This Memorial Day long weekend, John Adams conducts his Antony and Cleopatra, starring Julia Bullock, at the Met in NYC (broadcast live on BBC Radio 3), while his Doctor Atomic Symphony gets its Korean premiere in Seoul. Ambrose Akinmusire tour Portugal and Spain. Hurray for the Riff Raff plays sold-out show in Seattle. Natalie Merchant joins Sara Bareilles and Rachael Yamagata for a sold-out show to benefit Ulster Immigrant Defense Network in Kingston, NY.
This Memorial Day long weekend in the US, composer John Adams continues to conduct the Metropolitan Opera debut of his opera Antony and Cleopatra in New York City, with a performance on Saturday. It will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 as part of its Opera on 3 series. The production, which opened last week, directed by Elkhanah Pulitzer, stars Julia Bullock and Gerald Finley and has performances through June 7. Julia Bullock can be heard performing Adams on the 2024 first recording of his opera Girls of the Golden West and on her own 2022 GRAMMY-winning debut solo album, Walking in the Dark. Bullock is one of nine artists on ELLE's list of 'The Creatives Shaping Culture in 2025.’ "In 2025, these are the must-know voices shaping culture and the performing arts," says ELLE. "Their talent is that of legends; they are true connoisseurs of their craft." Meanwhile, across the globe, Adams’s Doctor Atomic Symphony is given its Korean premiere in Seoul this weekend by the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra led by David Robertson, at the LOTTE Concert Hall tonight and the Seoul Arts Center’s Concert Hall on Saturday. You can hear Robertson and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra’s 2009 Nonesuch recording of the piece here.
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Composer and trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and his quartet—pianist Sam Harris, bassist Harish Raghavan, and drummer Justin Brown—kick off their European tour with a concert at the Academia de Musica de Espinho in Espinho, Portugal, on Saturday and two shows in Spain, at El Molino in Barcelona on Sunday and Teatro Lara in Madrid on Monday. His latest album, honey from a winter stone, was released earlier this year with vocalist Kokayi, Harris on piano, Chiquitamagic on synths, Brown on drums, and Mivos Quartet. Akinmusire won the JJA Jazz Award for Trumpeter of the Year for the second year in a row this month.
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Hurray for the Riff Raff (aka Alynda Segarra) continues the West Coast leg of their spring/summer tour, bringing music from their latest album, The Past Is Still Alive, and more to a sold-out show at The Crocodile in Seattle, tonight. You can watch the music video for their latest single, "Pyramid Scheme," here.
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Natalie Merchant joins Sara Bareilles and Rachael Yamagata for the sold-out concert A Night of Community & Song at Assembly in Kingston, New York, on Sunday. The special event is a benefit for the Ulster Immigrant Defense Network (UIDN), which provides support to immigrants in Ulster County, helping to ensure food and housing security, legal assistance, case management, know-your-rights training, resource access, and pathways to economic mobility.
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