album Color Me Home, a CD with coloring book, is the culmination of years of deep devotion to her craft and association with some of the world’s greatest musicians and recording artists including the 17 for whom she wrote all the arrangements; some are Tom Scott, Wouter Kellerman, David Arkenstone . . . . Combining music and art, this album was produced from a place within Darlene to create beautiful music that is inspirational and healing, integrating her sonic therapy principals, which has resulted in its own sound. With Color Me Home, the dynamic sound of Darlene’s 5-octave range comes home to rest comfortably and we hear the soul of a true artist manifesting itself in every nuance of her album. Darlene produced, wrote all of the music and lyrics, vocal & instrumental arrangements, played piano, keyboards & solos, programmed, engineered and performed all the solo vocals, vocal improvisations, and all choir parts on the album, except for the distinctive background vocal work of Grammy Nominee Rocky Dawuni from Ghana on “Kalahari Calls.”