Natalie Merchant News

LUNASA is coming to City Winery with special guest Natalie Merchant March 13, 2018 at 10pm.

A lullaby is a simple expression of the most universal human condition, the bond between parent and child. One of the earliest lullabies in recorded history was written in 2000 BC, and 2018 marks the 150th anniversary of Brahms' Lullaby, so this precious musical tradition has deep cultural and emotional roots. These personal songs bring people together, span generations, and tell stories about where we come from, who we are now, and our hopes for the future.

Arena Stage Artistic Director Molly Smith and Executive Director Edgar Dobie are pleased to announce that Broadway legend Maurice Hines will serve as the Master of Ceremonies and international touring artist and global humanitarian Mary McBride will headline the 2018 Arena Stage Gala honoring Mayor Muriel Bowser on Thursday, May 10, 2018 at the Mead Center for American Theater (1101 Sixth St., SW). As previously announced, the Gala features the presentation of the third annual Beth Newburger Schwartz Award to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, and will recognize Jessica Stafford Davis as an Emerging Leader. The Gala is helmed by event chairs and Arena Stage Trustees Lavern Chatman and Maggie FitzPatrick.

Blue Engine Records makes the most memorable performances from Jazz at Lincoln Center's historic gala concerts available for the first time with the release of United We Swing: Best of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Galas.The album—which features some of the 20th century's biggest musical stars, including Blind Boys of Alabama, Jimmy Buffett, Ray Charles, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Lenny Kravitz, John Legend, Lyle Lovett, John Mayer, Audra McDonald, Natalie Merchant, Willie Nelson, Carrie Smith, James Taylor, and Susan Tedeschi, and Derek Trucks— will be available on vinyl, CD, and all download and streaming platforms on March 23, 2018. United We Swing: Best of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Galas is available for pre-order now on store.jazz.org and Amazon.com.

The San Francisco-based, Grammy-winning Kronos Quartet / Kronos Performing Arts Association (KPAA) presents its fourth annual hometown music festival Kronos Festival 2018. With six concerts over three days, Kronos Festival 2018 illustrates one of the group's central artistic tenets: collaboration. After Kronos performed at NPR Music's 10th anniversary concert last month, NPR Music's Tom Huizenga wrote, 'Collaboration. It's in the DNA of the intrepid Kronos Quartet, which some 40 years ago began working with composers around the globe to spotlight new music.'

Kronos Quartet/Kronos Performing Arts Association (KPAA) is proud to announce the fourth group of composers for Fifty for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire. Launched in 2015, Kronos' Fifty for the Future is an exciting partnership with Carnegie Hall and others to create 50 new works - by 25 women and 25 men - expressly for the training of students and emerging professionals. Each year, ten composers are announced. As ever, scores, parts, recordings, videos, and other learning materials for the compositions will be offered free of charge online at kronosquartet.org/fifty-for-the-future. 

Clive Gillinson, Executive and Artistic Director, today announced Carnegie Hall's 2018 2019 season featuring approximately 170 performances by many of the world's leading artists and ensembles in classical, pop, jazz, and world music, plus a broad range of innovative education and social impact programs created by Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute, serving audiences in New York City and beyond.

Grammy Award-winning artists Amy Ray and Emily Saliers, better known as the Indigo Girls, will perform with Newton's New Philharmonia Orchestra, under the direction of Francisco Noya at Boston's Symphony Hall on March 18, 2018, at 7:30 p.m.

Anyone who's had the pleasure of experiencing a Groundlings show will not only have tired hands from all the clapping and strained lungs from all the whooping and laughing, but also have worn-out toes from tapping along with the smoking hot Groundlings house band. Musical director Matthew Loren Cohen took a break from his many musical commitments and rehearsals to share some behind-the-scene Groundlings magic with BroadwayWorld.

The critically acclaimed new Broadway musical THE BAND'S VISIT opens tonight, November 9, 2017, at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre (243 West 47th Street). Get ready for tonight's official bows and scroll down to learn more about the company, plus watch highlights from the show!

November programming has been announced at City Winery Chicago. Highlights of the month include multi-night runs from Jazz vocalist (and Chicago transplant) Lizz Wright (Nov. 1-2), Herb Alpert of Tijuana Brass with his wife, Grammy-winning singer Lani Hall, (Nov. 6-7), and four shows over two days with saxophonist Kurt Elling (Nov. 25-26) plus a benefit for Merit School of Music with Nico Segal (previously known as Donnie Trumpet from the Chance the Rapper-affiliated band, The Social Experiment) and The JuJu Exchange (Nov. 28) and much more.

This spring, the international music sensation ROCKTOPIA will rock Broadway for six epic weeks, March 20 - April 29, 2018 at The Broadway Theatre (1681 Broadway).

In celebration of the 25th Anniversary reissue of the landmark album Automatic For The People, rock icons R.E.M. are premiering the never-before-heard demo of the oft-mused-about track Devil Rides Backwards.

Kronos Quartet, tenor Rinde Eckert, and Vietnamese musician V n- hn V are bringing Jonathan Berger's acclaimed monodrama My Lai to BAM's 2017 Next Wave Festival for the work's East Coast premiere. Four performances will take place in the BAM Harvey Theater, Wednesday, September 27 through Saturday, September 30 (7:30 pm).

Rock icons R.E.M. are reissuing their landmark album Automatic For The People to commemorate the title's 25th Anniversary. Due November 10 via Craft Recordings, the remastered album will be available in a variety of formats

City Winery Chicago, 1200 W. Randolph Street, announces an evening with Marc Roberge of O.A.R., the return of 10,000 Maniacs with four Valentine's shows over two nights and more.

The acclaimed Upper West Side institution provides a reliable boredom-busting venue for eclectic, all-ages live experiences; the 2017-18 season launches on October 7.

On Saturday, August 26, at 8 p.m. soprano Kristine Opolais and bass-baritone Sir Bryn Terfel join BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus for an evening of opera and song,including Act II of Puccini's Tosca. In addition to Ms. Opolais in the title role and Sir Bryn as Scarpia, the Tanglewood Festival performance of Tosca will feature tenor Russell Thomas as Cavaradossi, bass-baritone Sir Bryn Terfel as Scarpia, tenor Matthew DiBattista as Spoletta, and baritone Douglas Williams as Sciarrone (in his BSO debut). Ms. Opolais and Sir Bryn recently performed Tosca in concert together at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod on July 4, 2017, under conductor Gareth Jones.

City Winery Chicago, 1200 W. Randolph Street, announces Folk singer, songwriter and actor Loudon Wainwright III, critically acclaimed Hawaiian musicians Makana & John Cruz, Louisiana's Grammy nominated Southern Roots group, The Revelers and the return of London based R&B trio Loose ends.

Natalie Merchant will tour the US this summer, performing songs from across her entire career, with Natalie Merchant: 3 Decades of Song. The tour stops at Playhouse Square's Connor Palace SAT., JULY 8 at 7:30 pm.  Ticket go on sale at 11 am Friday, March 3 at playhousesquare.org, 216-241-6000 and the Ticket Office. Ticket prices will be $66, $46, $36, $26, & $11.  A portion of the proceeds from Natalie Merchant: 3 Decades of Song will be donated to the organization Food & Water, which champions healthy food and clean water for all. More information may be found at natalie.merchant.com