Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion have released a video of "To the Sky," a track from their new album, Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part, performed live. You can watch the video, directed by Maureen Towey and filmed at Bok in Philadelphia, here. "'To the Sky' quietly awakens with gentle humming and a softly rumbling marimba," writes NPR Music's Tom Huizenga. "Gradually the song blooms, and near the end Caroline Shaw's voice bursts open in pure radiant sunshine. It's another stunning moment in the career of the composer." The new album "showcases Shaw's flexible voice—clear as a mountain stream, flowing with expression in many directions."

Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part, an album of songs written and performed by Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion, is out now.With Shaw on vocals and Sō filling out this new band, they developed songs in the studio, with lyrics inspired by their own wide-ranging interests: James Joyce, the Sacred Harp hymnal, a poem by Anne Carson, the Bible's Book of Ruth, the American roots tune "I'll Fly Away," ABBA's "Lay All Your Love on Me," and more. To coincide with the album's release, the artists have released a video of them performing their take on the ABBA tune; you can watch it here.

Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion have released "Other Song," from their upcoming album, Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part, and a video for it by Maureen Towey. The video was shot at Rise and Root Farm, a five-acre farm in New York’s Hudson Valley rooted in social justice and run cooperatively by four owners who are women, intergenerational, multi-racial, and LGBTQ; one of the owners, Karen Washington, is featured in the video. You can watch it here. Shaw says of the track: “I had these bits of ‘Other Song,’ so I made this abstract reduction, with a verse-chorus structure and a wild build in the middle. The prompt for all of us was: what would we make in the room together if there were no single person in charge, the way a band writes in the studio?”

Carnegie Hall has announced its 2021–22 concert season, sharing plans to reopen its landmark concert venue to the general public in October, and among the performers taking the esteemed hall's stages are Sō Percussion with Dawn Upshaw and Gilbert Kalish, and Kronos Quartet; as well as Youssou N'Dour. The season also features works by composers including Caroline Shaw, John Adams, Nico Muhly, Sarah Kirkland Snider, and Michael Gordon.

Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion have released the title track to their forthcoming album, Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part, due June 25, as well as a video for the track made by Shaw, which you can watch here. Shaw says of the track, a duet with Sō's Josh Quillen: "Josh is an amazing steel pan player. I wrote out these odd little chords and said, ‘Here’s essentially a kind of verse and a kind of chorus. Otherwise, we’re loose. Here’s the harmonic progression.’ An hour before, I went into a free writing zone, very much inspired by James Joyce."

Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part, an album of songs written and performed by Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion, is due June 25 on Nonesuch Records. With Shaw on vocals and Sō filling out this new band, they developed songs in the studio, with lyrics inspired by their own wide-ranging interests: James Joyce, the Sacred Harp hymnal, a poem by Anne Carson, the Bible’s Book of Ruth, the American roots tune “I’ll Fly Away,” the pop music of ABBA, and more. Pre-order to download “To the Sky” now and get a custom climbing pole bean seed packet hand-printed and signed by Shaw.

While most of us can't go out to take in great live music, here are some events taking place online to enjoy while staying home this weekend: On Friday, Mariza sings the music of Amália Rodrigues for NYC's Town Hall from Portugal, Vagabon performs from a decked-out Boulevard Studios in LA, and Jeremy Denk performs Bach for Emory University's Schwartz Center. On Sunday, Chris Thile leads his master class, Caroline Shaw and Attacca Quartet perform for Miami's IlluminArts from NYC, and Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi perform for Celtic Connections from Ireland.

Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Caroline Shaw's second Nonesuch album, Narrow Sea, is out now. Shaw wrote the album's title piece, for Sō Percussion, Dawn Upshaw, and Gilbert Kalish, who perform it here: five parts, each a new setting of a text from The Sacred Harp, the 19th-century collection of shape-note hymns. Video for all five parts of the piece can be seen here. Also on the album is Sō Percussion's performance of Shaw's Taxidermy, which she wrote for the ensemble.

Composer Caroline Shaw's new album, Narrow Sea, featuring Sō Percussion, Dawn Upshaw, and Gilbert Kalish's performance of the title piece—five parts, each a new setting of a text from The Sacred Harp, the 19th-century collection of shape-note hymns—is due next Friday, January 22, on Nonesuch. Here, the artists talk with writer Matthew Guerrieri about the album, which also includes Sō Percussion's performance of Shaw's Taxidermy. Find out why she tells Guerrieri: "I was telling a friend, half-jokingly, that, in a lot of my music, I’m trying to figure out a way to talk about death and mortality, or think about it."

Nonesuch Records releases its second album from Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Caroline Shaw, Narrow Sea, on January 22, 2021. The title piece was written for Sō Percussion, Dawn Upshaw, and Gilbert Kalish, who perform it on this recording: five parts, each a new setting of a text from The Sacred Harp nineteenth century collection of shape-note hymns. Also on the album is Sō Percussion's performance of Shaw's Taxidermy, which she wrote for the ensemble. A video for Part 2 of Narrow Sea can be seen here.

Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Caroline Shaw’s Orange, which earned Attacca Quartet a Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance, is now available on vinyl for the first time. The two-LP vinyl edition includes the album on double 180-gram orange vinyl, pressed at Record Industry in the Netherlands, along with a printed excerpt from the score. "Completely gorgeous in so many ways," exclaims BBC Radio 3. "It hits you everywhere, all at once." "A love letter to the string quartet," says NPR. "[W]hen you hear all the imaginative sounds on Orange, you know you're listening to the voice of a strong composer."

Attacca Quartet helped celebrate the tenth anniversary of WNYC/WQXR's The Greene Space and mark the release of its recording of Caroline Shaw's Orange with a performance at the venue on April 12, 2019. The event, which also includes a Q&A with New Sounds host John Schaefer, was revisited in a live stream yesterday and can be seen here. Orange, for which Attacca Quartet earned the Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance, will be released on a two-LP vinyl edition later this year.