2025 Grammy Nomination

We are proud to announce that 'Lullabies for the Brokenhearted' has been nominated for a Grammy.

Thank you to Lili Haydn who pulled Paul from his grief to make this album. And thank you to Thomas Ross Johansen for his beautiful recording.

Angela would be proud.

 

 

Spin Magazine interview

by Lily Moayeri

About 18 months ago, violinist-composer-singer Lili Haydn sent me a kind text: our dear friend, the irrepressible singer-songwriter Angela McCluskey, had suffered a massive heart attack and was in a coma from which she likely wouldn’t wake. The next day, we lost her. My first thought was of pianist Paul Cantelon, Angela’s husband of more than 30 years.

I first met Paul at his and Angela’s 17th wedding anniversary at their Los Angeles home. I was meant to interview Angela about her album, You Could Start a Fire in an Empty House, but she invited me to the gathering beforehand—a shrewd move. The best way to understand Angela was to get swept into one of her get-togethers.

She wasn’t quite ready when I arrived. Paul greeted me in a dove-gray suit with a sharply tailored skirt that moved effortlessly with him. We didn’t know each other, but I felt instantly comfortable, like I was a regular guest at their home. Angela came down the stairs, her energy filling the room before she did. It was as if we’d always been friends.......

Read Full Interview here

Lullabies for The Broken Hearted

Out Now

Lullabies For the Brokenhearted – a new album by Lili Haydn & Paul Cantelon 

Violinist-composer Lili Haydn and pianist-composer Paul Cantelon will release Lullabies for the Brokenhearted on August 1—a poignant and transcendent album shaped by personal loss and the redemptive power of music. After the sudden passing of Cantelon’s wife, singer Angela McCluskey, grief left him unable to play. Haydn, a lifelong friend and collaborator, invited him into her home and gently rekindled his creative spirit. The result is 8 deeply felt compositions, recorded in just 10 days, with influences ranging from Chopin to Arvo Part. The lead single, “The Edgeless Safety of the Sea,” was released June 27, offering a first glimpse of the album’s cinematic, emotionally resonant sound. 

Among the album’s most striking moments are “The Last Serenade,” a melody Haydn received at her mother’s deathbed and has since played for others in their final moments, and “Point No Point,” a piece central to Cantelon’s early work and later featured in the film The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. While rooted in sorrow, the music is full of light, hope, and reverence. Haydn, a Grammy winner and Emmy-nominated composer (Netflix #1 hit Ginny & Georgia), and Cantelon, a Juilliard-trained artist with acclaimed film scores, bring decades of experience to this collaboration—a musical offering that gently holds space for grief, memory, and healing.

The Symphonina Foundation Podcast

David Fogel interviews Lili & Paul

Paul Cantelon is a Juilliard-trained pianist and composer known for his film scores and modern classical compositions. He has created music for notable films such as The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, 21 Grams, and Wings of the Dove. Cantelon was also a founding member of the alternative band the Wild Colonials, alongside his late wife, singer Angela McCluskey. His music spans from classical to indie rock. He has been nominated for a BAFTA and was the only American composer featured at the Platinum Jubilee for Queen Elizabeth in 2022.

Lili Haydn is a Grammy-winning composer, songwriter, singer, and violinist. Well known for her 5 albums as a solo artist, 3 albums with Opium Moon, and her legendary collaborations with the likes of Herbie Hancock, Jimmy Page & Robert Plant, George Clinton's P-Funk All Stars and Hans Zimmer, Lili has taken her unique melodic and harmonic sensibility and emotionally penetrating musical voice into composing for film and television with 18 feature films/documentaries and the hit Netflix series Ginny & Georgia, for which she earned an Emmy nomination in 2023. Lili is a 2x HMMA nominee, BMI Award winner, Sundance Fellow, and winner for Best Music at the Milan International Film Festival.

Please enjoy this long-format conversation between David Fogel (CEO, The Symphonina Foundation) and Lili & Paul.

Listen Here

The Edgeless Safety of the Sea

by Paul Cantelon & Lili Haydn

From Lili: 'The Edgeless Safety of the Sea is the first single from a forthcoming album by Lili Haydn & Paul Cantelon titled "Lullabies for the Brokenhearted". Its title comes from a Rumi poem that says “You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop.” Influenced by Chopin and Debussy, The Edgeless Safety of the Sea exists in the 'place between places,' neither happy nor sad, just lilting, tender, present, and the culmination of decades of Paul's and my playing together as one.'

LISTEN HERE

Carnegie Hall

38th Annual Tibet House Benefit

For the recent 38th Annual Tibet House Benefit concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City, Paul was invited to create the arrangements and perform by Michael Stipe (REM). Paul ended up performing with Michael and Laurie Anderson on Michael's reading of  Max Ehrmann’s poem “Desiderata” as well as Michael's cover of David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World,” and Michael's song " No Time for Love like Now' with Bryce Dessner of Big Red Machine and The National. Unfortunately there is no footage of the event as Carnegie Hall has a strictly no filming policy. Suffice to say it was a magical evening. Here is a stolen pic of Paul and Michael performing.