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Tag: Classical music

  • Music Review: ‘Wicked: For Good — The Soundtrack’ raises the stakes

    Are you ready for more “Wicked”? “Wicked: For Good — The Soundtrack” offers a bulked-up take on the music of the original “Wicked” musical’s second act, grounded in yet-again stellar vocals from Cynthia Erivo as a misunderstood but defiant Elphaba and Ariana Grande as a conflicted but changing Glinda. New songs and lyrics raise the stakes — even if the music itself is at times weighed down by the plot it helps move along, like the film it accompanies.

    The soundtrack opens with “Every Day More Wicked,” a lengthened-version of a section of the original Act 2 opener “Thank Goodness” with new verses about Elphaba’s perceived wickedness and Glinda’s presumed goodness set to bold orchestration that matches the first film’s opening number, “No One Mourns the Wicked.” Drum beats and ensemble singers are the world builders here, twisting the melody into a march.

    The album’s first solo goes to Michelle Yeoh’s Madame Morrible, the sorceress at the center of a propaganda campaign against Elphaba — a choice that works for the plot, but which offsets the power of Erivo and Grande’s forthcoming vocals. They are introduced later, through brief interpolations of the Act 1 showstoppers “The Wizard and I” and “Popular.” All of that makes for a dynamic film opener — but is more fractured in audio form, sans the sumptuous visuals and character reveals that tie those musical references together on screen.

    Fortunately, “Thank Goodness / I Couldn’t Be Happier” quickly follows, bringing Grande center-stage — and providing a rare-here opportunity for her soprano head-voice to give way to a deeper belt (her passionate tone, like other Glindas before her, turns this almost nonsensical lyric, “There are bridges you cross you didn’t know you crossed until you’ve crossed them,” into a revelation). That’s not the last we hear from this capital “G” Good, Glinda. “Wonderful,” usually a duet between Elphaba and the Wizard of Oz, is ‘Galinda-fied,’ with Grande adding welcome harmonies — and a brief “Defying Gravity” interlude — to Jeff Goldblum’s Wizard romp.

    For this review, our de facto Gen Z correspondent Elise Ryan also saw ‘Wicked: For Good’ twice (she’s seeing it a third time tonight), rewatched the first movie and saw the Broadway production for the third time. Fourth, if you count the touring production she saw in fifth grade.

    It was always going to be hard for this album to live up to the soundtrack of the first “Wicked,” which ended with Erivo’s take on the iconic “Defying Gravity” battle cry, and saw Grande own the over-the-top glitz of “Popular.” But that grandness is replicated in key moments: In Grande’s operatic soprano, in Erivo and Jonathan Bailey’s sensual “As Long As You’re Mine,” in which Bailey as Fiyero manages to keep up with Erivo’s beckoning vocals, and in “No Good Deed,” the album’s sonic peak.

    At 44 minutes and 52 seconds, the soundtrack adds over 15 minutes of music to the runtime of the original Broadway cast recording’s second act. That includes two brand new songs written for the film (making them eligible for Oscar consideration), one for Erivo’s Elphaba and one for Grande’s Glinda. In lengthening the shorter second act into a 2 hour and 17 minute long film, director Jon M. Chu stretches some of these songs across scenes, filling them out with dialogue, additional verses from composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz and additional scoring from composer John Powell. All of that is a double-edged sword (broom? wand?), at times deflating the power of the tight original tracks, at others adding felt emotional stakes ripe for satisfying listening.

    For example: Some of the drama of Marissa Bode, Ethan Slater and Erivo’s “Wicked Witch of the East,” a song performed on Broadway that was also left off the original cast recording, is weakened by which pieces of the interspersed dialogue remain, and which don’t, in the soundtrack version of the song. Like the Tin Man, it feels a bit piecemeal.

    But the new tracks are highlights, fleshing out the album. Erivo’s “No Place Like Home” pulls on the iconic line said by Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz,” providing this Oz-inspired show its take on the theme, like another Oz-inspired show, “The Wiz,” found before. (“Home,” that show’s nod to the line, was sung by Erivo at this year’s Oscars ceremony). The song is the most inherently political, a timely tale of borders, defiance and community. It starts with Erivo’s voice almost isolated, strings swelling behind her, and ends with the first of her transcendent vocal runs, restored to a full open note (after being cut short by the Cowardly Lion on screen) in the album.

    That power is felt tenfold in Erivo’s take on “No Good Deed.” The film may belong to Glinda’s emotional trajectory, but it is Erivo who steals the soundtrack’s climax. Drums return as the agony heard in her voice intensifies, the strings crescendoing with her final call.

    Glinda’s emotional journey may at first be more subtle, but Grande portrays it deftly. Airy and introspective, “Girl in the Bubble” serves as turning point, filling in gaps about Glinda’s internal reckoning. Her voice is restrained but emotional, Schwartz’s lyrics straightforward with a cheese that feels earned, and thus earnest. This is Glinda after all, not Grande.

    Both songs boost the emotional payoff of the character’s finale duet, the fan-beloved tear-jerker “For Good.” And it’s no surprise, years into their own journey with the characters, that Erivo and Grande nail the chemistry of their character’s friendship.

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  • Music Review: ‘Wicked: For Good — The Soundtrack’ raises the stakes

    Are you ready for more “Wicked”? “Wicked: For Good — The Soundtrack” offers a bulked-up take on the music of the original “Wicked” musical’s second act, grounded in yet-again stellar vocals from Cynthia Erivo as a misunderstood but defiant Elphaba and Ariana Grande as a conflicted but changing Glinda. New songs and lyrics raise the stakes — even if the music itself is at times weighed down by the plot it helps move along, like the film it accompanies.

    The soundtrack opens with “Every Day More Wicked,” a lengthened-version of a section of the original Act 2 opener “Thank Goodness” with new verses about Elphaba’s perceived wickedness and Glinda’s presumed goodness set to bold orchestration that matches the first film’s opening number, “No One Mourns the Wicked.” Drum beats and ensemble singers are the world builders here, twisting the melody into a march.

    The album’s first solo goes to Michelle Yeoh’s Madame Morrible, the sorceress at the center of a propaganda campaign against Elphaba — a choice that works for the plot, but which offsets the power of Erivo and Grande’s forthcoming vocals. They are introduced later, through brief interpolations of the Act 1 showstoppers “The Wizard and I” and “Popular.” All of that makes for a dynamic film opener — but is more fractured in audio form, sans the sumptuous visuals and character reveals that tie those musical references together on screen.

    Fortunately, “Thank Goodness / I Couldn’t Be Happier” quickly follows, bringing Grande center-stage — and providing a rare-here opportunity for her soprano head-voice to give way to a deeper belt (her passionate tone, like other Glindas before her, turns this almost nonsensical lyric, “There are bridges you cross you didn’t know you crossed until you’ve crossed them,” into a revelation). That’s not the last we hear from this capital “G” Good, Glinda. “Wonderful,” usually a duet between Elphaba and the Wizard of Oz, is ‘Galinda-fied,’ with Grande adding welcome harmonies — and a brief “Defying Gravity” interlude — to Jeff Goldblum’s Wizard romp.

    It was always going to be hard for this album to live up to the soundtrack of the first “Wicked,” which ended with Erivo’s take on the iconic “Defying Gravity” battle cry, and saw Grande own the over-the-top glitz of “Popular.” But that grandness is replicated in key moments: In Grande’s operatic soprano, in Erivo and Jonathan Bailey’s sensual “As Long As You’re Mine,” in which Bailey as Fiyero manages to keep up with Erivo’s beckoning vocals, and in “No Good Deed,” the album’s sonic peak.

    At 44 minutes and 52 seconds, the soundtrack adds over 15 minutes of music to the runtime of the original Broadway cast recording’s second act. That includes two brand new songs written for the film (making them eligible for Oscar consideration), one for Erivo’s Elphaba and one for Grande’s Glinda. In lengthening the shorter second act into a 2 hour and 17 minute long film, director Jon M. Chu stretches some of these songs across scenes, filling them out with dialogue, additional verses from composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz and additional scoring from composer John Powell. All of that is a double-edged sword (broom? wand?), at times deflating the power of the tight original tracks, at others adding felt emotional stakes ripe for satisfying listening.

    For example: Some of the drama of Marissa Bode, Ethan Slater and Erivo’s “Wicked Witch of the East,” a song performed on Broadway that was also left off the original cast recording, is weakened by which pieces of the interspersed dialogue remain, and which don’t, in the soundtrack version of the song. Like the Tin Man, it feels a bit piecemeal.

    But the new tracks are highlights, fleshing out the album. Erivo’s “No Place Like Home” pulls on the iconic line said by Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz,” providing this Oz-inspired show its take on the theme, like another Oz-inspired show, “The Wiz,” found before. (“Home,” that show’s nod to the line, was sung by Erivo at this year’s Oscars ceremony). The song is the most inherently political, a timely tale of borders, defiance and community. It starts with Erivo’s voice almost isolated, strings swelling behind her, and ends with the first of her transcendent vocal runs, restored to a full open note (after being cut short by the Cowardly Lion on screen) in the album.

    That power is felt tenfold in Erivo’s take on “No Good Deed.” The film may belong to Glinda’s emotional trajectory, but it is Erivo who steals the soundtrack’s climax. Drums return as the agony heard in her voice intensifies, the strings crescendoing with her final call.

    Glinda’s emotional journey may at first be more subtle, but Grande portrays it deftly. Airy and introspective, “Girl in the Bubble” serves as turning point, filling in gaps about Glinda’s internal reckoning. Her voice is restrained but emotional, Schwartz’s lyrics straightforward with a cheese that feels earned, and thus earnest. This is Glinda after all, not Grande.

    Both songs boost the emotional payoff of the character’s finale duet, the fan-beloved tear-jerker “For Good.” And it’s no surprise, years into their own journey with the characters, that Erivo and Grande nail the chemistry of their character’s friendship.

    ___

    “Wicked: For Good — The Soundtrack”

    Three and a half stars out of five.

    On repeat: “No Good Deed,” “Thank Goodness,” “For Good”

    Skip it: “Every Day More Wicked,” “Wicked Witch of the East”

    For fans of: Well, “Wicked,” musical theater ballads, chill-inducing vocals

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  • Meghan Trainor says she ‘Still Don’t Care’ — because her new album and tour are about growth

    NEW YORK — In the decade following her debut album, Meghan Trainor has lived myriad lives — but the message of her bright, cheery pop music has remained the same: Stay true to who you are and ignore the haters. That spirit endures on her lead single, the jovial “Still Don’t Care,” the first tease of her forthcoming seventh full-length album, “Toy with Me,” out April 24.

    And in true Trainor fashion, “Still Don’t Care” was inspired by real life situations. “I was seeing a lot of hate all over the world, but I was getting a lot of hate when I started posting more pictures of … my fitness journey and my health journey. And I didn’t really expect that,” Trainor told The Associated Press. “I would get really upset at comments and I was like, ‘I wish I didn’t feel like this. I wish I didn’t give them so much power.’

    “And so, when I write songs, I always write in the perspective of how I wish I thought, like ‘All About That Bass.’ I didn’t feel like that when I wrote it,” she continued. “And all my self-love anthems. But when I perform them and I see how it affects other people, I start believing them.”

    “Still Don’t Care” is yet another example, with its maximalist, ‘80s pop production and choir courtesy of Pentatonix’s Scott Hoying. Her mom, brother and sister-in-law contribute background vocals on it as well — perhaps softening the song’s gloves-up approach to combating online hate. “You could tear me apart,” Trainor sings. “But I sleep well at night.”

    It’s the first taste of “Toy with Me,” which Trainor teases will have a few self-love bops, songs to excise her anger through and lots of familial love. “The only features I have right now in this moment are my kids, Riley and Barry, because I wrote them a beautiful song, the only, like, slower song. It’s called ‘Little One’ and it’s about how I wish they could stay little forever,” she said, smiling. “When I play it, Riley goes, ‘Oh, this is my song. Play my song!’ It’s literally my lullaby for them. And at the end of the song they say, ‘I love you, Mama,’ and it’s just the cutest thing ever. And that’s when everyone’s crying.”

    Trainor said she worked on the album for eight months. “I exhausted myself, and I went a little too hard. I got excited to be home with the kids and work on my songs, but then I definitely, I overdid it, and my body started doing weird things, giving me signals. Like, my tongue started burning one day. And I was like, ‘What’s this?’ And it wouldn’t go away forever. And the dentist was like, ‘Oh, you’re stressed,’” she recalled.

    Songwriting, too, was a challenge. “I usually write a song in one day and I’m done with it, but each song on this album took, like, months to finish,” she said. “So that was the only difference from this album than any other album I’ve done.”

    A lot of that was because she enlisted songwriters she’s never worked with before — people who would push her to make the song the best it could be — challenges she welcomed with open arms.

    The work is fulfilling, and so she continues: Trainor will also embark on a North American tour in 2026 with openers Icona Pop. The Get in Girl tour kicks off June 12 at the Pine Knob Music Theatre in Clarkston, Michigan, and ends Aug. 15 at Los Angeles’ Kia Forum.

    Along the way, she’ll hit Toronto, Cincinnati, St. Louis, New York, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cleveland, Houston, Denver, Salt Lake City, Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego, Phoenix and many more.

    Trainor’s last tour, the Timeless Tour, marked her first in seven years. It proved to Trainor that she can do this thing again. “I’m not absolutely petrified like I was for the Timeless Tour,” she said. “I know I can survive it and it can be really fun.”

    After an American Express pre-sale, tickets will become available to the general public on Nov. 21, at 10 a.m. local time.

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  • Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony will induct Outkast, Cyndi Lauper, Salt-N-Pepa, the White Stripes

    LOS ANGELES — Outkast, Cyndi Lauper, Salt-N-Pepa and Soundgarden will be among the newly minted members of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame at Saturday night’s induction ceremony.

    From Chubby Checker to the White Stripes, artists representing every decade from the 1950s to the 2000s will be inducted as part of the hall’s class of 2025.

    Chappell Roan is set to induct Lauper, and Avril Lavigne is set to take the stage with her. Donald Glover has been tapped to induct Outkast, and Elton John is scheduled to pay musical tribute to hall member Brian Wilson, who died earlier this year.

    But the role played by the many other announced guest stars, including Missy Elliot, Olivia Rodrigo and Twenty One Pilots, remains a mystery on a night that is always defined by its surprises. Fans of the bands are also wondering which guests might join the living members of Bad Company and Soundgarden on stage.

    Among the big questions this year are whether Outkast and the White Stripes will reunite to perform, or at least to accept their honor. Artists — or guests celebrating them — generally play a set a of their essential songs as part of their induction.

    This year’s ceremony returns to the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles in the city’s three-year rotation with New York and Cleveland, the home of the hall itself.

    Fans who’ve bought tickets will see it live, and so can fans at home in a livestream on Disney+, a new development since 2023. The show begins at 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. Pacific.

    It will be available to stream on Hulu starting Sunday. And it will get its traditional edited telecast on ABC on Jan. 1.

    Here’s a look at the full class of 2025 and a few of their defining songs.

    Outkast: American rap duo that began in the 1990s. Key songs: “Hey Ya,” “Ms. Jackson” and “Roses”

    Salt-N-Pepa: American rap group formed in the 1980s. Key songs: “Push It,” “Let’s Talk About Sex” and “Shoop”

    Bad Company: English rock band formed in the 1970s. Key songs: “Feel Like Makin’ Love,” “Can’t Get Enough,” “Bad Company”

    Chubby Checker: American singer who began releasing records in the 1950s. Key songs: “The Twist,” “Limbo Rock,” “Let’s Twist Again”

    Joe Cocker: English singer who began releasing records in the 1960s and died in 2014. Key songs: “You Are So Beautiful,” “Up Where We Belong,” “With a Little Help From My Friends”

    Cyndi Lauper: American singer and songwriter whose solo career began in the early 1980s. Key songs: “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” “Time After Time,” “True Colors”

    Soundgarden: American rock band formed in 1984. Key songs: “Black Hole Sun,” “Fell on Black Days,” and “Outshined.”

    Warren Zevon, American singer-songwriter who began releasing solo records in the early 1970s and died in 2003. Key songs: “Lawyers, Guns and Money,” “Werewolves of London,” “Keep Me in Your Heart”

    Thom Bell, American music producer and songwriter starting in the 1960s who died in 2022. Key songs: the Delfonics’ “La-La (Means I Love You),” the Spinners’ “The Rubberband Man,” the Stylistics’ “You Make Me Feel Brand New.”

    The White Stripes: American rock band that began in the 1990s. Key songs: “Seven Nation Army,” “We’re Going to Be Friends,” “Doorbell.”

    Carole Kaye: American session musician who played on scores of hits starting in the 1950s, primarily on bass. Key songs: The Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations,” Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots are Made for Walkin’,” Barbra Streisand’s “The Way We Were”

    Nicky Hopkins, English session musician who played keyboards on dozens of hits starting in the 1960s and died in 1994. Key songs: the Beatles’ “Revolution,” the Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil,” Cocker’s “You Are So Beautiful”

    Lenny Waronker. American music producer and executive starting in the 1970s. Key songs from artists he produced or signed: Rickie Lee Jones’ “Chuck E’s in Love,” Prince’s “Purple Rain,” R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion”

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  • Jack DeJohnette, acclaimed jazz drummer who worked with Miles Davis, dies at 83

    NEW YORK — Jack DeJohnette, a celebrated jazz drummer who worked with Miles Davis on his landmark 1970 fusion album and collaborated with Keith Jarrett and many other greats of the genre, has died at 83.

    The acclaimed drummer died Sunday in Kingston, New York, of congestive heart failure, surrounded by his wife, family and close friends, his assistant, Joan Clancy, told The Associated Press.

    A winner of two Grammy awards, the Chicago-born DeJohnette began his musical life as a classical pianist, starting training at age 4, before taking up the drums with his high school band. He was in demand in his early years as both a pianist and a drummer.

    He achieved international recognition in the 1960s through his involvement with the Charles Lloyd Quartet. Over the years he collaborated not only with Davis and Jarrett but also with John Coltrane, Sun Ra, Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, Stan Getz, Eddie Harris, Herbie Hancock, Betty Carter and many others, according to biographical material provided by representatives.

    In 1968, DeJohnette joined Davis and his group to work on music leading up to Davis’ 1970 studio album, “Bitches Brew.”

    In a Sessions Panel interview, DeJohnette spoke of how he he’d been freelancing in New York when he had an opportunity to join Davis in the studio, at a time when experimentation with genres had become “the new frontier, so to speak.”

    “Miles was in a creative mood,” DeJohnette said, “a process of utilizing the studio to go in every day and experiment with grooves. A lot of the music is not that structured … it was a matter of grooves, and sometimes a few notes or a few melodies. You’d turn the tape on and just let it roll.”

    “Days and days and days of this would go on,” DeJohnette added. “We never thought about how important these records would be, it was just we knew it was important because Miles was there and he was moving forward with something different.”

    Rolling Stone, which listed DeJohnette as one of the top 100 drummers of all time (at No. 40), cited the drummer’s “own innate knack for turning a memorable tune.”

    DeJohnette recorded on various labels but mostly on ECM. In addition to his own many projects and bands, he was a member for more than 25 years of a trio with Jarrett and Gary Peacock.

    His two Grammys were for new age album (“Peace Time”) in 2009 and for jazz instrumental album (“Skyline”) in 2022.

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  • From Grammy winner to children’s author: Laufey’s new book is ‘Mei Mei The Bunny’

    NEW YORK (AP) — She’s won a Grammy, collaborated with Barbra Streisand and performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Now Laufey is taking on a new challenge: creating a children’s story inspired by her mascot-alias, Mei Mei The Bunny.

    Penguin Workshop announced Tuesday that Laufey’s picture book, “Mei Mei The Bunny,” will be published April 21. Illustrated by Lauren O’Hara, the book tells of Mei Mei’s determination to become a professional musician even as she encounters some initial struggles.

    “I’m so excited to now share Mei Mei The Bunny in storybook form!” Laufey said in a statement. “Mei Mei has been a part of my life for over the last few years and opening up the world around her has been the most beautiful exploration. I hope that anyone at any age can find something in Mei Mei’s story that inspires them and connects them to the people in their lives.”

    Born Laufey Lín Bing Jónsdóttir in Iceland, the 26-year-old Laufey is known for her distinctive blend of pop, classical and jazz. Her release from 2023, “Bewitched,” won a Grammy for best traditional pop vocal album. Earlier this year, she released the album “A Matter of Time.”

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  • From Grammy winner to children’s author: Laufey’s new book is ‘Mei Mei the Bunny’

    Laufey, the Grammy-winning artist, is creating a children’s story inspired by her mascot-alias, Mei Mei The Bunny

    NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — She’s won a Grammy, collaborated with Barbra Streisand and performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Now Laufey is taking on a new challenge: creating a children’s story inspired by her mascot-alias, Mei Mei The Bunny.

    Penguin Workshop announced Tuesday that Laufey’s picture book, “Mei Mei The Bunny,” will be published April 21. Illustrated by Lauren O’Hara, the book tells of Mei Mei’s determination to become a professional musician even as she encounters some initial struggles.

    “I’m so excited to now share Mei Mei The Bunny in storybook form!” Laufey said in a statement. “Mei Mei has been a part of my life for over the last few years and opening up the world around her has been the most beautiful exploration. I hope that anyone at any age can find something in Mei Mei’s story that inspires them and connects them to the people in their lives.”

    Born Laufey Lín Bing Jónsdóttir in Iceland, the 26-year-old Laufey is known for her distinctive blend of pop, classical and jazz. Her release from 2023, “Bewitched,” won a Grammy for best traditional pop vocal album. Earlier this year, she released the album “A Matter of Time.”

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  • Common’s journey from Bulls ball boy to NBA theme song composer

    LOS ANGELES — LOS ANGELES (AP) — When rapper-actor Common was a kid, he carried towels and sneakers as a Chicago Bulls ball boy who was close enough to hear the squeak of shoes and the roar inside the arena.

    Decades later, Common is helping set a different kind of tone for basketball: He has teamed up with his longtime collaborators to compose “Victory” as the official theme for NBA on Prime, the streaming platform announced Thursday. He worked with Karriem Riggins and James Poyser on the song, which will be a part of Amazon’s first exclusive season of NBA coverage.

    Common said he drew some inspiration for the song by watching basketball.

    “Basketball has a soul to it,” said Common, a three-time Grammy winner, who has also won an Emmy and Oscar. “It’s nostalgic but forward. The rhythm, the harmony, the movement, the teamwork, the star player. We wanted to capture all that in sound.”

    After learning Amazon wanted him as a composer, Common said one of his first calls was to his mother to share the news. It was a moment he described as a perfect partnership from the start.

    “You never know where God is going to lead you,” Common said. “You just got to stay open and be true to your craft, because now I feel like I’m part of the NBA in the way I’m supposed to be.”

    The song will serve as the signature sound of NBA on Prime each week starting with the upcoming season. It was recorded with a 70-piece orchestra at a studio in Nashville.

    The trio — whose credits span hip-hop, jazz and soul — produced three versions of the score including orchestral, hip-hop and rock.

    Manny Marroquin, a Grammy-winning engineer, will mix the final recordings before the theme’s Oct. 24 debut during Prime Video’s opening-night doubleheader featuring the Boston Celtics at the New York Knicks and the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Los Angeles Lakers.

    Poyser said it was important for the team to create a melody that could live in fans’ heads long after the broadcast.

    “We knew it had to be something that you could just hum,” said the three-time Grammy winner. “Like when you hear it, you got to be able to remember the melody.”

    “When you hear the orchestra hit and those drums drop, it just feels like the game,” added Riggins. “It’s got soul, energy and motion. Just like basketball.”

    Prime Video executive Amina Hussein said the streaming platform wanted a “sonic identity” that felt true to the culture of the game.

    “One thing that’s a baseline for everything we do is authenticity,” said Hussein, executive producer of NBA on Prime. She’s also head of U.S. sports on-air talent for Prime Video “We really want people to feel like they’re part of the broadcast. You want viewers at home to believe in you, to sit down, bob their heads with you, and feel like they’re watching the game with friends.”

    For Common, the project felt like destiny fulfilled.

    “I grew up wanting to play basketball, became a ball boy for the Bulls and was there for Michael Jordan’s first exhibition game,” said Common, whose late father, Lonnie Lynn, played in the American Basketball Association. “But as a musician now, I feel like I’m part of NBA history in the way I was meant to be.”

    The collaborators hope “Victory” resonates for many generations — much like NBC’s “Roundball Rock” — and opens doors for more artists of color in sports scoring.

    “Three Black men creating a theme song for the NBA on Amazon. That’s unprecedented,” Common said. “We hope some kid grows up hearing this and thinks, ‘We can compose too.’”

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  • Best Bets: Houston Korean Festival, Bayou City Art Festival, and We Will CHOIR! You! – Houston Press

    It’s International Beer and Pizza Day, just in case you’re looking for meal ideas before or after checking out one of our best bet picks. This week, we’ve got a trio of festivals, a Greek tragedy, and more. So, keep reading for the best things to do this coming week.

    Quilting goes a long way back, with possibly the earliest hint of quilting found in the British Museum, which holds an ivory carving excavated from the Temple of Osiris in 1903 that shows a royal figure in a quilted cloak. To get a sense of how far quilting has come, stop by the International Quilt Festival, which returns to George R. Brown Convention Center on Thursday, October 9, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Visitors will find more than 1,100 quilts will be displayed across 33 exhibits, as well as over 575 opportunities to shop and over 275 classes, lectures, and other events. The festival continues through October 12. Daily admission tickets range in cost from free for children 10 and under to $18 for adults, with full show passes available for $58.

    The Bayou City Art Festival brings an outdoor gallery to Memorial Park. Credit: Andy Bao

    Phoenix-based painter Jonah Ballard will bring his signature pink palette to town as the featured artist of the Bayou City Art Festival when the Art Colony Association, Inc. (ACA) brings the outdoor art gallery back to Memorial Park on Friday, October 10, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. More than 270 artists from 19 art disciplines will display their works, while guests can also enjoy live entertainment, a food truck park, a beer garden and wine bar, putt-putt mini golf, and more. The festival will continue on Saturday, October 11, and Sunday, October 12, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days. Tickets, $5 for children ages 6 to 12 and $20 for adults, must be purchased in advance online here.  Children under five get in free, and VIP options are available for $75 to $150. 

    Grief and vengeance take the stage over at Classical Theatre Company on Friday, October 10, at 7:30 p.m., when they officially open Sophocles’ Electra at The DeLuxe Theater. Murder begets murder in the one-act play, which finds the titular character out to avenge the murder of her father, Agamemnon, by her mother and her mother’s lover. CTC’s Artistic Director, John Johnston, recently told the Houston Press the play “is an exploration of the dark side of human nature,” adding that once the show “starts rolling it just kicks off and it really hurdles towards the climax. It comes to an end in a very somber and resigned way.” Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays, and October 13; 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday through October 18. Tickets can be purchased here for $10 to $30.

    YouTube video

    On Friday, October 10, at 7:30 p.m., Houston Symphony will present its latest program, Jean-Yves Thibaudet + The Three-Cornered Hat, at Jones Hall. The concert will feature three works by Manuel de Falla, two from his two-act opera La vida breve and The Three-Cornered Hat, and welcome Thibaudet, a Grammy-nominated French pianist, for Camille Saint-Saëns’ “Egyptian” Concerto, which has been described as a work that is “melodious and straightforward and exudes the sophisticated charm and brilliance of a craftsman of the highest order.” The concert will be performed again at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 11, and 2 p.m. Sunday, October 12. Tickets for the in-hall performances are available here for $29 to $140. Saturday night’s show will also be livestreamed, and you can purchase access here for $20.

    Celebrate the food, music, and cultural traditions of Korea when the Houston Korean Festival returns to Discovery Green on Saturday, October 11 from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Hosted by the Korean American Society of Houston (KASH), the festival promises 40 food and merchandise vendors, arts and crafts, a kimchi eating contest, K-Pop performances, a modern Hanbok fashion show, and, for the first time, a Korean Food Fair and Expo, where visitors can try free samples from top Korean food brands. The festival will continue on Sunday, October 12, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Festival admission is free, and you can register here, but one- and two-day VIP passes with additional benefits (including access to a private VIP tent and cooling stations, seating, and a rice cake making workshop on Sunday) are also available for $50 to $75.

    An auditorium full of people singing together.
    Choir! Choir! Choir! will bring singalong fun to the Hobby Center. Credit: Bill Woodcock Photography

    Choir! Choir! Choir!, an interactive show that invites its audience members to sing along to every note, is bringing We Will CHOIR! You!: An EPIC QUEEN Sing-Along! to the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday, October 11, at 7:30 p.m. Nobu Adilman and Daveed Goldman, the Canadians behind the choir, said in 2023 that their shows are “a party where singing is the excuse to hang out in a room full of strangers and connect. You’re going to laugh, you’re going to dance, you’re going to find yourself sharing intimate details of your life, you’re going to meet people you would never have before, and yes, you’re also going to sing harmonies to some of the greatest songs of all time.” Tickets can be purchased here for $51.20 to $71.

    The 2025/2026 Inprint Margarett Root Brown Reading Series will welcome Adam Johnson to the Wortham Theater Center, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Orphan Master’s Son, on Wednesday, October 15, at 7:30 p.m. to read from his upcoming historical epic, The Wayfinder. Johnson previously told People that telling the story, about a little girl tasked with saving her people, he “needed poetry, myth, dance and breathtaking portraits of the natural world. I needed to capture the vastness of the ocean and the unbroken nature of human lineage. Most of all, I needed characters whose bonds were as precious and pressing as our own as we navigate our own age of uncertainty.” After the reading, Johnson will participate in an on-stage conversation followed by a book sale and signing. Tickets for the reading are available here for $6.50.

    This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.

    Natalie de la Garza

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  • Rush announce reunion tour five years after the death of drummer Neil Peart

    NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — Five years after their influential drummer and lyricist Neil Peart died of glioblastoma, the Canadian band Rush have announced a reunion tour.

    On Monday, Rush co-founders Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson revealed a 12-date, seven city tour is scheduled for summer 2026, kicking off in June at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles — where the band played their final show in 2015.

    The reunion tour will end in Cleveland in September 2026. They’ll also hit Mexico City, Fort Worth, Texas, Chicago, New York and Toronto.

    Taking Peart’s place is celebrated German composer and producer Anika Nilles. She has previously toured with Jeff Beck.

    “It’s been over 10 years since Alex and I have performed the music of Rush alongside our fallen bandmate and friend Neil. A lifetime’s worth of songs that we had put our cumulative hearts and souls into writing, recording and playing together onstage,” Lee wrote in a statement.

    He added that he and Lifeson “could not be more excited” to introduce Nilles to their fanbase “whom, we know, will give her every chance to live up to that near impossible role.”

    They are also hoping to add additional musicians into the fold for the performances.

    Earlier this year, the band released a greatest hits collection titled “Rush 50.” Fittingly, it ended with the last songs the band played at their final concert a decade ago.

    Their 2026 tour is titled “Fifty Something.”

    “We are thrilled to support the Fifty Something tour, celebrating a band whose music has resonated and inspired fans for generations, and to honor Neil’s extraordinary legacy as both a drummer and lyricist,” Peart’s widow and daughter, Carrie Nuttall-Peart and Olivia Peart, shared in a joint statement.

    “Neil’s musicianship was singular… As the band enters this new chapter, it promises to be truly unforgettable. We are excited to see how their new vision unfolds, and to hear this legendary music played live once again.”

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  • Bad Bunny to kick off ‘SNL’ 51st season with a group of new cast members

    NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — Live from New York! It’s a new “SNL” season, with faces both fresh and familiar.

    After a fanfare-filled 50th season celebrating the past, “Saturday Night Live” looks to the future with a cast that includes five new featured players. As for the high-wattage early hosts, none other than Bad Bunny kicks things off on Saturday.

    The music superstar is having what can only be described as an enormous week: in another kickoff moment, he’s been announced as headliner for the Super Bowl halftime show.

    Bad Bunny is also coming off a historic residency in Puerto Rico, which ends Saturday. In his second “SNL” hosting gig, he’ll be joined by musical guest Doja Cat, making her debut in that role.

    He’ll be followed in subsequent weeks by Amy Poehler and Sabrina Carpenter. All three were highlights of the 50th season celebrations, with Bad Bunny performing at the “SNL50: The Homecoming Concert ” and also serving as the final musical guest of the season.

    SNL alumna Poehler, in her second solo hosting gig, will front the Oct. 11 episode alongside first-time musical guest Role Model. Her episode will air 50 years to the day of the very first episode of “Saturday Night Live,” on Oct. 11, 1975.

    Carpenter, who was a major attraction of the anniversary celebrations, is pulling double duty as host and musical guest on Oct. 18.

    The revamped cast comes on the heels of several high-profile departures, including Ego Nwodim and Devon Walker. Ben Marshall, already an “SNL” writer, becomes a featured player, along with newcomers Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Kam Patterson and Veronika Slowikowska.

    Nwodim, Walker, Emil Wakim and Michael Longfellow all confirmed last month on their social media accounts that they are leaving the show. Multiple news outlets reported that cast mainstay Heidi Gardner was also departing the show, but neither Gardner nor NBC has publicly confirmed.

    The show picked up 12 Emmys last month for its 50th season and anniversary programming, including an award for outstanding variety special.

    “I won this award for the first time 50 years ago, in 1975,” Michaels said, accepting the Emmy, adding that he didn’t dream of doing the same show for the next 50 years.

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  • Selena Gomez marries Benny Blanco: ‘My wife in real life’

    SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — Selena Gomez has married music producer and songwriter Benny Blanco, announcing the news in an Instagram post showing the couple kissing and embracing on a lawn.

    “My wife in real life,” Blanco responded to the post Saturday by the Grammy- and Emmy-nominated performer. Gomez wore a white halter bridal dress with floral flourishes, and Blanco wore a tuxedo and bow tie, both custom-made by Ralph Lauren.

    Paparazzi had snapped photos of a massive outdoor tent and other preparations in the Santa Barbara area.

    Friends in the entertainment industry and brands she’s linked to responded with heart emoji and congratulations. “Our Mabel is MARRIED,” said the account of her “Only Murders in the Building” series, and her Rare Beauty line of cosmetics posted: “so happy for you two.” Best wishes were also sent by Camila Cabello, Amy Schumer and others.

    Blanco, 37, and Gomez, 33, met about a decade ago and got engaged at the end of last year. They worked together on the 2019 song “I Can’t Get Enough,” which also featured J Balvin and Tainy.

    Among the songs he’s credited on as a writer and producer: Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream,” “Circus” by Britney Spears and Maroon 5’s “Moves Like Jagger.”

    Gomez, whose hits include “Calm Down,” “Good for You,” ’’Same Old Love” and “Come & Get It,” has been in the spotlight since she was a child. She appeared on “Barney and Friends” before breaking through as a teen star on the Disney Channel’s “Wizards of Waverly Place.”

    She earned awards nominations in recent years for her ongoing role alongside Martin Short and Steve Martin in Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building.” Gomez has a massive audience on social media with 417 million Instagram followers, the most for any woman on the platform.

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  • Neko Case’s ‘formidable’ new album invites multiple musicians for a big sound

    If Neko Case had just one word to describe her first solo album in seven years, she would settle on “formidable.”

    Fair enough. Writers have twisted themselves into knots trying to describe Case’s sound — “gothic Americana” is one iteration — yet it’s generally a thrill ride through shifting tones and tempos, anchored by her vivid imagery and titanic voice.

    On the “Neon Grey Midnight Green” album, Case was intent on inviting a large number of musicians to join her, and their power is evident. She employs a 16-piece orchestra. Add in 10 other listed players (including herself) and that makes for 26 musicians on the album-ending song “Match-Lit” alone.

    “I wanted to remind people of what it sounded like to have a large group of people playing together,” Case said. “That doesn’t mean I have anything against synthesizer string sections or horn sections, because those things sound cool when you use them in the right way. And having a whole orchestra is cost prohibitive, especially now. I really wanted to do it because I didn’t think I’d have the chance to do it again.”

    Maybe it’s not a wall of sound, but the swirling strings on “Wreck,” for example, take her music to a joyful place. Listen carefully for the harp.

    It wasn’t writer’s block that kept Case out of the picture for a few years. The pandemic was an interruption for everybody. The Vermont-based singer also records and tours with the band The New Pornographers. She has written the music for an upcoming stage adaptation of “Thelma & Louise.” And she also wrote a memoir, “The Harder I Fight the More I Love You,” published earlier this year.

    The book describes a harrowing upbringing, mostly in the Pacific Northwest by parents who conceived her as teenagers and were unprepared and uninterested in raising her. Case says at one point, she was told her mother had died, only to have her show up again a year and a half later with no explanation.

    Case was essentially on her own by the time she was a teenager. Music, to a great extent, saved her.

    The on-again, off-again relationship with her mother is off. “I don’t even know anything about my mother anymore,” Case said.

    Pain doesn’t disappear, though. “From her I learned to be cruel,” Case sings in new song “An Ice Age.” “I learned the look that goes right past the ones who love you as if there’s no one standing there.”

    What will be interesting in coming months, as she prepares to take new songs on the road, is whether opening her life to the world with the memoir will draw more people to her music. Her management has seen preliminary signs that it has, but Case isn’t sure.

    Colin Dickerman, editor-in-chief at Grand Central Publishing and editor of Case’s book, has a hunch that it will. From reading reviews of the memoir, he knows it attracted fans who wanted to learn more about the writer of songs they loved. But it also reached people who were interested in the story about overcoming adversity and subsequently said they would check out her music.

    “I think it really did reach a bigger audience,” Dickerman said.

    Two of Case’s new songs honor friends, both musicians, who died recently. One is for Dexter Romweber of the Flat Duo Jets, whose songs inspired her to make music before he later became a friend and collaborator. Dallas Good, late singer of The Sadies, who played with Case early in her career, is the inspiration for “Match-Lit.”

    The latter, a detailed description of what happens when a match is lit, illustrates Case’s often intriguing pathways to songs; she memorably once wrote from the point of view of a tornado. “I don’t do it purposely to try and be weird,” she said. “I’m just a noticer, a chronic noticer.”

    Sometimes it’s up to the listener to determine what a song means to them, rather than try to figure out what Case specifically meant.

    “There’s a bit of, not withholding, but leaving space for people to come into the song and wear it like it’s theirs and for them to make associations about their own lives, to make it about themselves,” she said. “Those are the songs that meant a lot to me, or did when I was younger. I want the listener to feel invited into it.”

    On “Rusty Mountain,” Case sings about how writing love songs is mostly “an exercise in futility for me.” Slowly it dawns on you that you’re listening to a love song. Similarly, “Wreck” — with the memorable line “I’m a meteor shattering around you” — suggests Case protests a bit too much.

    “There’s all different kinds of love on there,” she said. “I think pretty much every song, save maybe one, is a love song — about music or musicians or specific people here or there. There are love songs about other things, rather than just heterosexual love, which is the thing people write about most of all.

    “It’s difficult to avoid cliches when you’re writing love songs,” she said, “and the people who are good at it are so good at it that you’re like, ‘why bother?’ I always think about Louie Armstrong singing, ‘If I Could Be With You,’ and I think, ‘is there a better love song than that?’ I don’t think so. Or his version of ‘I Can’t Give You Anything But Love.’ The bar of people who write love songs is so high that I kind of feel daunted by it.”

    She knows enough people who are gay or gender-nonconforming who don’t hear love songs they can relate to. That’s a challenge she accepts.

    “It made me want to make sure there was room for people, no matter who these people were, to wear the song like a punk rock vest and to feel held onto and comforted,” she said.

    ___

    David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.

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  • Met season opens with new opera based on Michael Chabon novel starring tenor Miles Mykkanen

    NEW YORK — Miles Mykkanen grew up wanting to sing and dance on Broadway, but he was turned down by the musical theater programs he applied to for college. So he had to “settle” for studying opera at the Juilliard School at Lincoln Center.

    “At 18, when your sights are set on 42nd Street and then you’re getting called to 65th Street, it was weirdly a letdown,” he recalled. “But after a few hours I kind of slapped myself and said ‘Miles, pull yourself together.’”

    That was 16 years ago, and he has since pulled himself together to such an extent that at age 34 he’s just opened the Metropolitan Opera season in a leading role in a new opera, “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.”

    With a libretto by Gene Scheer and score by Mason Bates, the opera is based on the novel by Michael Chabon. Mykkanen portrays Sammy Clay, a Jewish kid growing up in World War II-era Brooklyn who teams with his cousin, Czech refugee Joe Kavalier, to create a comic strip hero modeled on Superman.

    He’ll also be back at the Met in the spring in another modern opera, Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho’s “Innocence.” He plays the Bridegroom, a part he first sang in 2024 when San Francisco Opera gave the work’s U.S. premiere.

    Mykkanen had sung at the Met before, mostly attracting little attention in small parts, though his haunting rendition of the Holy Fool in Mussorgsky’s “Boris Godunov” in 2021 drew critical acclaim.

    “But this season is so ideal,” Mykkanen said. “All of a sudden my schedule came together, and I thought, my God, where did this all come from.”

    When the Met was casting “Kavalier & Clay,” it was Michael Heaston, the artistic administrator, who thought of Mykkanen for the role of Sammy.

    “I first became acquainted with Miles when he was still a student at Juilliard, and he immediately impressed me,” Heaston said. “He is a singer who can straddle genres, that rare artist who can sing a heartfelt operatic aria in one moment and then turn on a dime to a classic tune from the American Songbook.

    “When I looked at Mason’s score and considered the vocal and acting demands alike, it seemed tailor-made for Miles.”

    Mary Birnbaum, who taught Mykkanen acting at Juilliard, said she’s not surprised at his sudden rise to prominence.

    “Honestly it’s what I thought he would do all along,” she said. “He’s got a very American sound, and it’s appealing and it’s lush. But also he’s bold as an actor … and he makes material look better for being in it.”

    By coincidence, both his roles this season are people who have something to hide. “They are characters with two huge secrets that are kind of gnawing away at them,” Mykkanen said.

    In Sammy’s case, it’s his sexuality and ambivalence about his attraction to actor Tracy Bacon.

    “As a gay man myself, it’s been really rewarding for me to be working on this role, thinking back to my coming out process 20 years ago now,” Mykkanen said. “Sammy wants to believe there’s a future for him, but he keeps struggling and wondering if the world will ever get past its prejudice and accept him.”

    “Innocence” deals with the lingering effects of a school shooting 10 years later, and as secrets are peeled away, the Bridegroom’s role in the horrific events is gradually exposed.

    Mykkanen relishes the very different musical challenges the two roles provide. Saariaho’s score for “Innocence,” he said is composed with a kind of “mathematical” precision. “When I first cracked it open, it was overwhelming because of the time signatures, the key signatures. You’re trying to figure out, what was she thinking, how do you put this all together?”

    “Kavalier & Clay,” written in a style that uses what Bates calls “symphonic electronica,” has been easier to learn. “I almost feel it’s starting to carve a new genre in opera,” Mykkanen said. “Something American opera has been trying to find in the last decade or so. … I don’t want to stay to say it’s musical theater, but at times it’s very colloquial.”

    Mykkanen grew up in the remote Ironwood region of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where both his parents were high school band directors. Though he displayed a talent for singing at a young age, it was show music rather than opera that inspired him. When his parents found him a classical voice teacher, “For me it was a means to an end, to develop my voice so I could sing on the Broadway stage.”

    Though his career now takes him all over the U.S. and to Europe, Mykkanen still calls the Ironwood region home. In 2020, he launched an arts festival called Emberlight that has grown into a two-month summer program of live performance, film, art shows and talkbacks with visiting artists. When he’s not on site he handles logistics remotely and also relies heavily on volunteers.

    “Just being the person who with a lot of other people behind me brings art to this region which is rural and remote … It’s been one of the big blessings of my life,” he said.

    And when he isn’t performing, he returns. “I have a room in my parents’ basement where I store my stuff,” he said. “When I’m between contracts I come back here and stay with my mom and dad. … I’lll call them from Amsterdam and say ‘OK, what are we having for dinner next Tuesday when I land.’”

    “Kavalier & Clay” runs through Oct. 11. Also starring are baritone Andrzej Filończyk as Joe; soprano Lauren Snouffer as his sister, Sarah; soprano Sun-Ly Pierce as Rosa Saks, and baritone Edward Nelson as Tracy Bacon. Met music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the production directed by Bartlett Sher.

    ___

    This story has been updated to correct the year that Mykkanen founded the Emberlight festival to 2020 and the first name of Tracy Bacon, a character played by Edward Nelson.

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  • Anthony Roth Costanzo, who introduced $11 tickets, brings opera with a difference to Philadelphia

    PHILADELPHIA — Anthony Roth Costanzo, the man who brought $11 opera tickets to Philadelphia, hopes to keep surprising audiences during the company’s new season.

    “It is very much opera. It’s dramatic, it’s cathartic, it’s collaborative in interdisciplinary ways,” Costanzo said of Opera Philadelphia’s 50th anniversary season — the first he’s been able to plan since taking charge of the financially teetering company last year. “But it’s different from what your perception of opera might be.”

    He slated a work by Rossini to kick things off, with opening night set for Friday. But instead of choosing a repertory staple, Costanzo picked the less-familiar “Il viaggio a Reims.” And the production will be anything but traditional: Director Damiano Michieletto has changed the original setting from an inn to an art gallery where the portraits come alive and sing.

    After that the offerings become even more adventurous. There’s a multimedia piece by playwright Sarah Ruhl set to music by Vivaldi — including “The Seasons” — and starring Costanzo, who maintains a flourishing performing career as a countertenor. Then comes a world premiere with libretto by Pulitzer-winner Michael R. Jackson and a score by 10 different composers. Another new opera follows, by Gregory Spears, in which the chorus has the starring role. Finally, bass-baritone Davóne Tines performs a “vaudevillian rendering” of a poem by Langston Hughes.

    “As I put all of the pieces together, I thought, how can I encapsulate this in just a few simple words,” Costanzo said. “And what occurred to me was: ‘Opera, but different.’ And that is the slogan of the season.”

    His pride in the lineup is understandable, especially given that when he took over it wasn’t certain there would even be a 2025-26 season.

    The company was nearing bankruptcy and needed to quickly raise $4 million, he recalled.

    Almost immediately he instituted a “pick your price” policy under which people could buy tickets to any seat in the house starting at $11. (The website gives buyers a range of higher options and invites them to make a donation on top of the purchase. Season subscriptions at higher prices are also still available.)

    “I said OK, I have to think like a venture capitalist,” Costanzo said. “We’re going to have to spend money to make money. Besides, he said, the old pricing system was projected to bring in only 8% of the revenue the company needed, so little was at risk from the new policy.

    The publicity and good will generated by the move helped the company quickly raise $7 million in donations, more than enough to retire the debt. When tickets went on sale for 2024-25, all three operas sold out within three weeks, and the season ended with a surplus of $2.4 million.

    Corrado Rovaris, the company’s longtime music director, was on the podium for the season-opening performance last fall of Missy Mazzoli’s “The Listeners,” a recent work having its U.S. premiere.

    “It was amazing to see the reaction in the house,” he recalled. “Beautiful to see a full house but also to see such an enthusiastic house. Beautiful and very moving.”

    Helen Little of New York City is one opera lover who was inspired by Costanzo’s pricing initiative to help the company financially.

    “It’s a brilliant idea,” she said. “Because the tickets only cover a fraction of the cost of an opera. But the whole point is to spread good will, bring in new people, bring in young people, people who have never been to an opera. And good will is priceless.”

    In a good portent for the growth of the company’s audience, two-thirds of those who chose the “pick your price option” had never bought tickets to Opera Philadelphia before, and most were under 45 years old. This year a similar percentage are either first-timers or repeats from last season.

    As a result of the brighter financial outlook, the new season offers twice as many performances as last, though the budget is still substantially lower than it was in 2017, when the company launched an adventurous festival format that had several different works in performance over a period of two weeks.

    Just how did Costanzo settle on that $11 figure?

    “At first I thought it should be $25,” he said. “But the problem is that everywhere across the country I see ‘tickets starting at $25…’ and I thought people would see that and think, Oh, yeah, you can sit up in the top balcony.

    “So I wanted to really distinguish it, and I thought a round number was less sticky … you don’t remember $15 or $10.”

    Marc Scorca, president and CEO of Opera America, said he’s watching the company’s initiatives with great interest, but he cautions that it’s too soon to predict long-term victory.

    “I appreciate that they’ve jumped into this with both feet,” he said. “Sometimes you need to have your back against the wall to take a bold experiment.

    “I think the learning from it will be important not only to the company but to the field,” he said.

    “And that will probably not play out for another couple of years until we see how much of that audience becomes a bona fide public for the company or just took advantage of an opportunity to experiment with something at a low price.”

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  • Christoph von Dohnányi, who led Cleveland Orchestra until 2002, dies at 95

    CLEVELAND — Christoph von Dohnányi, a conductor acclaimed for performances as music director of the Cleveland Orchestra from 1984 to 2002, has died at age 95.

    Dohnányi died in Munich on Saturday, the Cleveland Orchestra said in a statement Monday.

    “A grand seigneur among the great international conductors to whom the Salzburg Festival owes its world reputation,” Salzburg Festival artistic director Markus Hinterhäuser said in statement.

    Dohnányi was most known for his time in Cleveland, helping burnish an orchestra led by George Szell from 1946 to 1970 and Lorin Maazel from 1972 to 1982.

    “It’s an ensemble of musicians who come somehow from making chamber music,” Dohnányi said in a 2011 interview for the Cleveland Orchestra Musicians. “The real, very special (characteristic) about the Cleveland Orchestra is that people, musicians, are used to listen to each other very much. All orchestra should do it, many do it, but very few do it to the extent the Cleveland Orchestra is able to do it.”

    Showing remarkable stability, the orchestra has been led since his departure by Franz Welser-Möst, who plans to leave in 2027.

    Dohnányi was born in Berlin on Sept. 8, 1929, a son of lawyer Hans von Dohnanyi and Christine Bonhoeffer, sister of the pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer and grandson of the Hungarian composer Ernst von Dohnányi.

    “His storied family history gave him a unique musical perspective,” Cleveland Orchestra CEO André Gremillet said in statement. “Maestro Dohnányi’s artistry and dedication led to a deep mutual respect with our musicians, which was felt sincerely by our audiences.”

    Hans von Dohnanyi and Bonhoeffer were arrested by Germany’s Nazi government in 1943 and executed two years later, according to a timeline Christoph von Dohnányi helped prepare for the Cleveland Orchestra.

    Christoph von Dohnányi initially studied law for two years after World War II, then attended Munich’s Musikhochschule to study piano, composition and conducting and coached at the Bavarian State Opera. He studied with his grandfather at Florida State in 1952-53, then at the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Tanglewood Music Center.

    He worked at the Frankfurt Opera as a repetiteur and conductor under Georg Solti starting in 1953 and became general music director at the Lübeck Opera from 1957 to 1963. He made his U.S. debut with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in 1961. Dohnányi moved on to become general music director of the Staatstheater Kassell from 1963 to 1966 and chief conductor of the WDR Symphony Orchestra in Cologne from 1964 to 1970.

    Dohnányi followed Solti at Oper Frankfurt from 1968 to 1977 and was music director of the Hamburg State Opera from 1977 to 1984; his brother Klaus was Hamburg’s mayor from 1981 to 1988.

    He later served as principal guest conductor of London’s Philharmonia Orchestra from 1997 to 2008 and chief conductor of Hamburg’s NDR Sinfonieorchester from 2004 to 2010.

    Dohnányi made his Vienna Philharmonic debut at the 1966 Salzburg Festival and conducted the orchestra through 2019.

    “We will remember his artistic work with sincere appreciation. Our thoughts are with his family,” Vienna Philharmonic chairman Daniel Froschauer said in a statement.

    Dohnányi made 77 appearances at the Salzburg Festival from 1962 through 2014, leading the world premiere of Hans Werner Henze’s “Die Bassariden” in 1966. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut leading Verdi’s “Falstaff” in 1972 and conducted at the Vienna State Opera from 1972 to 2001, primarily Wagner and Strauss but also Berg, Friedrich Cerha’s “Baal” and the world premiere of Gottfried von Einem’s’s “Kabale und Liebe.”

    Dohnanyi’s marriages to actress Renate Zillessen and soprano Anja Silja ended in divorce. He is survived by his third wife, Barbara Koller, a violinist and arts manager; brother Klaus; two children from his first marriage, Katja and Justus, and three from his second, Julia, Benedikt and Olga.

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  • Rodion Shchedrin, the celebrated Russian composer, has died at age 92

    MOSCOW — Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin, who created the celebrated ballets “Anna Karenina” and the “Carmen Suite,” has died in Germany at age of 92, Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater said Friday.

    He and his wife of 57 years, legendary ballerina Maya Plisetskaya, dominated the Soviet and Russian cultural scene for the latter part of the last century. She died in 2015.

    Shchedrin’s work ranged from choral music and concertos to opera and ballet, blending Russian folk influences, classical traditions and avant-garde technique. His 1972 ballet “Anna Karenina” remains a staple for major theaters around the world.

    The Bolshoi Theater, where Shchedrin worked for many years, praised him in a statement for his “priceless creative legacy.”

    “This is a huge tragedy and an irreparable loss for the entire world of art,” it said.

    Born into a family of musicians in Moscow in 1932, Shchedrin graduated from the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory.

    He married Plisetskaya in 1958, writing “The Seagull” and “The Lady with the Dog,” based on the works of Anton Chekhov, as well as “Anna Karenina” for her.

    Neither escaped controversy in the Soviet era. Plisetskaya in particular was watched by the KGB and banned from traveling abroad for a time.

    Some of Shchedrin’s work, particularly the “Carmen Suite,” received a frosty reception from Soviet officials, with then-Culture Minister Ekaterina Furtseva decrying it as crude. “The music of the opera is mutilated,” she declared, according to Russian state news agency Tass.

    In 1973, Shchedrin became president of the Union of Composers of Russia, replacing Dmitri Shostakovich.

    From the late 1980s onward, Shchedrin split his time between Moscow, Munich and Switzerland. Asked by Russian television in 2012 for his three greatest wishes, he replied: “To be with my wife forever.”

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  • Ciara reinforces her passion for music with ‘CiCi.’ The album is her first since 2019

    NEW YORK — Ciara will deliver a new bundle of joy on Friday, but it’s not the fifth child her husband publicly flirts with her about.

    “It’s time. Honestly, I’ve been working on this album for almost five years,” said the R&B-pop superstar. “I put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, as they would say, into this project … I literally gave birth to two babies while I was making this project, too. So, a lot has happened.”

    Expanding her 2023 seven-track EP “CiCi,” it’s the Grammy winner’s first album since 2019’s “Beauty Marks,” her first as an independent artist.

    “I was still actively putting out music on the project. So, it’s not like I was five years chillin’,” said the “Level Up” artist. “If I ever stop loving the process and experience, then I’ll stop. But I have so much passion for it and I just feel so fortunate that 21 years later, from my first album ‘Goodies’ to now, that I still have the same excitement I had as a little girl.”

    Her eighth studio album, “CiCi” includes songs from the EP such as “How We Roll,” her 2023 Chris Brown collaboration which reached No. 1 on Billboard’s R&B digital song sales charts, “Forever” with Lil Baby and the sensual bop, “Low Key.” But the 14-track full-length record, with writing and production from Theron Thomas and J.R. Rotem, separates itself with appearances from Tyga, BossMan DLow and Busta Rhymes. Latto also joins her on “This Right Here,” an anticipated reunion with Jazze Pha who executive produced her 2004 debut, hitting No. 3 on the Billboard 200.

    One of the preeminent stage performers in her class and lauded for her dancing, Ciara owns smashes like “Goodies” which topped the Billboard 100, “Oh” featuring Ludacris, “Body Party,” and “Promise.” Four albums reached the Billboard 200 top 10, including 2006’s “Ciara: The Evolution” which hit No. 1.

    In an era where music is often released rapidly, Ciara’s leisurely pace has been questioned by fans and critics, wondering if she’s traded her love for music for a perceived socialite lifestyle with her Super Bowl-winning husband, Russell Wilson.

    “I feel like I don’t have to explain anything to anybody,” said the “Ride” singer, who’s recently released collaborations with several Asian artists. “Not every year has been about music. And sometimes, it’s been about me just growing as a human. Sometimes, it’s been about me finding my way obviously as a mom, and then I have family now and my husband, being there for him. These are all real things.”

    It’s a perception she aims at on “Run It Up” with BossMan Dlow, singing, “No matter how many points I put up on the board, you know they gon’ hate / I’m in a league of my own, I’m a wife and a mom / … You ain’t gotta worry, you know that we straight.”

    “I go from the stage to the classroom. I go from the classroom to the football field to support my husband. Then, I got on my schedule we’re gonna go school shopping tomorrow,” said the 39-year-old who wrote on every song. “That’s how my life is, but I would not have it any other way.”

    Other standout tracks include the previously released slow jam “Ecstasy” which she later remixed with Normani and Teyana Taylor, and the feel good “Drop Your Love,” sampling “Love Come Down” from Evelyn “Champagne” King. She continued her two-step groove on “This Right Here,” recreating the nostalgic magic with Pha and resurfacing his memorable “Ci-araaa!” ad-lib.

    “It’s always been love with Jazze and I … there was behind-the-scenes type of stuff that was beyond he and I,” referring to the producer who crafted her megahit “1,2 Step” with Missy Elliott. “People want the classic him. They want me to be me, too, in that moment. And so, I feel like we accomplished that.”

    Becoming one of the first celebrities to gain Benin citizenship as part of a recent law by the small West African nation granting rights to descendants of enslaved people, Ciara hopes to shed light on the country, as well as the continent which has exploded globally in the music market thanks to Afrobeats.

    She’s also expanding her Why Not You Foundation, the nonprofit founded with Wilson in 2014 to help disadvantaged youth with educational and personal development resources. With Why Not You centers already in Atlanta and Pittsburgh, they plan to expand in the New York-New Jersey area. Wilson signed with the New York Giants during the offseason.

    “Success to me is yes, putting out music. Being the best artist I can be, hopefully being known as one of the best to ever do it … But it’s not solely in that,” she said. “People lose themselves because they didn’t live. I don’t want to be that girl – I’m not going to be that girl.” ___

    Follow Associated Press entertainment journalist Gary Gerard Hamilton at @GaryGHamilton on all his social media platforms.

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  • The Rockport Chamber Music Festival launches its 44th season

    The opening of the 44th Rockport Chamber Music Festival marks the 15th anniversary of its concert hall, the Shalin Liu Performance Center, which gave the festival a permanent home under the expanded organization of Rockport Music.

    The month-long festival launches on Friday, June 13, in addition to three “annex” dates for performances through early August. The festival is known for bringing in the most celebrated of musicians as well as rising stars on the chamber music scene. The music performed is equally varied from the beloved masterworks of classical composers to contemporary compositions and even commissions.


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    Gail McCarthy may be contacted at 978-675-2706, or gmccarthy@northofboston.com.

    By Gail McCarthy | Staff Writer

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  • Khatia Buniatishvili is a classical music superstar. Her new album honors Mozart — in her own way

    Khatia Buniatishvili is a classical music superstar. Her new album honors Mozart — in her own way

    NEW YORK (AP) — Khatia Buniatishvili has been one of the most well-known classical musicians for more than a decade, but she prefers to keep the chatter about her celebrity buried beneath the crescendo of her music and charismatic performances.

    “If I start to talk about my charisma, I think it might be the end. It’s like the peak of narcissism, right?” Buniatishvili said bashfully in a recent interview.

    But it’s her command of the stage, combined with her expressive performance energy and glamourous exterior that has made her a household name in classical music. The pianist, born in the country of Georgia, along with a new generation of artists like Icelandic pop-jazz singer and celloist Laufey, French violinist Esther Abrami, Nigerian opera singer Babatunde Akinboboye and even pop superstar Lizzo, a classically trained flutist, are helping remove the elitist stigma often attached to the genre and are attracting millennial and Gen Z audiences.

    “I’m the happiest person when I hear that … young people, it’s the movement of life,” said Buniatishvili, a two-time winner of Germany’s top award for classical performers, the Opus Klassik. “You can bring new life to them — to composers — thanks to these young people who are listening to it. I think it’s the major achievement you might have in life.”


    The 37-year-old French-Georgian, who has collaborated with major mainstream artists like Coldplay and A$AP Rocky, released her sixth solo album Friday, “Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 20 & 23” with the Academy of St Martin In The Fields chamber orchestra.

    Buniatishvili, who first performed with the Tbilisi Chamber Orchestra at just 6 years old, talked with The Associated Press about notoriety, Mozart, and creating a more level playing field in classical music. The answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.

    AP: With as much fanfare that surrounds you, why do you shy away from talking about fame? You specifically mentioned narcissism.

    BUNIATISHVILI: It’s very easy to become (narcissistic) if you don’t pay attention to it, I think, when you’re an artist because it might seem like everything is around one person, but actually, it’s much more than that. It’s not about one person. It’s about what you leave.

    I think it’s a very important thing to give an example to the younger generation also that it’s nice to have a mirror and to have selfies — that’s very nice — but it’s very important not to miss life in those moments.

    AP: How did you develop your lifelong connection with the piano?

    BUNIATISHVILI: It was there from the very beginning. Like my parents and my sister, they were there when I was born, but also, the piano was there. … Even though I could do different things in life, this was there like my family, and it felt comforting.

    Khatia Buniatishvili poses for a portrait on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Gary Gerard Hamilton)

    AP: What was the recording process like for creating “Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 20 & 23?”

    BUNIATISHVILI: What was special in this recording was that it was with the orchestra, a chamber orchestra, but without conductors — I was directing the orchestra. So, this was a very special feeling because you communicate with the orchestra and you have to be convincing for them because you are not a conductor. … You have to make them feel what they are actually: quite special and very unique and irreplaceable. And at the same time, you have to achieve your own interpretation.

    AP: Why did you choose to create this album without a conductor?

    BUNIATISHVILI: I wanted to do something as I felt it. And sometimes conductors, they can help with that. Sometimes they propose something different and you might like it or might not like it. … I really wanted to do it in my way.

    Image

    Khatia Buniatishvili poses for a portrait on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Gary Gerard Hamilton)

    AP: What are you most proud of professionally?

    BUNIATISHVILI: I’m proud that I achieved — independently from conductors, from male powers or even female. Sometimes I was not invited by the best orchestras in the world. But I would think, “No problem, I’ll play alone.” … Actually, I achieved my career with my recitals being alone on stage because, often, I was not part of this great power or great systems.

    We should work on the equality things because not everybody has this chance. And I guess that’s something we have to work on also in classical music because classical music can be very beautiful, but the system of it can be quite separating.

    ___

    Follow Associated Press entertainment journalist Gary Gerard Hamilton at @GaryGHamilton on all his social media platforms.

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