Doctor Atomic
Release date: June 29
On this first recording of John Adams's opera Doctor Atomic , the composer leads the BBC Singers and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, with a cast led by Gerald Finley and Julia Bullock. Peter Sellars created the libretto, drawing from original sources to explore the final hours leading up to the first atomic bomb explosion at the Alamagordo test site in 1945. "A magnificent accomplishment that easily takes its place alongside the other Adams-Sellars triumphs," exclaims the Los Angeles Times. "Music of unearthly splendor."
Pre-order to download the aria "Batter my heart" and the chorus "At the sight of this" now.
Lake Street Dive, who are currently on tour, returned to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to perform "Good Kisser," from their new album, Free Yourself Up.
Saxophonist Joshua Redman, drummer Brian Blade, bassist Scott Colley, and trumpeter Ron Miles performed songs from their forthcoming album, Still Dreaming, at last year's Jazz in Marciac festival, including the song "Unanimity."
Rostam released a visualizer for "Sumer," off his album Half-Light, ahead of his European tour, which starts at Primavera Sound on May 31, followed by stops in France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, and Ireland, and UK shows in London and Brighton.
Lake Street Dive stopped by Brooklyn's Retrofret Vintage Guitars for NPR's Night Owl. The show says: "Watch Lake Street Dive masterfully blend jazz, soul and pop in its performance of 'Baby Don't Leave Me Alone with My Thoughts,'" from the new album Free Yourself Up.
Devendra Banhart will give a series of duo performances with his longtime collaborator Noah Georgeson in Asia in June, visiting Seoul, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Bangkok. He will also headline the LTDOMX festival in Silao, Mexico, next weekend.
The Magnetic Fields' Stephin Merritt and Sam Davol were on New Sounds' Soundcheck. Merritt spoke with host John Schaefer about the album 50 Song Memoir, and he and Davol performed songs from the album and more.
Congratulations to Rhiannon Giddens, who has won the Songlines Music Award, for her latest album, Freedom Highway, in the Americas category. Songlines gave the album four stars when it was released, calling the title track "the closing triumph to a wonderful set."
Doctor Atomic
Peter Pears
Seymour Reads the Constitution!
Shelter
Free Yourself Up
Diary: January 27, 2018
Violin Concerto
American Utopia
Half-Light