David Byrne News

Broadway vet Jose Llana returned for the 20th season of Lincoln Center's American Songbook, four years after his sold-out appearance at the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse. Llana performed in The Appel Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center and was joined by his Here Lies Love cast members Jaygee Macapugay, Jeigh Madjus, Renee Albulario and Billy Bustamante on February 1st.

 The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association has announced today the line-up for the 2019 KCRW's World Festival at the Hollywood Bowl. The successful collaboration between KCRW and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association celebrates its 20th anniversary, and launches Sunday, June 16, at 7PM.

The King and I's Jose Llana dazzled in his return to Lincoln Center's American Songbook Concert Series on February 1st, four years after his sold-out appearance at the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse. Mr. Llana's glorious tenor filled The Appel Room, where he was accompanied by his Here Lies Love cast members Jaygee Macapugay, Jeigh Madjus, Renee Albulario and Billy Bustamante.

Nonesuch and New Amsterdam Records have joined forces to release approximately three albums per year over an initial three-year period. This partnership is the result of conversations between the two New York-based labels about their long-term shared values to support the work of several generations of American composers, with the intention of enabling those artists to realize creative ambitions that might not otherwise be achievable. The collaboration reflects the fifty-four-year-old Nonesuch's legacy and the accomplishments of the ten-year-old New Amsterdam, combining their resources in order to share newly-recorded music with a wider audience.

The trumpeter and composer Samantha Boshnack isn't a geologist by trade, but she certainly thinks a lot about earthquakes and volcanoes. Over the past 15 years, while living in her adopted hometown of Seattle, Boshnack has hiked the environs of Washington's Mount Rainier and Mount St. Helens with a kind of unnerved fascination. During her travels in places like Mexico and Indonesia, she's made a point to visit the storied volcanic sites. Throughout her journeys, a couple of questions have persisted: What causes these astounding landscapes and events, and how are they all connected? And how can these vistas be so unspeakably beautiful yet also harbor such a profound potential for catastrophe?

Kieran Hodgson dissects the history of the UK's relationship with Europe in this funny, poignant and wonderfully well-informed show.

The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at the University of British Columbia presents the inimitable, genre-defiant music of Bobby McFerrin on February 17, 2019, at 7pm in the Chan Shun Concert Hall. The concert will feature Gimme5 - McFerrin's newest band comprised of veterans from his a cappella Voicestra group Joey Blake, Dave Worm, Rhiannon, and Judi Vinar - and local choral ensemble musica intima. The program will be based on Circlesinging, a musical practice and philosophy that McFerrin has been honing since he began as a solo a cappella performer, assigning vocal parts to his onstage collaborators and audience members - transforming sold-out houses into glorious impromptu choirs.

Internationally-acclaimed pianist Yuja Wang continues her season-long Perspectives series this February, launching into performances that offer creative collaborations, reunions with recital partners and artists who have influenced her career, and a night of classical music comedy-all displaying the pianist's eclectic interests and musical versatility.

Grammy-nominated DJ, music producer, composer and music/film director Sam Spiegel is joining forces with critically acclaimed Brazilian electronic duo Tropkillaz for the new single “Perfect” featuring Bia and MC Pikachu. 

Raue Center For The Arts is excited to welcome a collective on nine musicians drawn to cerebral adventures, infectious rhythms and pioneering music known to the world as Talking Heads! Rock the Raue with BiG SUiT: A Tribute to Talking Heads at 8 p.m. on January 19, 2019! If you have come to experience Talking Heads… "This Must Be The Place."

Since early 2017, Tickets Ignite has been selling tickets for live events with organisers including Made by Katie Green, Bristol Shakespeare Festival, and Chinese Arts Now. But connecting audiences with some of the most exciting events around is only part of their mission. They're also out to revolutionise arts funding, by taking the money lost to the ticketing industry through booking fees, and channelling it back into the arts via the Ignite Fund.

David Byrne's American Utopia album, released earlier this year on Todomundo / Nonesuch Records, has been nominated for Best Alternative Album at the 61st Grammy Awards. American Utopia earned David his highest charting album ever, entering at No. 1 on the Top Current Album Chart and No. 3 on the Billboard Top 200 and topping both Rock and Alternative Album Charts, as well as achieving career-best spots internationally. American Utopia features Byrne's Top 10 single, “Everybody's Coming To My House,” which he and his band performed on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

SF Sketchfest presented by Audible announces even more additions to the lineup for the 18th annual San Francisco Comedy Festival January 10-27.  The 17-day festival features over 200 shows with  major comedy stars and the best up-and-coming comedians from around the world performing in venues across the city bringing non-stop entertainment including sketch, stand-up, alternative comedy, music, improv, films, tributes, live podcasts, storytelling, family shows, workshops, panels and more. Tickets for all shows now on sale at sfsketchfest.com.

This year, New Diorama Theatre and VAULT Festival, two of the most exciting supporters of new theatre in the UK, are joining forces to showcase some of the country's most thrilling theatre companies.

Talking Heads frontman David Byrne kicked off the Australian leg of his acclaimed American Utopia World Tour last night at Sydney's ICC Theatre to stupendous reviews. It is, as many fans attested on social media, a show filled with joy, pure and infectious.

In the Auditorium Theatre's 129th year of existence, we honored the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the 13th annual Too Hot to Handel: The Jazz-Gospel Messiah; asked "What's This?" on Halloween with a special screening and the Midwest premiere of Disney in Concert's The Nightmare Before Christmas; and sang along to timeless classics like "December 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" and "Grease" with Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons. We reveled alongside the dancers from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; celebrated Ballet Nacional de Cuba's return to Chicago following a 15-year absence; highlighted top local dance companies, including Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and Giordano Dance Chicago; and got transported to Mexico with the colorful music and dance of Ballet Folklorico de Mexico de Amalia Hernandez. We also hosted the 14th  year of our Hearts to Art summer camp, a performing arts camp for young people who have experienced the death of a parent; welcomed over 5,000 students to our Student Matinees; and brought thousands of people from across the city to the theatre through our ADMIT ONE program.

SF Sketchfest presented by Audible announces the initial line up for the 18th annual San Francisco Comedy Festival January 10-27, 2019, featuring top comedic talent performing in venues across the city. Audiences can expect another outstanding year of programming and fun as SF Sketchfest will host major comedy stars and the best up-and-coming acts from around the world for non-stop entertainment including sketch, stand-up, alternative comedy, music, improv, films, tributes, live podcasts, storytelling, family shows, workshops, panels and more.

After a long and incredible year, releasing their debut LP and touring the world, Starcrawler are returning home with a brand-new single entitled “Hollywood Ending”, out now…it's fantastically catchy and a great glimpse into what their next album might bring. 'Hollywood Ending” was mixed by Nick Launay (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Arcade Fire, Nick Cave, Kate Bush, David Byrne) and produced by Ryan Adams and the b-side 'Tank Top”,  was produced by Nick Launay.

What might you expect if you find yourself caught up in the spectacle of the Broadway Princess Party's festivities at Tennessee Performing Arts Center's James K. Polk Theatre today, November 16? A theatrical concert like none other, predicts Laura Osnes, one of the three aforementioned princesses of the Great White Way who will bring their magical blend of entertainment, theatrical revelry, onstage magic - and pure, unadulterated pleasure (and boatloads of fun, we suspect) - to Music City for a one-night stand that promises to leave audiences feeling 'transported, enchanted, empowered and 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.