This holiday season, Chris Thile is on the radio with Punch Brothers, The Staves & yMusic … Randy Newman performs at Holiday Cheer for FUV in NYC … Sam Amidon is in Munich … Laurie Anderson plays Day for Night fest … Tyondai Braxton is in Brooklyn … Devendra Banhart brings Ape in Pink Marble to Argentina … Fleet Foxes are in Australia … Rhiannon Giddens tours France with Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne … Richard Goode plays Mozart in NYC … Conor Oberst plays New Year’s Eve show in LA …
Chris Thile hosts a sold-out episode of A Prairie Home Companion at The Town Hall in New York City on Saturday, joined by his fellow Punch Brothers, The Staves & yMusic, Jeff Tweedy, and comedian Tom Papa. Sarah Jarosz joins Thile as his duet partner.
Folks in the US can tune in on their favorite public radio station this weekend, and fans around the world can watch live online at prairiehome.org starting at 5:45 PM ET.
Chris Thile's new album, Thanks for Listening, a collection of new studio recordings of songs originally written as Songs of the Week on the show, was just released on Nonesuch. The New York Times, in selecting the track “Feedback Loop” for its Playlist, describes the songs on the album as “musical feats, mini-suites of hybrid idioms and harmonic odysseys.”
The Staves & yMusic, whose new album, The Way Is Read, was recently released on Nonesuch as well, receives four stars from the Evening Standard, which says the “the siblings' voices are blended seamlessly with the instrumentation on haunting, experimental compositions where folk and contemporary classical meet halfway.” The Sunday Times calls it “a wonderful album.”
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Randy Newman brings music from his new album, Dark Matter, to the Beacon Theatre in New York City tonight, as part of WFUV’s annual benefit concert, Holiday Cheer for FUV. Also scheduled to perform are Jeff Tweedy (making it a two-fer this weekend for Wilco’s own), Aimee Mann, and Lo Moon.
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Sam Amidon is in Germany this weekend, performing at Münchner Kammerspiele in Munich on Saturday, as part of the Alien Disko music festival. His new album, The Following Mountain, received four stars from the Irish Times, which calls it “breathtaking … a fascinating signpost to the future.”
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Laurie Anderson performs on the Blue Stage at Post HTX in Houston tonight, as part of the Day for Night festival. She “retains a powerful love and belief in humanity, even after its stories are dismantled,” says the Quietus. Her “imagery and themes are lightly deployed, unobtrusive but perfectly chosen, as subtly telling as a series of haikus.”
Landfall, the first collaboration between Anderson and Kronos Quartet, is due via Nonesuch in February. The Washington Post calls the piece "riveting, gorgeous."
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Tyondai Braxton plays a special year-end event for ISSUE Project Room in Brooklyn on Saturday, co-hosted by BOMB Magazine. His set features visuals by Grace Villamil. HIVE1, Braxton's 2015 Nonesuch debut album, was described by Q magazine as "a sonically absorbing experience." NPR says: "[W]hat sets this album apart is its playfulness—the feeling that experimenting with sound is a joyful game."
Looking ahead through New Year’s Day, there’s more great live music from around the world from Devendra Banhart, Fleet Foxes, Rhiannon Giddens, Richard Goode, and Conor Oberst.
Devendra Banhart headlines at Festival Liberinto at Liberinto Patagonia in Chubut, Argentina, on Thursday, December 28. His latest album, Ape in Pink Marble, was released last year on Nonesuch. The Washington Post says the album "feels as mysterious and inviting as a strange dream. The tempo dips to a reggae lull midway through while guitar solos delicately fill in spaces with carefully chosen notes."
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Fleet Foxes kick off a tour of Australia, New Zealand, and Asia at the multi-city Falls Festival in Australia over New Year’s weekend: in Lorne on Saturday, December 30, Marion Bay on New Year’s Eve, and Byron Bay on New Year’s Day. The Australian described the group's shows at Sydney Opera House earlier this year, featuring music from their new album, Crack-Up, as a "spellbinding" display of the band's "originality and vocal and instrumental dexterity."
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Rhiannon Giddens joins Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne for four performances in France next week, playing Théâtre du Champ-au-Roy in Guingamp on Tuesday, Théâtre de Lorient on Wednesday, and Théâtre National de Bretagne in Rennes on Thursday and Friday.
She returns to the States to bring music from her critically acclaimed album, Freedom Highway, to Eccles Center Theater in Park City for a New Year's Eve celebration.
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Pianist Richard Goode joins the New York String Orchestra, conducted by Jaime Laredo, in performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium in New York City on Thursday, December 28. The program also includes Gabriela Lena Frank’s Elegía Andina and Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 3, "Scottish."
Goode recorded the Mozart concerto with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra for Nonesuch in 1996. The San Francisco Examiner-Chronicle gave the recording five stars, exclaiming: “This is an exquisite disc, pure and simple … marked by grace, beauty and formidable intelligence.”
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Ringing in the New Year on television, Audra McDonald will host New York Philharmonic New Year's Eve: Bernstein on Broadway, a tribute to the late composer on his centenary, airing on PBS stations across the country at 8pm ET on December 31 as a part of Live from Lincoln Center.
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Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band ring in the New Year with a sold-out concert at Lodge Room in Los Angeles on New Year’s Eve. Oberst released his album Salutations, a companion piece to 2016's lauded Ruminations, in March.
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