With her album 'Songplay,' Mezzo-Soprano Joyce DiDonato takes a new and creative angle on vocal music from the Baroque and Classical periods, as well as from the 20th century. The 14 tracks on Songplay succeed in being simultaneously familiar and unexpected. The album serves up music by Vivaldi in both its customary Baroque purity and swinging to the heady rhythm of a samba. It brings a tango sizzle to an aria by Vivaldi's contemporary Marcello, and it plays with the voice of Bach in George Shearing's ‘Lullaby of Birdland'.    DiDonato speaks with Eastern PA's VIA PUBLIC MEDIA, ArtScene host Peter Wynne about her new recording featuring special arrangements with pianist Craig Terry and friends for the Erato label. LISTEN p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px}

Interview with WVIA's Erika Funke

"Piano Book" is a collection of miniature masterpieces performed by one of the world's most celebrated virtuosos. "With Piano Book I'm going back to my first love, to the pieces that made me want to become a musician in the first place" Lang Lang states in the preface to his latest disc. Released in March 2019 with Universal Music Group and Deutsche Grammophon, the album features well-known masterworks thoughtfully chosen and performed by the global superstar on his first studio album since 2016. From Bach's Prelude in C minor, to Mozart's 12 Piano Variations on "Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman" to Poulenc's Villageoises, there is something for every classical piano lover. There are also many works from the present day, like compositions by Yann Tiersen and Max Richter, as well as cultural works such as Sweden's Limu, limu, lima or the popular Chinese folksong Jasmine Flower.  Lang Lang's Piano Book is the Classical 107 - Winnipeg 'May Record of the Month with McNally Robinson Booksellers.
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The Tedeschi Trucks Band served as the musical guest on last night's ( Wednesday's ) episode of ABC late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live. Led by Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks, the 12-piece performed four songs during an outdoor concert held on the streets of Los Angeles and one that was broadcast on the show. Kimmel Live featured a performance of "Shame" from the band's recently released Signs LP. "Signs, High Times" off the album was the opener for the group's unaired portion of the concert. Derek and Susan then led the band through "When Will I Begin" and "Hard Case" from Signs. The Tedeschi Trucks Band's finale was "I Want More," a track from 2016's Let Me Get By. Watch pro-shot video of the entire four-song concert below as well as "Shame" from the broadcast via JamBase

Mark O'Connor, the three-time Grammy Award-winner will close out the 33rd annual Juneau Jazz & Classics Festival with the O'Connor Band at at Centennial Hall and will be part of a free jam on Friday, May 17 at TK Maguire's Lounge. The O'Connor Band which is a foot-tapping, twangy bluegrass outfit that includes O'Connor's son, wife and daughter-in-law. The 57-year-old virtuoso is an accomplished classical musician with a jazz background in addition to being a hell of a fiddle player. O'Connor took time to answer some questions from the Capital City Weekly ahead of both his festival-closing concert and jam session.   READ THE Juneau Empire Q&A       (Courtesy Photo | Jim McGuire)

Hailing from Ulverston in Cumbria, Jess Gillam is blazing a trail in the music world with her outstanding talent and infectious personality. She is the first saxophone player to sign an exclusive recording deal with Decca Classics and has already released three digital singles on the label as well as her new album 'Rise.' The winner of the "Sound of Classical Poll" at the Classic Brits, Jess presents a stunning collection of tracks that reflect her varied and colorful musical tastes and inspirations. Includes beautiful cover versions from two of Jess's biggest heroes, Kate Bush and David Bowie, and film music hits from John Williams and Michael Nyman. Watch the attached video.

Lara Downes new album, Holes in the Sky, on Portrait / Sony Masterworks label is a genre-fluid collection of music written and performed by today's leading female artists, celebrating the contributions of phenomenal women to the past, present, and future of American music. The album tells the story of what women and girls can contribute to the world when they are given a chance - their dreams can make holes in the sky. Lara collaborates with an extraordinary multi-generational group of female guest artists on this album, including the iconic singer / songwriter Judy Collins, boundary-breaking violinist Rachel Barton Pine, pianist Simone Dinnerstein, fast-rising cellist Ifetayo Ali-Landing, and the urban youth vocal ensemble Musicality. In conjunction with the release, LD sat down with Classical Radio Networks and Stations for back to back sessions today May 14, and tomorrow May 15, to discuss the particulars.

The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra's new album "American Rapture" highlights the most intriguing components of the RPO's musical identity in the Ward Stare era. "American Rapture" represents both these inclinations, in a live recording that achieves the vibrancy of a concert performance combined with a polished, hi-resolution sound.  On the world premiere recording of Jennifer Higdon's mercurial Harp Concerto, the crystalline precision of Yolanda Kondonassis's harp, the rhythmic buoyancy of Stare's conducting, and the cohesion of the orchestra achieve a kind of mystical alchemy. This is especially the case during the boisterous, at times cacophonous final movement, "Rap Knock." Patrick Harlin's "Rapture," also in a world premiere recording, proves that it's every bit the defiant orchestral showpiece it was when Stare and the RPO first performed it in 2016. READ THE FULL Rochester City Newspaper REVIEW

This week's Rhythm Planet playlist showcases my picks for the best new releases in mostly jazz and world music. We will hear pianist András Schiff play one of my favorite Schubert impromptus on the keyboard of the composer's day, the piano-forte, precursor to the modern piano. I prefer modern pianos, but this album gives you a sense of what the piano sounded back then during Schubert's brief lifetime (1797-1828). We transition to the gorgeous sound of Hubert Laws' flute, playing the Kurt Weill/Ira Gershwin classic "My Ship." This track is an oldie, but I'm featuring it because Laws has a show coming up on Saturday, May 18, at the Moss Theater in Santa Monica. He's one of my heroes, and I plan to catch this rare performance. The music of Ludovico Einaudi-recently dubbed "the most streamed classical musician of all time"-can be heard seemingly everywhere in movies, advertising, etc. I helped to debut Einaudi's first album, Diario Mali, with Malian kora player Ballaké Sissoko back in 2003. The pianist/composer has since reached international stardom. Einaudi has launched a new series of albums called Seven Days Walking, with each "Day" to be released a month apart. He performs at Walt Disney Concert Hall on June 16, and it will surely sell out so grab your seats now. I was surprised to receive a new album from pianist George Winston, from whom I hadn't heard anything for a long time, probably due to his struggle against cancer. Winston helped build the Windham Hill label, beginning with his best-selling 1981 album Autumn. His new solo piano album Restless Wind sounds different from his earlier work, with Winston showing more pianist facility than before. I like the differences. Winston frequently visited Morning Becomes Eclectic back in the Stone Age when I hosted it, bringing in a satchel of New Orleans blues, Brazilian guitar, and other albums as my guest host in the early 1980's.  SEE THE FULL KCRW: Los Angeles - Rhythm Planet: New Music Discoveries PAGE

Christopher Tin, the two-time Grammy Award winner is making his Carnegie Hall conducting debut  on June 9 with the presentation of his classical crossover album Calling All Dawns. Presented by DCINY, Tin, the DCINY composer-in-residence, will be leading a mass choir of singers performing Calling All Dawns with a full orchestra. Featured soloists are Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek, Mezzo-Soprano, Michael Odokara-Okigbo (Michael O.), Tenor, Camille Brault, Mezzo-Soprano, Holly Sedillos, Soprano, and Deanna Choi, Soprano. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px} READ THE FULL BroadwayWorld ARTICLE

With the release of My Spanish Heart (DUX recordings) pianist Katarzyna Musial builds upon her previous successful recording Come Dance with Me. My Spanish Heart continues to explore the idiom of dance through musical expression with this time focusing on renowned Spanish composers. In this album, Katarzyna Musial revels in the artistic and cultural splendors of the Iberian peninsula. "You don't have to be born in a culture to be enamored with it," she explains. In fact, her love affair with Spain was first sparked during childhood when, at five years old, she simply fell in love with the country upon a visit with her parents. The pianist sat down to discuss the recording with classical radio in May 14 an 16.

This Friday Azica Records will release its first recording of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. The ensemble is led by Ward Stare, who became its Music Director on September 1, 2014. The title of the new recording is American Rapture; and, as is usually the case, it is currently available for pre-order through its Web page on Amazon.com.  The Rochester band became recognized nationally (if not internationally) as a platform for the performance of new compositions, particularly works by American composers. I was therefore delighted to see that the ensemble's Azica debut featured two world premiere recordings by two generations of American composers. The "main attraction" of the album is the harp concerto that Jennifer Higdon (born in 1962) completed last year, written for and dedicated to the virtuoso harpist Yolanda Kondonassis. This concerto begins the album, which concludes with one of the young American composers currently on the rise, Patrick Harlin (born in 1984). He is represented by "Rapture," inspired by experiences described by James Tabor in his book Blind Descent, which explores the practices of "extreme" cave exploration. Between these two offerings is a new recording of one of the pieces that Hanson had previously recorded on Mercury, Samuel Barber's Opus 9 (first) symphony. READ THE FULL Rehearsal Studio REVIEW

Sir Andras Schiff – the honorific suits him better with every year that passes – is on a roll. After demonstrating in concert the suitability of the fortepiano for Schubert's works, he has just brought out a CD (Franz Schubert – Sonatas & Impromptus) which drives the point unarguably home: to call this performance of the final two sonatas revelatory is nothing less than the truth, because the sound-world on his immaculately restored 1820 Brodmann up-ends all our expectations of these mysterious works; a Steinway, for all its sonic splendour, suddenly seems wildly inappropriate. Now Schiff is showing us a new way of listening to Bach's Partitas, and if the aural readjustment is less dramatic than the one with Schubert, it's no less fundamental. As is usual with Schiff recitals, the Wigmore is getting him to repeat the performance to cope with the demand for seats, and if they'd scheduled further repeats those too would have been filled to capacity. Nobody else fills the hall the way this Hungarian-born pianist – now gratefully British – routinely does. The concert is performed again at Wigmore Hall tomorrow 14 May.    READ THE FULL Independent REVIEW   p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px}