Laurie Anderson News

ODC/Dance, San Francisco's world class contemporary dance company, presents its annual summer event, Summer Sampler, over two weekends, July 26-27 and August 2-3.   This series features two different programs, and invites audiences to experience the dynamic ODC dancers up close in an exciting range of choreographic perspectives in the company's intimate Mission District theater.  

This Autumn, Southbank Centre showcases some of the most pioneering new artists using performance to challenge societal norms including dancer and choreographer Oona Doherty, performance artists Travis Alabanza and Nicola Gunn, and theatre makers Lisa Hammond and Rachael Spence. Alongside these artists, Southbank Centre welcomes back three important companies experimenting with form and challenging the audience experience; Reckless Sleepers, and two Southbank Centre Associate Companies - Forced Entertainment and Shobana Jeyasingh Dance. Winter sees offerings for all ages with the return of Circus 1903 with new acts for 2019 following its huge success last Christmas, the arrival of a new dynamic interpretation of Black Beauty, and a fresh show from favourites Fascinating A da.

Dr. Peter Simon, Michael and Sonja Koerner President & CEO of The Royal Conservatory of Music, Mervon Mehta, Executive Director of Performing Arts, and James Anagnoson, Dean of The Glenn Gould School, today revealed details of the diverse concerts that will make up the 11th concert season, during which Koerner Hall turns 10 years old.

El legendario Kronos Quartet regresará a nuestro país para ofrecer un peculiar espectáculo: la proyección de Mil pensamientos, documental escrito y dirigido por Sam Green y Joe Bini que representa una travesía por su exitosa trayectoria, el cual será musicalizado en vivo por el propio ensamble estadunidense, el martes 11 de junio a las 20:00 en la Sala Principal del Palacio de Bellas Artes.

Today Ghostlight Records releases the soundtrack to Anthem: Homunculus, created by award-winning writer/director John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Shrill) and composer/writer Bryan Weller, featuring original music and lyrics by Weller & Mitchell. Anthem is an edgy anthology series produced by Topic (Missing Richard Simmons) and distributed by Luminary, that tells a unique American story through a distinct musical voice. A groundbreaking and ambitious new podcast that combines music, drama, film and theater, Anthem: Homunculus is the first of its kind to offer audiences an original, Broadway caliber production in podcast form starring top talent, including Cynthia Erivo, Glenn Close, Nakhane, Patti LuPone, Laurie Anderson, Marion Cotillard and Denis O'Hare.

Chuck Smith, the director of BARBARA RUBIN & THE EXPLODING NY UNDERGROUND is Tom Needham's special guest this Thursday at 6 pm on WUSB's THE SOUNDS OF FILM.

The Magnetic Field's Stephin Merritt and the director of HORN FROM THE HEART: THE PAUL BUTTERFIELD STORY, John Anderson, are Tom Needham's exclusive guests this Thursday on WUSB's THE SOUNDS OF FILM.

Demarre McGill, principal flute of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, and his brother Anthony McGill, principal clarinet of the New York Philharmonic, return to their early training ground, the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras (CYSO), for Winged Creatures, a homecoming album of duo concertos featuring world-premiere recordings of works by Michael Abels and Joel Puckett written expressly for the McGills and the CYSO's Symphony Orchestra.

Renowned guitar virtuosos Rodrigo y Gabriela have made a spectacular chart debut with their acclaimed new album, METTAVOLUTION, available nowvia ATO Records for streaming and download. The duo's fifth studio LP and first album in five years, METTAVOLUTION entered Billboard's 'Americana/Folk Albums' chart at #1 with 1st week equivalents in excess of 11,000 -- Rodrigo y Gabriela's second best sales week ever. In addition, the new album arrived at #2 on Billboard's 'Rock Albums,' as well as #10 on 'Top Album Sales' and #71 on the overall SoundScan/Billboard 200. The song 'Mettavolution' is currently top 25 Triple A.

Since releasing her first album under the name My Brightest Diamond in 2006, Shara Nova (formerly Shara Worden) has been a triple threat: an art-rock songwriter, a classical music composer, and a singer for whom a number of other contemporary composers have written music. My Brightest Diamond is where she gets to sing her own music, which is thoughtful without being mopey, and which demonstrates that songs sung from a woman's point of view are also capable of balls-to-the-wall attitude. Today we premiere the new video for her song “Dorian,” which is the second single she's released this year, after the Valentine's Day's song “Another Chance.” The occasion this time is the start of a new stretch of shows beginning on May 8 in Minneapolis and rolling into her old stomping grounds of New York on May 14. (Shara has lived in Detroit since 2009 but has continued to maintain a presence on the New York new music scene.) The song, which contains everything from birds to buzzing electric guitar, seems to occupy that tenuous place between love and obsession, between desire and the desire to control. The video is a similarly elusive blend of the abstract and the concrete, with hypnotic lines that resolve to form silhouetted people and birds. 

The June 2019 So-fi festival announces that it will be presenting works at The Clemente's Los Kabayitos and Flamboyan Theaters (107 Suffolk St. between Rivington & Delancey) and Westbeth (463 West Street between Bethune and West 12th St) June 6th-23rd 2019.

The Times Square Alliance announced today the appointment of Jean Cooney, the current Deputy Director of Creative Time, as the Director of Times Square Arts. Cooney will be responsible for overseeing the Alliance's public art program, following 7 years at Creative Time, where she played a lead role in the organization's major artist commissions, public programming, engagement initiatives, and cultural partnerships.

Today Ghostlight Records announces a May 20 digital download and streaming release date for the soundtrack to Anthem: Homunculus, created by award-winning writer/director John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Shrill) and composer/writer Bryan Weller, featuring original music and lyrics by Weller & Mitchell. Anthem is an edgy anthology series produced by Topic (Missing Richard Simmons) and distributed by Luminary, that tells a unique American story through a distinct musical voice. A groundbreaking and ambitious new podcast that combines music, drama, film and theater, Anthem: Homunculus is the first of its kind to offer audiences an original, Broadway caliber production in podcast form starring top talent, including Cynthia Erivo, Glenn Close, Nakhane, Patti LuPone, Laurie Anderson, Marion Cotillard and Denis O'Hare.

Kronos Quartet's David Harrington will be Tom Needham's exclusive guest this Thursday, April 18th at 6 pm on WUSB's THE SOUNDS OF FILM. The two will be discussing A THOUSAND THOUGHTS: A Live Documentary with Kronos Quartet written and directed by Sam Green and Joe Bini. The multimedia piece, which has already earned lavish praise at the Sundance Film Festival, is making its New York City debut on Thursday, April 25th at The Town Hall.

My Brightest Diamond is dropping a stirring new song today with the release of 'Dorian.' The song was recorded during the A Million And One LP sessions with My Brightest Diamond's Shara Nova on vocals and guitar, Earl Harvin (Sam Smith, Seal,The The, Tindersticks) on drums and Vincent Taurelle (Air) on keyboards. The song was produced by Nova and The Twilite Tone (Common, Gorillaz, Kanye West) and mixed and mastered by Andrew Scheps (Beyonce, Adele, Red Hot Chili Peppers).

PEN America today announces the full lineup of events for the 2019 PEN World Voices Festival: Open Secrets (May 6-12), focusing on the dissolving boundary between the public and the private in the literary, cultural, social, and political realms.

Bill Posley and director Oren Rudavsky are Tom Needham's featured guests this Thursday on WUSB's THE SOUNDS OF FILM.

On Saturday, April 13, the American Museum of Natural History will mark Earth Day with an all-day EarthFest that will immerse visitors in art, science, and culture to celebrate the beautiful planet we call home. The event is free with Museum admission and for Members.