Journal
- Monday, October 28, 2024
"There's a kind of dynamism and movement to it that's just exquisite," Ken Burns says of Leonardo da Vinci's work. "He could feel, I think quite rightfully, that he had lived a fuller life than practically anybody I've ever come across in my study in any period." Burns was on CBS Sunday Morning with his co-directors, Sarah Burns and David McMahon, to talk with correspondent David Pogue about their new two-part documentary, LEONARDO da VINCI, which airs on PBS November 18 and 19 and for which Caroline Shaw wrote an original score. You can watch the piece here.
Journal Topics:
- Friday, May 31, 2024
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.
Journal Topics: Artist News, Radio, VideoFriday, May 31, 2024Brad Mehldau continues a sold-out Trios residency at Village Vanguard in NYC through the weekend. Sam Amidon is at Fire in the Mountain Fest in the UK. The Magnetic Fields performs 69 Love Songs in Atlanta. Natalie Merchant concludes her California tour at Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA, where Cécile McLorin Salvant performs as well before heading to Phoenix. Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Mass for the Endangered is performed in Costa Mesa, CA. Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway hit three of the Four Corners states—Arizona, Utah, and Colorado. Yasmin Williams is in Charlottesville and Norfolk, VA.
Journal Topics: On Tour, Weekend EventsThursday, May 30, 2024Caroline 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.
Journal Topics: Artist News, VideoTuesday, May 28, 2024Bolivian-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."
Journal Topics: Album Release, Artist NewsFriday, May 24, 2024Natalie Merchant performs two nights in San Diego, where Jeremy Denk joins the San Diego Symphony for Beethoven. Richard Goode plays Mozart with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Mary Halvorson plays with Tomeka Reid in Chicago. Emmylou Harris is in Virginia. Hurray for the Riff Raff concludes a European tour in Spain and Italy. Kronos Quartet live-scores Sam Green’s A Thousand Thoughts in Amsterdam. Cécile McLorin Salvant is in Atlanta and Houston, where Davóne Tines joins Houston Symphony in John Adams's El Niño. Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway conclude their Texas tour in New Braunfels and Cedar Park.
Journal Topics: On Tour, Weekend EventsThursday, May 23, 2024Congratulations 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.
Journal Topics: Artist NewsWednesday, May 22, 2024Nonesuch to Release Broadway’s 'Illinoise: A New Musical (Original Cast Recording)' Digitally May 31A 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.
Journal Topics: Album Release, Artist NewsWednesday, May 22, 2024The 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.
Journal Topics: Artist News, Television, VideoMonday, May 20, 2024Rachael & 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.
Journal Topics: Artist News, Television, VideoFriday, May 17, 2024The 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.
Journal Topics: Artist News, VideoFriday, May 17, 2024The 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.
Journal Topics: Album Release, Artist NewsFriday, May 17, 2024Brad Mehldau is in Bochum, Germany, both with Bochum Symphony Orchestra and solo. Hurray for the Riff Raff is in London and Paris. John Adams' El Niño concludes at The Met Opera in NYC with Julia Bullock and Davóne Tines. Sam Amidon tours Ireland. Jeremy Denk joins New Jersey Symphony. Kronos Quartet is in Zurich. Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway are at FreshGrass Bentonville, then start a five-city Texas tour. Yasmin Williams is in Raleigh.
Journal Topics: On Tour, Weekend Events