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Grace Stetson on October 27, 2021
Dystopian tales are not out of the realm of reality in 2021—but, fortunately, this work of fiction is more sci-fi than reality. In advance of Halloween weekend, Stanford Live will host students, staff and community members with two performances of “War of the Worlds.” The performance—which comes to the States from a…
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Jay Edgar on October 6, 2021
Perhaps best known for their terrific movie scores (including the iconic soundtrack for Minority Report), the Kronos Quartet’s constantly-changing membership have spanned four decades and over 900 commissioned works across a plethora of genres. Documentarian Sam Green (The Weather Underground) collaborated with the group to create a new kind of biographical piece:…
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Alec Adams on September 29, 2021
iskwē’s star continues to rise as a singer-songwriter, though she’s been on her grind diligently since 2013. In the same way her Cree heritage and Western upbringing defy neat categorization, her music chooses to blend two worlds together in inventive fashion. Often described as electro-pop, her 2021 release The Stars shows her…
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Wallace Baine on February 4, 2020
Rhiannon Giddens casts quite a shadow in the realm of bluegrass and Southern folk these days. The singer-songwriter is a banjo and fiddle virtuoso who first garnered critical praise for her work in the North Carolina-based combo the Carolina Chocolate Drops. Recently named the Frank Sinatra Chair in the Performing Arts at…
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Metro Staff on December 4, 2019
Baritone Russell Braun and pianist Serouj Kradjian perform a “dramatic recital” about the life of Hanns Eisler, who fled Nazi Germany to score films in Hollywood, winning Oscar nominations before being blacklisted and deported for his communist beliefs. Braun portrays Eisler while performing the composer’s Hollywood Songbook, which the baritone describes as…
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Wallace Baine on October 30, 2019
It must be a mixed bag to land a gig as a late-night TV bandleader. On one hand, it’s an elite club, a sweet paycheck and a chance to connect with a potentially huge audience. On the other, you’re never allowed to show what you can really do. Fans of Late Night…
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Metro Staff on October 23, 2019
“This is what I saw,” says National Geographic photojournalist David Guttenfelder. The veteran photographer, who has worked for the venerable globetrotting magazine for more than two decades, is one of the only Westerners to capture modern images of the cloistered and insulated countries of Cuba and North Korea, where he helped open…
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Gary Singh on September 11, 2019
Each year the Steinbeck Center presents the Steinbeck Award, celebrating musicians, writers, documentarians, thinkers, artists and activists whose work embodies the empathetic spirit and values of John Steinbeck. Previous recipients include Bruce Springsteen, Rachel Maddow and Ken Burns. This year, British folk-pop superstars Mumford & Sons are set to accept SJSU’s illustrious…
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Wallace Baine on January 24, 2019
Those without truly adventurous musical tastes need not apply. There’s really no reason to engage with Senyawa otherwise, even on a hypothetical level. It’s akin to asking a 6-year-old to try the haggis; the bar for persuasion is just too high.
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Wallace Baine on December 13, 2018
Sure, you can listen to your neighbors’ off-key version of “We Three Kings” on your doorstep without leaving the house. But wouldn’t you rather get your holiday music fix from a Grammy-winning jazz legend? The great Dianne Reeves belongs in the lineage of Dinah Washington and Sarah Vaughan, and she’s been bringing…
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