Journal
- Friday, April 26, 2024
The first recording of John Adams’ 2017 opera, Girls of the Golden West, is out now on Nonesuch. It tells the story of the California Gold Rush not through familiar time-worn myth, but in the words and deeds of real people. Longtime Adams collaborator Peter Sellars drew from original sources from the era—letters, journals, newspaper articles, and familiar song lyrics—to create the libretto. The composer leads the LA Phil in this recording made in Disney Hall, with the Los Angeles Master Chorale led by Grant Gershon and a cast featuring Davóne Tines, Julia Bullock, Paul Appleby, Hye Jung Lee, Elliot Madore, Daniela Mack, and Ryan McKinny.
Journal Topics:
- Friday, April 1, 2011
John Adams leads the New World Symphony in City Noir ... Shawn Colvin plays Austin ... Philip Glass joins Lucinda Childs in Vermont ... Wanda Jackson performs three shows in Colorado ... Kronos Quartet performs Steve Reich's WTC 9/11 in Arizona ... The Low Anthem tours Benelux ... Jessica Lea Mayfield plays NYC and Boston ... Brad Mehldau joins Anne Sofie von Otter in Germany ... Pokrovsky Ensemble performs Les noces with LA Phil ... Punch Brothers head South ... Allen Toussaint, Irma Thomas make music in Mobile ... and more ...
Journal Topics: On Tour, Weekend EventsFriday, April 1, 2011Pat Metheny and his Orchestrion will be the subject of a profile on CBS Sunday Morning this weekend. On the show, the guitarist-composer will give a behind-the-scenes look at the Orchestrion, the one-man band featured on his latest Nonesuch release, and explain the inner workings of the cutting-edge instruments and performance methods he used on the album and on tour. Metheny will also discuss his personal inspiration for the project.
Journal Topics: Artist News, TelevisionFriday, April 1, 2011Sing it Loud, the new album from k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang, was released earlier today in Australia, and lang and the band celebrated with a number of early morning TV appearances there. They kicked things off with a performance on Sunrise, offering their own take on an Aussie classic: the Little River Band's hit "Reminiscing," which you can watch here. That was followed by interviews on Today and One Plus One, with a Weekend Sunrise performance to come this weekend.
Journal Topics: Artist News, Video, TelevisionFriday, April 1, 2011The Belleayre Music Festival in Highmount, New York, has announced its 2011 concert season, and a number of Nonesuch artists set to take the stage there this season: k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang, Punch Brothers, and Jessica Lea Mayfield. The festival, situated high atop the Catskills mountains, kicks off on July 3 with a performance from lang and her band. Punch Brothers take the stage on August 27, with Mayfield opening.
Journal Topics: On Tour, Artist NewsThursday, March 31, 2011Before they left for their current European tour, The Low Anthem visited NPR member station WFUV in New York to discuss their latest release, Smart Flesh, and perform a number of songs off the album. You can hear the performances on WFUV's Words and Music from Studio A and their conversation with host Claudia Marshall on npr.org. The Low Anthem's music "is at times a rowdy stomp, at others a breathless, hymn-like hush," says Marshall, "always compelling, inventive and fresh. Welcome to folk music 3.0."
Journal Topics: Artist News, Web, RadioThursday, March 31, 2011Today is Opening Day for Major League Baseball, and, as with fans everywhere and in all walks of life, team loyalties run deep among Nonesuch artists (and staff members). Chris Thile wishes his Twitter followers a "Happy Opening Day!" The Low Anthem's Jeff Prystowsky offers predictions as one of the "heavy-hitting bassists who happen to be big baseball fans" featured in ESPN's 2011 "bass-ball" preview. Randy Newman tells Paste: "I love baseball ... I think that baseball fields are about the most beautiful things in the world.”
Journal Topics: Artist NewsThursday, March 31, 2011k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang's new album, Sing it Loud, hits stores Friday morning in Australia, where lang and the band will appear on Sunrise, Today, and One Plus One and the album is now streaming on the Sydney Morning Herald website. And now, for the whole world to enjoy, comes the music video for the album's opening track, "I Confess," which premiered today on perezhilton.com. Watch it here.
Journal Topics: Album Release, Artist News, VideoWednesday, March 30, 2011Jessica Lea Mayfield has kicked off a headlining tour US tour featuring music from her new album, Tell Me. The tour makes its way up the East Coast this week. Time Out, in recommending Friday's show in New York, describes Tell Me as "a fab showcase for her voice, which somehow seems both lived-in and fresh, youthful and cynical." Mayfield has been named Vogue's Artist of the Week. While Tell Me "is loaded with perfectly forlorn country melodies and melancholy lines," says Vogue, "there is also a hint of mid-nineties alt-rock underpinning all the wistful contemplation, as well as the influence of more modern singer-songwriters, like the late Elliott Smith."
Journal Topics: On Tour, Artist NewsWednesday, March 30, 2011Laurie Anderson is featured in a new exhibition at the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (CCBB) in Rio de Janeiro titled I in U (Eu em Tu). The retrospective show presents original works produced by Anderson from the 1970s to today, featuring installations, photographs, drawings, videos, music, and more. The exhibition opened yesterday and runs through June 26. Anderson performs at Japan Society's Concert for Japan on April 9 and will tour Europe starting in May.
Journal Topics: On Tour, Artist NewsTuesday, March 29, 2011There's just one month to go before the release of Emmylou Harris's Hard Bargain. The album is available for pre-order in the Nonesuch Store with a manuscript lyric sheet of the song "The Road," in which she recalls the storied time she spent with her mentor Gram Parsons. And there are now two ways to take home the song today: purchase the single from iTunes and download the song for free here.
Journal Topics: Artist News, WebTuesday, March 29, 2011Sing it Loud, the new album from k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang, is now streaming in its entirety on Amazon.com till April 12, when the album makes its North American debut. lang and the band have confirmed six shows in the UK this spring, prior to their US summer tour. UK fans can catch lang on TV as well on Later with Jools Holland April 19 and The Alan Titchmarsh Show April 20. Mojo gives the album four stars.
Journal Topics: On Tour, Artist News, WebTuesday, March 29, 2011The Low Anthem is currently on tour in Europe and returns to the US in mid-April to head straight out on the road again, first with Iron and Wine, then heading to New Orleans Jazz Fest and launching its own headlining tour. The band performs at LouFest in St. Louis at the end of August, as will The Roots, Cat Power, TV on the Radio, and others. The Low Anthem will be featured on public radio's Mountain Stage on April 15 and can be heard singing their song "To Ohio" with Emmylou Harris on digital versions of Harris's forthcoming album, Hard Bargain, on amazon.com and iTunes.
Journal Topics: On Tour, Artist News