What happens when one artist dares to dream on an orchestral scale, without a studio, without AI, without shortcuts? Composer, arranger, and producer Sunim Koria answers with “Cantata,” a 13-minute cinematic jazz suite performed entirely by real musicians, recorded piece by piece from his bedroom studio. The result: a soaring, human statement in an increasingly synthetic age.
Four years in the making, “Cantata” fuses the lush orchestrations of Quincy Jones and Gil Evans with the layered emotional storytelling of Brian Wilson. Featuring the soul-stirring vocals of Vikki Rose Taylor, this is a composition that dares to sound alive, cinematic and deeply human. No autotune, AI, synths, or samples were used, only real musicians performing real instruments. Featuring the stirring vocals of Vikki Rose Taylor, “Cantata” showcases intricate orchestrations, dynamic layering, and emotional storytelling across 13 minutes of pure musical ambition.
Inspired by the sweeping drama of Richard Harris’s “MacArthur Park” and the raw vocal emotion of Katharine Hepburn’s “Always Mademoiselle” from Coco, “Cantata” is both homage and evolution. Produced with remarkable attention to detail, the track involved recording 16 musicians, each contributing multiple parts to emulate a full live orchestra. While Koria’s bedroom served as the creative core, select elements, like grand piano, harp, and percussion, were recorded in local venues and homes, imbuing the work with an organic warmth and authenticity rarely found in modern jazz production. The result is a work that feels at once intimate and cinematic, equal parts studio innovation and orchestral tradition.
