Jeremy Denk hosts a day-long event in London as Milton Court Artist in Residence … Sam Amidon concludes North American tour … Tigran Hamasyan is in France … Emmylou Harris is in Washington state … Kronos Quartet joins Calgary Philharmonic … Pat Metheny begins European tour … Randy Newman is on PBS … Conor Oberst takes Salutations South … Joshua Redman is in Ohio … The Staves play Festifeel in London … Chris Thile hosts A Prairie Home Companion, joined by Lake Street Dive’s Rachael Price … and more ...
Pianist Jeremy Denk, the Barbican Centre’s 2017–18 Artist in Residence at Milton Court Concert Hall in London, hosts a three-part, day-long event of music at Milton Court on Sunday.
Denk, joined by soprano Measha Brueggergosman, violinist Karen Gomyo, and cellist Julian Steckel, performs works by Liszt, Schumann, Bach, Haydn, Purcell, and his own Game Over: Brief variations on videogame death music, for the program’s opening section, "Variations on Death." The second part, “Variations of Virtuosity,” features works by Biber, Bizet, Mendelssohn, and more. The program’s closing installment, "Variations on Heartbreak ... and Hope," includes works by Nina Simone, Beethoven, and Brahms, as well as the European premiere of John Adams's I Still Play, a piece written for Nonesuch Chairman Emeritus Bob Hurwitz and first performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music celebration of Hurwitz’s work in April.
Denk spoke with the Barbican Classical Music podcast about the art of practicing, recording, and more, ahead of his performances; you can hear it here.
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Sam Amidon concludes his North American tour with songs from his new album, The Following Mountain, in the Northeast this weekend, performing at One Longfellow Square in Portland, Maine, tonight, and Winooski United Methodist Church in Winooski in his home state of Vermont on Saturday. Amidon embarks on a European tour next week, beginning with a show in Stockholm.
“Everything he does feels explicitly alive and charged by the world around him,” wrote the Chicago Reader’s Peter Margasaksaid ahead of his show there last week. “Amidon is a charming performer and a witty storyteller … [H]is concerts [have] a wonderful air of unpredictability that entertains and beguiles.” The new album, says Margasak, is “superb.”
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Tigran Hamasyan continues his European tour, featuring music from his new album, An Ancient Observer, in France this weekend: the pianist performs at Salle Poirel in Nancy on Friday, as part of Nancy Jazz Pulsations, and at La Seine Musicale in Boulogne-Billancourt on Saturday.
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Emmylou Harris plays two sold-out shows at Skagit Valley Casino Resort in Bow, Washington, tonight and Saturday. The New York Times has called Harris “the reigning queen of Americana.” The Wall Street Journal says: “Her voice remains an open channel for otherworldly beauty, earthy and ethereal in equal measure.”
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Kronos Quartet joins the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Rune Bergmann to perform Black MIDI, a piece written for Kronos by Montréal-based composer Nicole Lizee, at the True North Festival at Jack Singer Concert Hall today and Saturday.. Also on the program, the Philharmonic performs Vincent Ho’s O Glorious Arcticus and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, From the New World.
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Pat Metheny begins a month-long European tour with drummer Antonio Sánchez, pianist Gwilym Simcock, and bassist Linda Oh with a sold-out show at Teatro Verdi in Padova, Italy, tonight, as part of Padova Jazz Festival. The quartet then heads to Bergamo, Italy, for a concert at Creberg Theater on Saturday, and to Sausheim, France, to perform at Espace Dollfus & Noack on Sunday.
Metheny first toured with this group last year to rave reviews, with the Guardian giving this "tour de force from an improv king" four stars. "The rapport within this newly minted band was unmistakable."
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Tune in to see Randy Newman perform in honor of legendary record exec Mo Ostin on the Grammy Salute to Music Legends on PBS tonight at 9pm ET. Newman performs "A Few Words in Defense of Our Country" and "I Think It's Going to Rain Today." Other honorees include Nina Simone, Sly Stone, The Velvet Underground, and more. Find your local listing at pbs.org.
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Conor Oberst, with the Felice Brothers as his backing band, takes his Salutations tour South, for concerts at Marathon Music Works in Nashville tonight, the 40 Watt Club in Athens on Saturday, and the Neighborhood Theatre in Charlotte on Sunday.
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Saxophonist Joshua Redman joins the Columbus Jazz Orchestra for its 45th Anniversary Extravaganza at the Southern Theatre in Ohio tonight, Saturday, and Sunday afternoon. The Los Angeles Times has called Redman “one of the most vital figures in jazz of the new century.”
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The Staves perform at House of Vans in London on Saturday afternoon, as part of Festifeel, a festival to benefit CoppaFeel!, which works to raise breast cancer awareness.
Stereogum calls the trio—sisters Emily, Jessica, and Camilla Staveley-Taylor—“ethereal, angelic, and otherworldly. They are simply astonishing.” DIY Magazine praises their “power to reach out and entrance with their tumbling harmonies, leaving the crowd hanging on every word … There’s no showy stagecraft on show, yet the whole room is smitten.”
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Chris Thile hosts A Prairie Home Companion at the show’s home base, the Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on Saturday. Joining Thile as special guests for the episode are Lake Street Dive's Rachael Price, Margaret Glaspy, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and author George Saunders.
Folks in the US can tune in on their favorite public radio station this weekend, and fans around the world can watch the live broadcast online at prairiehome.org starting at 4:45 PM CT.
Chris Thile's new album, Thanks for Listening, a collection of new studio recordings of songs originally written as Songs of the Week on A Prairie Home Companion, is due December 8 and is available to pre-order in the Nonesuch Store with an instant download of the track “Thank You, New York” and an exclusive, autographed print.
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