Esperanza Spalding News

As part of the string quartet's 20th anniversary season, ETHEL returns to BAM with Circus: Wandering City, a multimedia musical journey into the history of the iconic Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus that explores and honors the complex relationship between circus troupes, their performers, and the audiences they inspired. 

As part of the string quartet's 20th anniversary season, ETHEL returns to BAM with Circus: Wandering City, a multimedia musical journey into the history of the iconic Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus that explores and honors the complex relationship between circus troupes, their performers, and the audiences they inspired. 

Birdland will kick-off their exciting month of programming with the following acts:

Target Margin Theater (Founding Artistic Director David Herskovits, Associate Artistic Director Moe Yousuf) is proud to present a remount of its acclaimed production, Pay No Attention to the Girl, for a limited three week run (October 25-November 11). The production brings to life interwoven stories about the sexes - their conflicts, their love, their tricks -from various translations / transmissions of The One Thousand and One Nights, a collection of Silk Road, MENA (Middle Eastern / North African), and South Asian tales.

Recognized by the world not only for their bold-face names, but especially by their superb talents, New Jersey Performing Arts Center's seventh annual TD James Moody Jazz Festival (November 4-18) is packed with performances by today's most listened-to luminaries on the jazz scene. NJPAC Jazz Advisor, six-time Grammy winner Christian McBride says, 'I'm beyond excited to announce the seventh annual TD James Moody Jazz Festival at NJPAC. It's gonna be a good one, baby. There's something very, very special about jazz vocalists, and we're committed to making sure the legacy of jazz vocals is alive and thriving. This year we'll present the world's finest singers, from Dianne Reeves and Gregory Porter to Cecile McLorin Salvant and Lalah Hathaway, and will continue to search for the next greats through the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition -- the SASSY Awards -- which is always a huge hit.'

Newly anointed EGOT winner and critically acclaimed, multi-platinum singer-songwriter John Legend has announced his first Christmas album, A LEGENDARY CHRISTMAS. The album is executive produced by Raphael Saadiq and will be released on October 26 via Columbia Records. To accompany the album, John will embark on a 25-date A LEGENDARY CHRISTMAS Tour, which includes a return engagement at Segerstrom Center for the Arts on Saturday, December 29 at 7:30 p.m. The tour kicks off on November 15 in Clearwater, FL and wraps up on December 30 in San Diego.

John Legend took to his Instagram to announce his first-ever Christmas album. 

The New York Butoh Institute and Vangeline Theater present the New York Butoh Institute Festival 2018, a celebration of diversity in butoh featuring 16 artists from Japan, Brazil, Chile, UK, Israel, Italy, Germany, France, Costa Rica, Spain, and the United States. Curated by Butoh artist Vangeline, the Festival will consist of an exciting program of butoh workshops and masterclasses, as well as four nights of groundbreaking performances by fierce female butoh dancers from October 18-21, 2018 at the Theater for the New City's Johnson Theater, 155 1st Avenue, NYC, 10003.

The world's largest free jazz festival kicks off this weekend, and Detroit Public Television for the first time will be broadcasting live from the Detroit Jazz Festival in a 90-minute program hosted by our own Fred Nahhat and Jazz Fest President Chris Collins.

THE GREEN ROOM 42 - Broadway's newest intimate concert venue - will present ELEW on Thursday, August 16 at 7:00 PM. His performance "Rockjazz" fuses his classically trained piano skills with modern pop and rock music generating a new genre. After performing for Barack and Michelle Obama at The White House alongside Esperanza Spalding, on NBC-TV's "America's Got Talent" and on National Public Radio, ELEW brings "Rockjazz" back to New York at The Green Room 42 for a one night only performance.

Broadway's newest intimate concert venue - welcomes back Stephanie's Child, New York's premier pop-vocal drag trio, for their one-year anniversary concert on Friday, August 10 at 9:30 PM. Hailed as one of the "Best LGBT Events in New York" from Time Out New York, the Stephanie's Child residency features tight harmonies, pop hits, hilarious original parodies and surprise special guests.

On Today, July 28, Westchester Collaborative Theater (WCT) will continue its highly touted Jazz Masters series with the Gerry Malkin Collective, renowned artists who have been called a 'quintessential... group that plays top-notch music' with pedigrees that 'run deep in the jazz hierarchy.' This performance will feature guest artist Ingrid Jensen on trumpet, an Ossining resident and internationally renowned musician. Led by Malkin on tenor sax, the distinctive post bebop sound of the Collective interprets music of the classic era of mid-twentieth century jazz, from Miles Davis to John Coltrane. The group will play at WCT's Black Box at 23 Water St. at 8:00pm.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts today announced the selection of four Honorees who will receive the 2018 Kennedy Center Honors for lifetime artistic achievements, and a special Honors distinction for a work of art and its co-creators. Recipients to be honored at the 41st annual national celebration of the arts are: singer and actress Cher, composer and pianist Philip Glass, Country music entertainer Reba McEntire, and jazz saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter. This year, the co-creators of Hamilton-writer and actor Lin-Manuel Miranda, director Thomas Kail, choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler, and music director Alex Lacamoire-will receive a unique Kennedy Center Honors as trailblazing creators of a transformative work that defies category.

On Saturday, July 28, Westchester Collaborative Theater (WCT) will continue its highly touted Jazz Masters series with the Gerry Malkin Collective, renowned artists who have been called a 'quintessential... group that plays top-notch music' with pedigrees that 'run deep in the jazz hierarchy.' This performance will feature guest artist Ingrid Jensen on trumpet, an Ossining resident and internationally renowned musician. Led by Malkin on tenor sax, the distinctive post bebop sound of the Collective interprets music of the classic era of mid-twentieth century jazz, from Miles Davis to John Coltrane. The group will play at WCT's Black Box at 23 Water St. at 8:00pm.

THE GREEN ROOM 42 - Broadway's newest intimate concert venue - will present ELEW on Thursday, August 16 at 7:00 PM. His performance "Rockjazz" fuses his classically trained piano skills with modern pop and rock music generating a new genre. After performing for Barack and Michelle Obama at The White House alongside Esperanza Spalding, on NBC-TV's "America's Got Talent" and on National Public Radio, ELEW brings "Rockjazz" back to New York at The Green Room 42 for a one night only performance.

Berlin-based electronic producer and innovative drummer JBXDR shared his kaleidoscopic LP, 'Wave Talk', July 6th released via Springstoff. Co-produced by Helge Hasselberg (Trümmer, Heartbeast, Lukas Endhardt, Kobito) and mastered by Hauke Albrecht (Turbostart, Ronda), the anticipated LP will showcase this one-of-a-kind producer's ability to process, sample, extract, splice and dice just about anything thrown his way. JBXDR has already made a long-lasting impression working alongside prolific and highly respectable producers and artists such as Daniel Lanois (Brian Eno, Venetian Snares, U2), Neil Young, Andy Baldwin (Hidden Orchestra, Belle & Sebastian), Jeremy Loucas (Spacepilot), Diana Krall (Order Of Canada) and Terry Lynn Carrington (Giovanni Tommaso Quintet), just to name a few, throughout his ever-evolving career thus far.

London-based jazz and neo-soul artist Alba Plano has shared her latest single 'I Hope' via Sunrise, taken from her upcoming EP White Lotus, and follows her debut single 'Out There'. For the last two years, Plano has fronted Forever Amy, a project featuring Amy Winehouse's original band, touring and performing in large venues throughout Europe and the UK. She has performed backing vocals for Ninja Tune's Jordan Rakei and has collaborated with a host of accomplished musicians such as Dale Davis (bass player and musical director for Amy Winehouse, Tina Turner and Freak Power), Jim Hunt (sax for Richard Ashcroft, Brand New Heavies, Noel Gallagher, Jamiroquai) Troy Miller (drummer and producer for Laura Mvula, Becca Stevens, Jamie Cullum) and with a previous project opened for Elio e le Storie Tese at Shepherds Bush Empire.

This July, Carnegie Hall places the spotlight on more than 200 of the nation's finest teen musicians from 36 US states with three performances presented over eight days in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage.

Today, Marie decides to leave her husband: 'Let me tell you something. I find my husband so God damned irritating that I'm planning to leave him. And that's a fact.' But in Wallace Shawn's 1978 American masterpiece, facts are slippery things. In this radical re-imagining at JACK, two multi-disciplinary artists play the combative titular couple and head up the design team. Joined by an ensemble of some of Brooklyn's sharpest comedic voices, Gordon Landenberger (Bruce) and trans actress Theda Hammel (Marie) double as the set and sound designers, respectively, for this hilarious and timely new production. 

Birdland will kick-off their great week of programming with Veronica Swift, David Damiani & The No Vacancy Orchestra, The Emmet Cohen Trio, and more!