Nico Muhly News

Today, February 9, Amazon Music adds 30 new songs to the Amazon Original playlists “Love Me,” and “Love Me Not.” Each playlist offers original songs and covers from artists of various genres to help satisfy the lovers and the haters this Valentine's Day. The pair of playlists, available on Amazon Music Unlimited and Prime Music, offer recordings that embrace the love - or in some cases - ease the pain of heartbreak. Find them both at www.amazon.com/lovemelovemenot.

Goodspeed Musicals is thrilled to announce three enticing productions planned for Chester, Conn. in 2018. First will be the inspiring You Are Here by Drama Desk Award nominees Bartram and Hill. This soaring musical will run May 18 - June 10. Next up will be a new musical adaptation of the enduring love story Cyrano. This exciting new take on the classic will be adapted by Erica Schmidt in collaboration with the indie band The National. Cyrano will run August 3 - September 2. Finally, A Connecticut Christmas Carol, a musical adaptation of the Dickens holiday classic spiced with the flavor of the Nutmeg State, returns to The Terris Theatre November 30 - December 30, 2018.

Music Director Thierry Fischer and President & CEO Paul Meecham today announced the Utah Symphony's 2018-19 season, with highlights including the live recording of a Berlioz album for Hyperion Records, semi-staged performances of Bernstein's "Candide" in celebration of the composer's centennial, and a cycle of Bach's six Brandenburg Concertos paired with works by the late composer Pierre Boulez. American composer Andrew Norman will be in Salt Lake City as Composer-in-Association for performances of his works and additional activities.

The Following Mountain, Sam Amidon's sixth album overall and his third for Nonesuch Records, is his first album of original songs. A deeply personal synthesis of folk-based song form and experimental improvisation, it 'feels like a liberation' (Uncut) and 'provides constant, jolting surprises' (The Guardian). But in his decade-long career as a recording and touring musician, the singer and multi-instrumentalist (banjo, guitar, fiddle) has always managed to create work that's utterly original, even when, as on previous discs, he was digging through the sounds and stories of traditional American music. The Following Mountain features appearances by musicians such as Shahzad Ismaily, master percussionists Milford Graves and Juma Sultan, and psychedelic jazz musician Sam Gendel, who will be opening the US dates of this tour as well as joining Amidon onstage for his set.

Join Kirby Ward, Joan Hess, and the Utah Symphony February 9 and 10, 2018 for an evening full of entertainment, featuring live dancers and Hollywood golden-age classics from composers like Gershwin, Bernstein and Berlin on the Abravanel Hall stage, conducted by Assistant Conductor Conner Gray Covington. Tickets range from $15-$83 and can be purchased at utahsymphony.org or by calling 801-533-6683.

Sasha Janes strays too far from his comfort zone in his new piece, but CharBallet's INNOVATIVE WORKS features stunners by Robyn Mineko Williams and Myles Thatcher

Vineyard Theatre's Artistic Directors Douglas Aibel and Sarah Stern and Managing Director Suzanne Appel announce that the 2018 Gala Fundraiser will celebrate Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer and the award-winning theatre company's 35th Anniversary.

In December 2016, Stephen Petronio Company purchased Crow's Nest, a 175-acre property in the Catskill Mountains. This bold act not only secures the Company's legacy but also aims to provide a creative home for dance via the Petronio Residency Center, whose first round of residencies the Company is proud to announce today. The inaugural recipients are Nora Chipaumire, Will Rawls, and Kathy Westwater, whose residencies will take place between July-October, 2018. Each artist has been awarded a one-week residency that includes exclusive use of the 9,000 sq. ft. facilities for up to 9 individuals, a $5,000 stipend, and up to $1,500 for travel assistance. This rare and fully-funded opportunity includes room, board, and meals prepared on-site by a chef from locally-sourced ingredients.

On February 2 and 3, join the Utah Symphony and guest pianist Ronald Brautigam as they continue the 2017-18 Masterworks series with a program of Mozart & Haydn's greatest works, under the direction of guest conductor Patrick Dupre Quigley. Tickets are priced from $23 to $83 and can be purchased at utahsymphony.org or by calling (801) 533-6683

Ok, y'all…I'm going to be honest. A cappella - or as my aunt, with her charming ignorance, would call it 'acapulco singing' - is just not my jam. Groups that sing sacred 'hits' without vibrato has never been a way I'd choose to spend an afternoon. Maybe it's because I suck at this type of singing? Unclear. But, in this case, I have to concede to the King's Singers and the beautiful, tranquil sea of sound they presented at their delightful concert in New York City. Besides being offensively talented, who couldn't love a group of cute boys singing to you in a gorgeous church? I never stood a chance. The evening was charming.

Experience all of the romance and drama of a love story told from beginning to end by the Chi Phil Chamber Players in Mix-Tape Romance. With selections that range from pop hits to classical masterpieces, this love story is told with humor, passion, and lots of music.

Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presents Mozart in the Jungle: Inside the Music on Sunday, February 11, 2018 at 3pm and 7:30pm.

Sufjan Stevens' Mystery of Love is nominated for the Oscar for Best Original Song at this year's Academy Awards. Mystery of Love is one of Stevens' three contributions to the soundtrack of Luca Guadagnino's Call Me By Your Name (Sony Pictures Classics)

Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presents Mozart in the Jungle: Inside the Music on Sunday, February 11, 2018 at 3pm and 7:30pm. Audiences are invited inside the world of Mozart in the Jungle, the Golden Globe Award-winning television series set in the orbit of the fictional New York Symphony. The Amazon Original Series has featured performances by artists including Joshua Bell and Pl cido Domingo, who sang on a raft in a Venetian canal with fictional opera diva 'La Fiamma' (played by Monica Bellucci), and cameos by composers Nico Muhly and Caroline Shaw. At Works & Process, Shaw joins executive producer/series creator Paul Weitz, showrunner Will Graham and creative consultant Elena Park in a conversation that takes the audience inside the music. The program will feature performances of music originally created for the television series, including selections by Shaw and Muhly's Amy Fisher Aria, performed by Metropolitan Opera soprano Susanna Phillips. Stream season four of Mozart in the Jungle February 16, 2018 on Prime Video.

Join the string players of the Utah Symphony for a special evening in Park City at the beautiful St. Mary's church. On March 16, 2018 at 7:30 PM, Madeline Adkinswill direct the exceptional ensemble through pieces by Purcell, Mendelssohn, Warlock, and Dvor k. Tickets are $35 for general admission seating, and student tickets are available for $15. All tickets can be purchased at utahsymphony.org or by calling (801) 533-6683.

The Younes and Sarah Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts (The Soraya) presents the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Thierry Fischer, Music Director of the Utah Symphony since 2009 and Principal Guest of the Seoul Philharmonic since January 2017 at the Great Hall on Friday, January 26 at 8:00pm.

A new Sufjan Stevens video for Life With Dignity (Helado Negro Remix), taken from Stevens' The Greatest Gift mixtape, debuts today after an exclusive premiere on Apple Music watch it here.

In 2015, Stephen Petronio Company culminated its 30th anniversary 2014-15 season with a transformation: the launch of Bloodlines. This five-year autobiographical project not only honors the lineage of American postmodern dance, but also traces the influences and impulses that have shaped choreographer Stephen Petronio, an artist uniquely positioned to preserve this postmodern tradition.

Utah Symphony Utah Opera President & CEO Paul Meecham and Music Director Thierry Fischer announced an extension of Assistant Conductor Conner Gray Covington's contract through the 2019-20 season, and a new title as Associate Conductor beginning in September 2018. The agreement extends the current contract, set to expire at the end of the 2017-18 season, for an additional two years. Mr. Covington assumed the role of Assistant Conductor in September 2017.

The Utah Symphony announced the addition of a fifth movie presentation to its popular, new Zions Bank Films in Concert series. On June 27 and 28, 2018, the full-length feature presentation of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl will be screened at Abravanel Hall while the Utah Symphony performs the soundtrack live to picture. Tickets are priced from $30-$79 and can be purchased at http://www.utahsymphony.org or by calling (801) 533-6683 starting January 5, 2018 at 10 AM.