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Nonesuch Events This Weekend

Here is our weekly list of just some of the many events going on across the globe this weekend featuring Nonesuch artists:

John Adams's opera A Flowering Tree received its Midwest premiere in Chicago's Millennium Park on Wednesday, with the composer conducting. The Chicago Opera Theater continues its production on Saturday with Adams conducting again. Tickets: chicagooperatheater.org.

On Sunday, at The Kennedy Center Concert Hall in Washington, DC, The Choral Arts Society of Washington, under the direction of Norman Scribner, will perform Adams's oratorio El Niño, which received its world premiere at the Châtelet in Paris in 2000, directed by Peter Sellars with soloists Dawn Upshaw, Lorraine Hunt-Lieberson, Willard White, who recorded the piece for its Nonesuch release. Tickets: kennedy-center.org.

Also on Sunday, the San Fransisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, led by Benjamin Schwartz, will perform Adams's 1995 piece Lollapalooza at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, along with Stravinsky's Le Chant du rossignol and Dvořák's "New World" Symphony (sfsymphony.org); and the American Philharmonic Sonoma County, led by Gabriel Sakakeeny, will perform Short Ride in a Fast Machine at the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts in Santa Rosa, California (wellsfargocenterarts.org).

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Laurie Anderson will bring her latest performance piece, Homeland, to Spain this weekend: at Auditorio de Garcia in Santiago de Compostela in the country's northwest tonight and Auditorio de Murcia, in Murcia in the southeast on Sunday night.

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After a couple of days in New York that included stops at Late Night with Conan O'Brien and WNYC's Soundcheck and a sold-out show at Terminal 5, The Black Keys are moving on to Philadelphia for a sold-out set at the Electric Factory tonight, then to Boston for a show at the Orpheum Theatre Saturday night. Its the last gig on this leg of the US tour before they head to Europe. Tickets: boston-theater.com.

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The European leg of the Raising Sands tour continues, with T Bone Burnett joining Robert Plant and Alison Krauss on stage in Stockholm, Sweden, tonight at the Stockholm Hovet (globearenas.se), and Oslo, Norway, on Sunday at the Oslo Spektrum (oslospektrum.no).

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Richard Goode joins the Orchestra Philharmonique de Radio France, with Peter Oundjian conducting, tonight at Salle Pleyel in Paris for a program of works by Jacques Hétu, Mozart, and Brahms. Tickets: sallepleyel.fr.

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Kronos Quartet is in Europe this month, performing tonight at the Internationales Congress Center as part of the Dresden International Music Festival in Dresden, Germany. The Quartet performs Terry Riley's 2002 piece Sun Rings, which was commissioned for the group by the NASA Art Program among many others. Tickets: musikfestspiel.com.

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Nicholas Payton began a four-night residency at Dimitriou's Jazz Alley in Seattle, Washington, as the special guest of vibes master Bobby Hutcherson. For this presentation of KPLU 88.5 NPR and the Pacific Jazz Institute, Payton and Hutcherson are joined by Joe Gilman on piano, Glen Richman on bass, and Eddie Marshall on drums. Remaining performances this weekend include two sets each tonight and tomorrow night, plus a 7:30 set on Sunday. Tickets: jazzalley.com.

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Punch Brothers are back in full swing with the next leg of their US tour. They'll be at the the Satellite Ballroom in Charlottesville, Virginia, tonight (satelliteballroom.com); the Rams Head On Stage in Annapolis, Maryland, for two all-ages sets on Saturday, at 1 PM and 4 PM (tickets.ramsheadonstage.com); and the Mountain Stage Little Theatre in Charleston, West Virginia, on Sunday (mountainstage.org).

You can check out a recording of the band in concert on Live from Folk Alley now on folkalley.com. There's both video and streaming audio, as well as downloadable audio for members of the site, from a performance at The Kent Stage in Kent, Ohio, on April 2.

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Laura Veirs's solo tour continues with three stops this weekend: tonight at The 9:30 Listening Room in Louisville, Kentucky (the930.org); Saturday at The Basement in Nashville (thebasementnashville.com); and Sunday at The Earl in Atlanta (badearl.com); all with opener Liam Finn.

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Wilco two sold-out shows at The Pageant in St. Louis, Missouri, with opener Retribution Gospel Choir, featuring Alan Sparhawk of Low (thepageant.com). It's their last scheduled tour date before they ramp things up again for two shows in Alaska at the end of July with The Whipsaws.

Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Awarded Grammy for Best Classical Vocal Performance

As part of the 50th-annual Grammy Awards celebration, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson was posthumously awarded the Grammy for Best Classical Vocal Performance for Neruda Songs, performed with James Levine and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Composer Peter Lieberson wrote the piece for his wife; he was recently awarded the 2008 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition for the piece.

Another winner at the Grammys was Judith Sherman, the longtime producer of Kronos Quartet and Steve Reich. She received the award for Classical Producer of the Year for albums including the Kronos recording of Górecki's String Quartet No. 3: "... songs are sung."

For the complete list of winners and nominees, visit grammy.com.

Greenwood's "There Will Be Blood" Makes Alex Ross's "Soundtrack to the City"

On the same day Alex Ross, the New Yorker music critic, enjoyed the Stephen Colbert treatment as a guest on the Colbert Report, Gothamist published an interview with Ross, in which he discusses his new book, The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the 20th Century.

In the interview, Ross is asked what he would recommend to someone just learning to explore classical music. To get the full experience suggests both attending a live concert and buying a few representative CDs, including Lorraine Hunt Lieberson's album of Bach cantatas, BWV 82 and 199, and Steve Reich and Musicians playing Reich's Music for 18 Musicians.

As for his current "soundtrack to the city," Ross cites two film scores: Jonny Greenwood's There Will Be Blood and Philip Glass's Koyaanisqatsi.

To read the interview, visit gothamist.com. To read more of what Alex Ross has to say about Greenwood's score, click here.

Eight Grammy Nominations for Nonesuch Albums

 

The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences has just announced the nominees for the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. Nonesuch Records congratulates Wilco, Ry Cooder, Joshua Redman, and the cast of Company for their nods. Wilco is nominated for Best Rock Album for Sky Blue Sky, Ry Cooder for Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album for My Name Is Buddy, and Joshua Redman for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance for Back East; the Broadway cast recording for Stephen Sondheim's Company is a nominee for Best Musical Show Album.

Heartfelt congratulations go to the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, whose recording of her husband Peter Lieberson's Neruda Songs is nominated in an astounding three categories: Best Classical Album, Best Classical Vocal Performance, and Best Classical Contemporary Composition.

Also recognized by the Academy is Judith Sherman, the longtime producer for Steve Reich and for Kronos Quartet; she was nominated for Classical Producer of the Year. Among the year's releases for which she received the nod is the Kronos recording of Górecki's String Quartet No. 3.

The Awards ceremony will be held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Feb. 10, 2008, and will be broadcast live on CBS. For the complete list of nominees, visit grammy.com.

Lieberson's "Neruda Songs" Receives Grawemeyer Award

Composer Peter Lieberson has been named a recipient of the prestigious Grawemeyer Award for Neruda Songs, which he wrote for his late wife, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, before she passed away last year. Her November 2005 performance of the piece with James Levine and the Boston Symphony Orchestra was recorded and released by Nonesuch Records. On today's episode of the Minnesota Public Radio show Performance Today, host Fred Child plays "If Your Eyes Were Not the Color of the Moon" from the recording and speaks with the composer about the piece and the recognition it has received.

To listen to the program, visit performancetoday.publicradio.org. For more on the Grawemeyer Award, visit grawemeyer.org.