A stellar lineup of musical luminaries comes together this Saturday, April 1, 2017, for a one-night-only concert at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) to pay tribute to Bob Hurwitz, who for the past three decades served as the visionary president of Nonesuch Records. Or, as the New Yorker explains: "Brooklyn’s ever-innovative performance hub pays tribute to Bob Hurwitz, the man whose exploratory spirit has made Nonesuch Records a unique and vital presence in American music."

The centerpiece of this extraordinary celebration is the world premiere of piano music written expressly for Hurwitz by Nonesuch artists he has worked with for many years including John Adams, Laurie Anderson, Timo Andres, Louis Andriessen, Donnacha Dennehy, Philip Glass, Adam Guettel, Brad Mehldau, Pat Metheny, Nico Muhly, Randy Newman, and Steve Reich.

The evening also includes performances from Nonesuch albums by Kronos Quartet, k.d. lang, Natalie Merchant, Stephin Merritt, Pat Metheny, Mandy Patinkin, Chris Thile, Dawn Upshaw, Caetano Veloso, and others who have worked closely with Hurwitz during his tenure.

Bob Hurwitz served as president of Nonesuch for 32 years, beginning in September 1984 when it was a classical label and home of the legendary Explorer series. As head of the label, he redefined its role in contemporary classical music and modern composition by expanding its mission in world music, and began recording and releasing artists from a wide range of musical genres, including jazz, musical theater, folk, bluegrass, and rock.

Among the artists he has signed or worked with are composers including John Adams, Laurie Anderson, Timo Andres, Louis Andriessen, Donnacha Dennehy, Henryk Górecki, Philip Glass, Adam Guettel, Nico Muhly, Astor Piazzolla, Steve Reich, Frederic Rzewki, Stephen Sondheim, and John Zorn as well as performers and songwriters including Björk, Devendra Banhart, David Byrne, Jeremy Denk, Bill Frisell, Gipsy Kings, Richard Goode, Tigran Hamasyan, Kronos Quartet, Gidon Kremer, k.d. lang, Lake Street Dive, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Audra McDonald, Natalie Merchant, Stephin Merritt (and the Magnetic Fields), Brad Mehldau, Pat Metheny, Mandy Patinkin, Punch Brothers, Randy Newman, Joshua Redman, Chris Thile, Dawn Upshaw, Caetano Veloso, and the World Saxophone Quartet.

The Boston Globe said, "Under Robert Hurwitz, Nonesuch Records has been an oasis of artistic excitement. When one picks up a Nonesuch CD, there is a sense of occasion, the feeling that the artists in question have been assembled not as an exercise in star power, but as an exercise in artistic exploration." And the New York Times Magazine said, "In a business now largely run by accountants and M.B.A.'s, Hurwitz is, in the words of Stephen Sondheim, 'one of the few left who practice the making of records as a craft.'"

Hurwitz remains closely involved with Nonesuch's creative activities as an executive producer on a dozen projects a year; he is also Chairman Emeritus of the company. He has taught at the New School for the past eleven years, and this year began teaching at UCLA as well.