Sting News

Max Riebl, one of Australia's finest singers breathes fire into classical music. Exploring the world of baroque and contemporary pop, this show breaks down the old and stale conventions of classical music, interpreting baroque masterpieces in a contemporary frame and contemporary ballads with drama and world class skill. This is a show about Handel, superstars and the history of pop. This is the third and FINAL season of Hard to Handel. Hot off the success of a sold out run at the Melbourne Cabaret Festival, the show returns for one final performance that is not to be missed.

CMT today announced multi-platinum singer/songwriter Shawn Mendes will join GRAMMY-winning multi-platinum Zac Brown Band for an upcoming installment of the celebrated series, 'CMT Crossroads' debuting Wednesday, October 24 at 10 PM ET/PT. The artists announced the news to fans this morning via Twitter and Instagram. The show will tape outside of Nashville next week.

Stephen Karam's The Humans won numerous awards during its off-Broadway and 2016 Broadway run, picking up four wins out of six nominations at the Tony Awards. Now the New York cast and director, Joe Mantello, have transferred over to the Hampstead Theatre for its autumn term.

The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage's 2018-19 Celebrity Opera Series opens with one of the most acclaimed sopranos in the world, Sonya Yoncheva, with Domingo Hindoyan, conductor, on Wednesday, November 7 at 7:30pm.  Zachary Woolfe said in The New York Times, "Yoncheva is a performer that I'd seek out, no matter what she does."  Tickets for members are now on sale.  Tickets for the general public will go on sale on Wednesday, September 12.

Following their critically-acclaimed European tour, STING and SHAGGY will kick off The 44/876 Tour in North America on September 14 in Jacksonville, Florida before making stops in major cities across the continent (full tour itinerary below), as announced by the Cherrytree Music Company and Live Nation. For a sneak peek of The 44/876 Tour, check out: https://bit.ly/2wKCvC6.

The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted Tuesday night (September 4) to present Honorary Awards to publicist Marvin Levy, composer Lalo Schifrin and actress Cicely Tyson, and the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award to producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall.  The three Oscar® statuettes and Thalberg Award will be presented at the Academy's 10th Annual Governors Awards on Sunday, November 18, at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center®.

Koerner Hall's 10th Anniversary Opening Festival continues with Kathleen Battle, The Academy of St Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble, Yannick Nezet-Seguin conducting the Orchestre Metropolitain and Nicholas Angelich, and the debuts by northern Canadian groups The Jerry Cans and New North Collective Royal Conservatory alumnus Chilly Gonzales returns to Koerner Hall, Lunasa and The Bombadils in a double-bill concert as part of the Roots and Folk series, Jamey Haddad's Under One Sun and Cyro Baptista's Vira Loucos open the World Music series Quiet Please, There's a Lady on Stage series opens with Amanda Martinez and Kellylee Evans. Seong-Jin Cho makes his Koerner Hall debut in a sold out concert.

National Alliance for Musical Theatre announces the line-up of directors for their 30th Annual FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS, which takes place on Thursday, October 25 and Friday, October 26, 2018 at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues). The Festival events will kick off on Monday, October 22 with Thank You, 30!, a gala event to celebrate the 30th Annual Festival.

The John W. Engeman Theater announces the cast and creative team for MAN OF LA MANCHA. Performances begin on Thursday, September 13 at 8:00pm and run through Sunday, October 28, 2018.

JMI Recordings is proud to present pianist Ray Angry's debut release “Ray Angry One”. The veteran musician, and frequent contributor to The Roots, is combining elements of gospel, jazz, and hip hop to release a unique and rich LP. Accompanied by Eric Harland, Derrick Hodge, Ambrose Akinmusire & Myron Walden, there's no shortage of expert musicianship from start to finish. The album is a thriving, compelling and provocative musical force of nature surely bound for a Grammy nomination.

Showcasing a versatile and expansive range of music, Grammy-winning dance music DJ & producer, Afrojack, has today released a new EP titled “Press Play”. The EP features cross-genre dance music from club bangers to melodic anthems to progressive-house and includes an impressive fourteen tracks. Some of the tracks are already released and others are new today. The EP is also being released on Wall Recordings.

The smash-hit show, At Last - The Etta James Story, is set return to the UK next Autumn starring the sensational Vika Bull. Having wowed British audiences in 2017 as part of an ecstatically received short tour, Vika and the phenomenal Essential R&B Band start a 23 date visit, kicking off in High Wycombe on Friday September 21st 2018. Please see full tour dates below.

Cementing themselves as one of the country's finest live performers after a landmark set at Reading & Leeds Festival, The Wombats continue their indie onslaught by unveiling an outstanding new single in 'BEE-STING'. The track serves as an example of the band's ever-growing abilities to write the finest indie tunes and ignite crowds around the globe. “The weekend's unlikely smash is the reinvention of The Wombats into a slick, synthesiser-augmented, funny pop machine” said The Guardian of their Reading & Leeds mainstage set.

A play that is as absurd and paranoid as the times in which we live, Accidental Death of an Anarchist opens at the Sydney Opera House this September directed by Sarah Giles. In a first for the play, and with the blessing of the Fo estate, it will be performed by an all-female cast led by some of the country's funniest comedians, including Caroline Brazier (ABC's Rake, STC's Dinner), Amber McMahon (STC's The Popular Mechanicals), Julie Forsyth (STC's The Popular Mechanicals), and Susie Youssef (ABC's Squinters and Rosehaven).

Originally conceived by playwright Young Jean Lee, it was performed as spoken word broken up by punk rock songs about pain and death. Somehow performer Alli Villines has turned it into a ukulele folk festival! But I ask dear reader, what could be more punk rock than a collection of named ukuleles played without an ounce of irony whatsoever?

R.R.R.E.D., with music and lyrics by Katie Thompson and a book by Adam Jackman, Katie Thompson and Patrick Livingston, will play its final performance on Tuesday, September 11, 2018, coinciding with Thompson's final scheduled performance.

Paper Mill Playhouse has announced casting for The Color Purple, directed by Tony Award winner John Doyle. Cast members from the 2015 Broadway revival lead the Paper Mill Playhouse company, including Adrianna Hicks (Aladdin, Sister Act - Germany) as Celie, Carla R. Stewart (Ghost - National Tour, Rent - Regional) as Shug Avery and Carrie Compere (Holler If You Hear Me,Shrek the Musical - National Tour) as Sofia. 

Following an exciting kickoff at Bryant Park, the Carnegie Hall Citywide free concert series continues this fall with a vocal recital and jazz in Manhattan, Cuban son and Greek dance in Brooklyn, Afrobeat and Afro-Cuban music in the Bronx, and honky-tonk and Broadway hits in Queens. The series, now entering its 43rd year, brings leading artists and rising stars to all five boroughs of New York City.

The GRAMMY Museum Experience Prudential Center, in association with the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), will launch a new program series this fall, beginning with “An Evening With Lenny Kravitz,” a four-time GRAMMY® winner, on Sept. 18, 2018, in NJPAC's Victoria Theater in Newark, N.J. The program will feature a conversation between the iconic rock musician and special guest moderator, five-time GRAMMY winner Questlove about the creation and inspiration behind Kravitz's new release, Raise Vibration. The series will continue with “An Evening With Wyclef Jean,” a three-time GRAMMY winner and founding member of the New Jersey-based Fugees Oct.16, 2018.  The acclaimed musician, producer, and songwriter will discuss his illustrious career and current projects with the Los Angeles GRAMMY Museum's Founding Executive Director, Bob Santelli, which will be followed by a special performance.

The New York Pops, led by Music Director Steven Reineke, kicks off its 2018-19 season with Roll Over Beethoven: A Different Kind of Orchestra on Friday, October 19 at 8:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall. The orchestra is joined by three time 'Las Vegas Headliner of the Year' singer Frankie Moreno, plus band and a pair of dancers, for an evening of rock 'n' roll favorites by Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, The Beatles, and others. Songs include 'Great Balls of Fire,' 'Jailhouse Rock,' 'Eleanor Rigby,' 'Bridge Over Troubled Water,' and more.