Mobile Chamber Music Society has brought some talented and lauded musicians to Mobile over the decades, but a note from one of their key members hints at a high-water mark this month. "We have never had the prestigious Miró Quartet on our series before because, frankly, we could never afford them," Daniel Silver wrote. " The quartet's members are instructors at the University of Texas' Butler School of Music. Within the first five years of its 1995 founding, the quartet had won first prizes in every competition it entered and was the first ensemble to win the Avery Fisher Career Grant. Their tour circuit normally takes them through North America, Asia and Europe and to numerous esteemed festivals. They have collaborated with Joshua Bell, Midori, Eliot Fisk, Pinchas Zukerman and Jon Kimura Parker among others. Their Sunday, Jan. 20,  Laidlaw Performing Arts Center(University of South Alabama) concert includes Schubert's Quartettsatz in C Minor, Dvořák's "Cypresses," Wolf's "Italian Serenade," Puccini's "I Crisantemi," Michael Ippolito's "Big Sky, Low Horizon" and Beethoven's Quartet in F Minor and Grosse Fuge. READ THE FULL Lagniappe PAGE

Radio New Zealand's Sound Lounge brings you a lullaby of epic proportions - Max Richter's Sleep at10:00 pm on 19 January 2019.  It's the German-born British composer's "personal lullaby for a frenetic world" scored for piano, strings, electronics and vocals without words. The public premiere in Berlin was held at former East German Powerplant 'Kraftwerk' and since then Sleep has been heard by slumbering audiences all over the world, including the 2018 Auckland Arts Festival. Max Richter has loved sleeping since he was a child and to create this experience he consulted a neuroscientist to learn more about the human brain functions while sleeping. "For me," he says, "Sleep is an attempt to see how that space when your conscious mind is on holiday, can be a place for music to live." Richter performs on a range of keyboard instruments throughout the work. He plays piano, organ, synthesisers and electronics. He's also joined by the musicians of the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) and the lilting soprano voice of Grace Davidson.

One of the world's foremost fingerstyle guitarists and harp-guitarists, Muriel Anderson is the first woman to have won the National Fingerstyle Guitar Championship. Her CD "Nightlight Daylight" was chosen as one of the top 10 CDs of the decade by Guitar Player Magazine and her "Heartstrings" recording accompanied the astronauts on the Space Shuttle Discovery. Guitar World Magazine listed Muriel Anderson as one of the eight most amazing female acoustic players and is one of the few international touring harp-guitarists. Among those she has performed/recorded with are Chet Atkins, Les Paul, Victor Wooten, Tommy Emmanuel and the Nashville Chamber Orchestra. Her obvious joy of music, humor and her facility across the genres of folk, classical, jazz, bluegrass and international music is revered by guitarists worldwide. Muriel is host of the renowned Muriel Anderson's ALL STAR GUITAR NIGHT® and founder of the MUSIC FOR LIFE ALLIANCE charity. Anderson will be performing "Wonderlust" Visual Show at Songbirds North Stage in Chattanooga, on Feb. 8. READ THE FULL Chattanoogan ARTICLE

Hollywood movie star Jeff Goldblum transcends the big screen to bring his effervescent joie de vivre and stuttering style to this spirited album of jazz standards, recorded live in the studio in front of an appreciative audience. Goldblum plays dual roles, tickling the ivories as bandleader and acting as an excitable and exaggeratedly suave MC, going off on idiosyncratic tangents and introducing his guest vocalists with a winking, flirty charm. As a jazz pianist Goldblum is no joke, although you'd be hard-pressed to notice. His piano mostly avoids the limelight to allow renowned trumpet player Till Bronner to take the lead and impress. A suitably sophisticated soundtrack for the early hours of your next soiree. 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} span.Apple-tab-span {white-space:pre} READ THE FULL New Zealand Herald ARTICLE

This issue completes Hilary Hahn's first recording of Bach's solo violin works. The initial volume, her debut recording (1997), had a mixed reception, but these readings, superbly captured, demonstrate greater maturity, a wider range of nuance and a more convincing appreciation of the ‘grand design'. Showing little empathy for ‘period' style, Hahn is largely faithful to Bach's text, but takes occasional liberties with his articulations; her improved structural vision is most evident in the Sonatas' fugues, which are characterised by controlled, euphonious execution of the most densely polyphonic passages, flawless intonation, extravagant arpeggiando treatment and clear realisation of the complex contrapuntal interplay. 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 Strad ARTICLE

Star mezzo soprano; Joyce DiDonato and the period instrument ensemble Il Pomo d'Oro captivated Hong Kong concertgoers in a programme made up largely of Baroque arias and works by Purcell and Handel drawn from the Kansas-born star mezzo-soprano's album "In War & Peace: Harmony Through Music". The concert opened the 2019 edition of the annual chamber music event Beare's Premiere Music Festival. From a sublime Dido's Lament to a jubilant closing Handel aria, the American showed the full range of her singing.  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 South China Morning Post ARTICLE

When he was all of four, renowned Chinese-American cellist Yo-Yo Ma discovered the classical music of Johann Sebastian Bach. The German composer has remained a constant inspiration in his career spanning nearly six decades, over 100 albums, and 19 Grammy award wins (he's also performed for eight US Presidents). Next week, Ma, 63, comes to India for the first time, to share the power of Bach's music. "It has been a friend to me; it has offered solace in difficult times, joy in moments of celebration, guidance in the face of confusion," the artiste writes ahead of his performance at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) Nariman Point, on January 21. He will perform the Bach's six suites for solo cello in a single sitting, at a concert in Mumbai. READ THE FULL hindustantimes ARTICLE

Soprano Dawn Upshaw sings Maria Schneider - Winter Morning Walks Jan. 18 at Richardson Auditorium in Princeton; Jan. 19 at Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank; and Jan. 20 at NJPAC in Newark. Upshaw will perform Morning Walks and Mahler's Fourth Symphony January 18–20 in the second program NJSO's 2019 Winter Festival, "Music Speaks." Music Director Xian Zhang conducts. Zhang says: "Performing works by female composers has always been one of my passions, and Maria Schneider's Winter Morning Walks-with soloist Dawn Upshaw-is a particularly touching piece, based on poems former US Poet Laureate Ted Kooser wrote while undergoing cancer treatments. This is a story about hope in very desperate situations; I think it ties beautifully to Mahler's Fourth Symphony, which also features Upshaw. She sings ‘Das himmlische Leben' (‘The Heavenly Life') from The Youth's Magic Horn, with its text about a child imagining heaven. The entire program speaks of recovery, hope and salvation."  Schneider released the album - Winter Morning Walks featuring Upshaw in 2013. READ THE FULL JAZZIZ ARTICLE   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}

Nathan Pacheco is an award winning, classically trained tenor with a passion for reaching out and uplifting people through music. Nathan has been featured globally in live performances with Yanni, Latin singing sensation Olga Tañon, Katherine Jenkins, the National Symphony Orchestra and The San Diego Symphony. A highlight among his many performances was being able to sing for Prince Charles in conjunction with the British Forces Foundation and the USO. He has been featured on multiple Yanni recordings, including his album, Inspirato, on which Nathan was featured alongside Plácido Domingo, Renée Fleming, and other opera stars. Nathan`s debut album was released in 2012 by Disney Pearl. Shortly after its release, it registered as one of the top purchased classical/crossover discs on iTunes and Amazon. His follow up album, Higher, was released February 2017 and reached #1 on the Billboard Current Classical Chart. Nathan's new album, My Prayer, is his most personal and powerful record to date. Furthering Nathan`s exploration of spiritual songs that lift, inspire and bring peace; My Prayer is an invitation to pause a moment in today's frantic world and find deeper spiritual connection and comfort through beautiful music. Featuring the hit 'You Raise Me Up' and the original 'Laying It All Down'. My Prayer, the new album by Nathan Pacheco is available now at Deseret Book and deseretbook.com. 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} WATCH THE FOX13 - Salt Lake City VIDEO 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}

Pianist Seong-Jin Cho played a sold-out concert at Eastman School of Music's part of the Fernando Laires Piano Series, and his performance gradually became more effortless. Cho turned things around dramatically after the intermission with Modest Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition." From the bold and majestic chords of the recurring "Promenade" theme to the playful, rambunctious quality of "The Gnome" and the delightfully spry and witty reading of "Ballet of Unhatched Chicks," Cho seemed to relish the direct melodicism and implicit storytelling of Mussorgsky. The composer's fantastical Romanticism came alive, distilled through Cho's tumultuous, ecstatic energy. 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 Rochester City Newspaper ARTICLE

Members of Lady Gaga's backing band, otherwise known as the Brian Newman Quintet, Alex Smith (piano), Daniel Foose (bass), Steve Koryka (sax), Donald Barrett (drums) and Brian Newman (trumpet), joined Vegas players Jake Langley (guitar) and Julian Tanaka (clarinet) at Dispensary Lounge on Wednesday, Jan. 16.  Newman, a highly regarded trumpet player, is Gaga's bandleader who has also hit the scene at Copa Room at Bootlegger Bistro to catch Santa Fe & The Fat City Horns (Newman has also recruited members of the Santa Fe's famed horn section for the jazz/piano shows). Alex Smith (piano), Daniel Foose (bass), Steve Koryka (sax) and Donald Barrett (drums) fill out the Newman Quintet. Newman's recently released first album for Verve; SHOWBOAT brilliantly captures the convivial style and eclectic repertoire that he has mastered in his live performances.  READ THE FULL Las Vegas Review-Journal ARTICLE p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d}

Jon Batiste is an internationally acclaimed musician, bandleader and composer, and with his band Stay Human, currently appears nightly on national television as the bandleader and musical director for "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert." HOLLYWOOD AFRICANS, a nod to the 1983 Jean Michel Basquiat painting by the same title, is both an indictment and reclamation of the long history of discrimination faced by artists of color in the entertainment industry, and in American society at large.   Grammy Award-winning jazz guitarist, band leader and composer, John Scofield Combo 66 via Verve Records, marking the guitarist's 66th birthday. The album, which features long-time drummer Bill Stewart, bassist Vincente Archer and pianist/organist Gerald Clayton, combines jazz with genre-defying elements, allowing Scofield to find new modes of expression. Tony Bennett and Diana Krall celebrate their shared love of the music of George and Ira Gershwin on their new collaborative album, LOVE IS HERE TO STAY, on Verve Records/Columbia Records.  Tony Bennett, who celebrated his 92nd birthday in 2018 has been friends with Diana Krall for over 20 years. The two released 'LOVE IS HERE TO STAY' just in time for the 120th Anniversary of George Gershwin's birthday on September 26th. of last year. All 3 recordings have made 92.5TheX 'jazz programmer top 10s for 2018.'         SEE ALL PICKS