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 Holmès’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 .

Album Tracks

 01. Life on mars | Intro: First sounds from Mars-rover Perseverance 2021 04:33

(David Bowie ) Jan Philip Schulze, Olivia Vermeulen, Bernd Oezsevim 

02. Apparition: The Night in Silence Under Many a Star 02:55
(George Crumb) Jan Philip Schulze, Olivia Vermeulen 

03. Feldeinsamkeit, Op. 86, No. 2 03:11
(Johannes Brahms) Jan Philip Schulze, Olivia Vermeulen 

04. Im Frühling 04:22
(Hugo Wolf) Olivia Vermeulen, Jan Philip Schulze 

05. Ganymed, D. 544 | Outro: Sound of Ganymede plasma waves GII G1 04:24
(Franz Schubert) Olivia Vermeulen, Jan Philip Schulze 

06. Les sept ivresses: II. Le vin 03:12
(Augusta Holmès) Jan Philip Schulze, Olivia Vermeulen 

07. Lethe 02:55
(Rebecca Clarke) Olivia Vermeulen, Jan Philip Schulze 

08. White Rabbit 02:31
(Grace Slick) Olivia Vermeulen, Jan Philip Schulze, Bernd Oezsevim, Gunther Rose 

09. Hymnen an die Nacht 04:46
(Claude Vivier) Olivia Vermeulen, Jan Philip Schulze 

10. Um Mitternacht 05:39
(Gustav Mahler) Olivia Vermeulen, Jan Philip Schulze 

11. Tanzer Lieder: I. Sur une étoile 02:52
(Ana Sokolović) Olivia Vermeulen, Jan Philip Schulze 

12. Mélodies persanes, Op. 26: VI. Tournoiement (Songe d'opium) 02:35
(Camille Saint-Saëns) Olivia Vermeulen, Jan Philip Schulze 

13. The ballad of Lucy Jordan 03:53
(Shel Silverstein) Jan Philip Schulze, Olivia Vermeulen, Bernd Oezsevim 

14. Auroral Kilometric Radiation 00:19
(NASA / University of Iowa)  

15. Abendstern, D. 806 02:07
(Franz Schubert) Olivia Vermeulen, Jan Philip Schulze 

16. Der Wanderer an den Mond, D. 870 02:19
(Franz Schubert) Jan Philip Schulze, Olivia Vermeulen 

17. Tierkreis - 12 Melodien Der Sternzeichen: VI. Fische - Pisces 02:07
(Karlheinz Stockhausen) Olivia Vermeulen, Jan Philip Schulze 

18. Tierkreis - 12 Melodien Der Sternzeichen: XIV. Löwe - Lion 01:46
(Karlheinz Stockhausen) Jan Philip Schulze, Olivia Vermeulen 

19. Galaxy Song 02:28
(Eric Idle, John Du Prez) Olivia Vermeulen, Jan Philip Schulze, Bernd Oezsevim

20. Katchikatchi les étoiles 01:59
(Olivier Messiaen) Olivia Vermeulen, Jan Philip Schulze 

21. Una notte a Napoli 03:52
(China Forbes, Thomas Lauderdale, Johnny Dynell, Alba Clemente) Olivia Vermeulen, Jan Philip Schulze, Bernd Oezsevim 

22. Sound of solar wind, Parker solar probe 00:26
(NASA)  

23. Abendlied, Op. 107, No. 6 02:22
(Robert Schumann) Olivia Vermeulen, Jan Philip Schulze