Cécile McLorin Salvant has released the title track to Mélusine, her new album, due March 24, along with a video she created for it. You can watch it here. The album features a mix of originals and interpretations of songs dating as far back as the twelfth century, mostly sung in French along with Occitan, English, and Haitian Kreyòl. The title track was written by Salvant.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic has announced its 2023–24 concert season, and featured among the performers taking the Walt Disney Concert Hall stage in its 20th anniversary season are John Adams, Thomas Adès, Timo Andres, Brad Mehldau, Natalie Merchant, and Cécile McLorin Salvant.

Carnegie Hall has announced its 2023–24 concert season, and among the performers taking the esteemed hall's stages are Timo Andres, Julia Bullock, Gabriel Kahane, Kronos Quartet (joined by Laurie Anderson, Attacca Quartet, Sō Percussion, and others), Brad Mehldau, and Chris Thile.

Rhiannon Giddens addressed an audience at The Juilliard School’s Glorya Kaufman Dance Studio on January 23 for the tenth annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Speaker Series at Juilliard, where she is a Creative Associate. Giddens, who opens her speech with a performance of the traditional tune “Pretty Saro,” centers the talk around artists' responsibility to themselves, their creative process, and their community. You can watch it here.

“The Kronos Quartet in the world of classical music are like The Beatles,” says Tom Power, host of CBC’s Q. “They pack rooms all around the world. They’ve been doing it for 50 years now. And those rooms are filled with people who don’t typically listen to classical music. So ... what have they figured out?” Kronos Quartet artistic director, founder, and violinist David Harrington spoke with Power and tries to answer that question, among others. You can hear their conversation here.

Actor Sanjeev Bhaskar, OBE, of the film Paddington 2 and the dramatic series Unforgotten, gives an unforgettable recitation of the lyrics to Rachael & Vilray’s song “Hate Is the Basis (of Love),” from their new album, I Love a Love Song!, out now on Nonesuch Records. You can watch it here.

Brad Mehldau sat down with Qobuz’s Marc Zisman to discuss his new live solo album, Your Mother Should Know: Brad Mehldau Plays The Beatles, and the challenges of translating the Beatles into solo piano music, as well as his childhood listening habits, moving to Los Angeles in his twenties, what makes a song universal, chasing inspiration, his influences and mentors, and more. You can watch the video here. 

Sam Gendel's new album, COOKUP, is out now. On the album, Gendel and his friends and collaborators Gabe Noel and Philippe Melanson interpret R&B and soul hits originally released between 1992 and 2004 by Ginuwine, 112, Aaliyah, All-4-One, Soul 4 Real, Beyoncé, Joe, Erykah Badu, Mario, SWV, and Boyz II Men. Gendel says: "For this occasion we hovered over a particular flavor: jams that we grew up with. We sculpted in sound our collective memories of this music. Meshell Ndegeocello [featured on vocals on the track "Anywhere"] took the 112 to another dimension (shoutout wayne12)."

Rachael & Vilray celebrate the release of their new album, I Love a Love Song!, with a sold-out show at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn tonight. John Adams’ Nixon in China opens at Dortmund Opera House in Germany. Laurie Anderson is honored at Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra Gala, then joins John Zorn and Sean Ono Lennon at Roulette in Brooklyn for Türkiye and Syria benefit. Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels' opera Omar gets Chapel Hill premiere. Richard Goode plays Beethoven at 92Y in NYC. Cécile McLorin Salvant premieres Ogresse: Envisioned at Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Brad Mehldau Trio tours Spain. Chris Thile joins Orlando Philharmonic. Molly Tuttle joins Old Crow Medicine Show in Georgia and Virginia.

Congratulations to k.d. lang, who has been named a recipient of the 2023 Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, Canada’s highest honor in the performing arts. The award recognizes artists for having made an indelible contribution to cultural life in Canada and around the world. The six 2023 laureates will be honored at an Awards Gala at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa on Saturday, May 27. "I can’t even actually fathom being placed in the same company as the people, the artists who have influenced me so tremendously,” lang says. "Canada has such an embarrassment of riches, so many tremendous artists, and to be bestowed with this honor is unthinkable really ... So, thank you."

Congratulations to Cécile McLorin Salvant, Sam Gendel, Jeff Parker, and Makaya McCraven, who have all been nominated for Deutscher Jazzpreis in Germany: Salvant for International Vocal Album for her Ghost Song; Gendel and Parker for International String Instruments; and McCraven for International Drums/Percussion. Winners will be announced at the awards ceremony in Bremen on April 27.

Chicago-based percussionist, composer and producer Makaya McCraven stopped by Amoeba Music in San Francisco for a shopping trip and a chat for Amoeba’s What’s in My Bag? series, in which he picks up music by Art Ensemble Of Chicago, Billy Cobham, Tony Allen & Hugh Masekela, Yusef Lateef & Archie Shepp, NNAMDÏ, Charles Stepney, Thelonius Monk & John Coltrane, Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers featuring Wynton Marsalis, Harvey Mason, Augustus Pablo & King Tubby, Bobby Broom, Joshua Abrams' Cloud Script, and Miles Davis. You can take a look inside here.