The original cast recording of the current Tony-nominated Broadway show Illinoise: A New Musical is now available to stream and download via Nonesuch Records, with the CD due June 21 and vinyl August 30. The new work features music and lyrics by Sufjan Stevens based on his album Illinois, a book by Justin Peck and Jackie Sibblies Drury, and direction and choreography by Peck, with new arrangements by Timo Andres and music supervision and direction by Nathan Koci. The New York Times exclaims: “The vocalists do not seem to sing so much as pour emotion into our ears.” The Illinoise cast and on-stage band perform a song from the musical on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday, June 4.

"For every music lover, I think there are two basic forms of pleasure: the huge satisfaction of something you love done just perfectly, and then the thrill of hearing something altogether shockingly new. When an artist does both things at once, your head comes open a little bit, which is what happened when I first heard Cécile McLorin Salvant," David Remnick, the editor of The New Yorker, says of his guest on The New Yorker Radio Hour. "She's a jazz singer for sure, someone on the level of Sarah Vaughan or Ella Fitzgerald, but her repertoire and her approach to performing are totally her own." Salvant spoke with Remnick and performed three songs with pianist Sullivan Fortner: the Funny Girl favorite "Don't Rain on My Parade," the late 16th-century John Dowland song “Can She Excuse My Wrongs," and her own “Moon Song,” from her 2022 Nonesuch debut album, Ghost Song. You can hear it all (including a shoutout to Rhiannon Giddens) here.

Caroline Shaw, Sō Percussion, and Ringdown stopped by WNYC to perform on an episode of New Sounds focused on the music of Sō's Jason Treuting. They give live performances of three songs from the upcoming album Rectangles and Circumstance: Shaw and Sō on "Sing On," joined by Ringdown (Shaw and Danni Lee) on "Slow Motion" and "The Parting Glass." You can watch all three and hear the full episode here.

Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion have released "Slow Motion," a new track from their upcoming album, Rectangles and Circumstance, due June 14. The track features Ringdown, the cinematic pop duo of Shaw and Danni Lee, who co-wrote the song with Sō. You can watch the video, made by Robert Edridge-Waks and the artists, here.

Bolivian-born singer and multimedia performer Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti and renowned Chicago expat jazz drummer Frank Rosaly release MESTIZX in full on all streaming platforms today, following the May 3 release of the album on vinyl, CD, and digital download. "Sonic wonders colliding in really great ways," says NPR Music. The Guardian calls it "infectiously kinetic." Treble describes it as "an intricate, complex, and thoroughly gorgeous set of songs that weaves between folk, jazz, cumbia, bomba, art-rock and other sounds effortlessly and stunningly." Glide considers it "a mosaic of sound that challenges, delights, and inspires ... a pivotal debut."

Congratulations to multi-instrumentalist, producer, and composer Yussef Dayes, whose debut solo studio album, Black Classical Music, has won the UK's Ivor Novello Award for Best Album. The Ivor Academy, which celebrates songwriters and screen composers with the awards, recognized Dayes and his fellow creators Rocco Palladino and Charlie Stacey in the citation. 

A recording of the current Tony-nominated Broadway show Illinoise: A New Musical will be released digitally via Nonesuch on May 31. A sneak peek of two album tracks—“Chicago (Reprise)” and “The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades is Out to Get Us!”—is available here. The new work features music and lyrics by Sufjan Stevens based on his album Illinois, a book by Justin Peck and Jackie Sibblies Drury, and direction and choreography by Peck, with new arrangements by Timo Andres and music supervision and direction by Nathan Koci. Details of the CD and LP release date coming soon. The New York Times exclaims: “The vocalists do not seem to sing so much as pour emotion into our ears.” Variety says: “A thrilling, genre-defying Broadway musical brings the Sufjan Stevens album to lyrical life.

The Black Keys were on the season finale of NBC's The Voice to perform "Beautiful People (Stay High)," from their new album, Ohio Players. You can watch it here.

Rachael & Vilray are on the latest episode of the PBS series Poetry in America, focused on Frank O'Hara's "Steps," from his Lunch Poems. They join host Elisa New, choreographer Mark Morris, and poets Terrance Hayes, Robert Pinsky, Todd Colby, and Eileen Myles to read and discuss the poem, an ode to New York City art and dance. You can watch the episode, which also features original music cues performed by Vilray and a band, here.

The Staves stopped by the NPR offices in Washington, DC, while on tour to perform a Tiny Desk Concert of four songs from their new album, All Now: the title track, "Fundamental Memory," "I'll Never Leave You Alone," and "So Gracefully." "The Tiny Desk setting perfectly illuminates the power and talent of their voices," says NPR's Kara Frame. You can watch it here.

The original cast album of Adam Guettel’s Broadway musical Days of Wine and Roses, with a book by Craig Lucas, starring Kelli O’Hara and Brian d’Arcy James, is now available on CD, following its recent digital release. “Repeated listenings compound the amazement,” the New York Times says of Guettel’s work, which “has always offered that kind of challenge—initially leaving a feeling of: Beautiful, but wait, I need to hear it again—and those up for it have a way of coming away shining like Moses down from the Mount. The new score has the same effect.” Guettel, O'Hara, and d'Arcy James—all of whom have been nominated for Tony Awards for Days of Wine and Roses—will sign copies of the CD at the Drama Book Shop in NYC this Wednesday, May 22.

"The winner of five Grammy Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Music, John Adams is one of America's greatest and most performed living composers," BBC Radio 4's This Cultural Life host John Wilson says of his guest. They talk about Adams' life, work, and the influence of Leonard Bernstein, Duke Ellington, Steve Reich, Charles Dickens, the state of California, and more. You can hear their conversation here.