Arts - Music - The New York Times

Rolling Stones Start Themselves Up in San Diego

By SERGE F. KOVALESKI

The Rolling Stones kicked off their 15-city “ZIP Code” North American tour in San Diego on Sunday night

A Dutch Festival Returns

By BEN RATLIFF

Le Guess Who?, the nine-yearold free-form Dutch music festival in Utrecht, will take place Nov. 19 to 22.

McNeil Robinson II at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Midtown around the 1970s or ’80s.

McNeil Robinson II, 72, Organist and Composer, Is Dead

By CRAIG R. WHITNEY

Mr. Robinson, who was the chairman of the organ department at the Manhattan School of Music, was also the organist for several houses of worship.

Review: On ‘II,’ Metz Plays With Punk Attitude

By JON CARAMANICA

This Toronto band offers jackhammer-level volume and a sloppy kind of aggression on its sophomore album.

Review: Joshua Redman Joins the Bad Plus in a Chemistry Experiment

By NATE CHINEN

In a joint album, Mr. Redman, the tenor saxophonist, brings a vital presence to the Bad Plus without altering the band’s dynamic.

Review: Allen Stone Keeps His Distance From Modern Music in ‘Radius’

By JON PARELES

Mr. Stone insists that he is committed to vintage soul on his third album, but he hints that he’s not entirely content to remain a throwback.

Review: Shana Cleveland & the Sandcastles Demonstrate a Low-Flame Curiosity

By BEN RATLIFF

Ms. Cleveland’s new record, “Oh Man, Cover the Ground,” is full of quiet, delicate music of moderate aloneness.

Manfred Honeck with the New York Philharmonic last year.

Manfred Honeck to Conduct New York Philharmonic

By CORINNA da FONSECA-WOLLHEIM

The violinist Augustin Hadelich will perform Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 “Turkish” in the concert.

Chicano Batman, from Los Angeles, plays three gigs in the city this week.

Chicano Batman Serves Latin Rock With ’60s Spice

By BEN RATLIFF

Chicano Batman — blending cumbia, bolero, vallenato and Brazilian pop experimentalism with soul vocals and twin guitars — plays three gigs in New York City this week.

May 22, 2015

Cecilia Bartoli to Sing Maria in ‘West Side Story’

The Italian mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli will sing the role in a new production of “West Side Story” under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel at the Salzburg Whitsun Festival next year.

May 21, 2015

This Year’s Warm Up Parties at MoMA PS1 Offer a Lot of Electronic Music

The dance parties in Long Island City lean heavily on electronic music, with dashes of esoteric pop and hip-hop.

May 21, 2015

Next Wave at BAM: New Season to Include Binoche, Whelan, Soto and Kentridge

BAM announces its lineup for the coming Next Wave festival starting in September.

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Daniel Ek, C.E.O. of Spotify. A contract showed a deal between Spotify and Sony, adding to the debate on how much control labels have over streaming sites and how much artists earn.

Sony Terms With Spotify Uncovered in Contract

By BEN SISARIO

Sony’s relationships with digital services were exposed last week when a now-outdated licensing contract with Spotify was leaked online and friction with SoundCloud spilled into view.

David Rosenboom: Propositional Music The artist played “Zones of Influence” Friday at the Whitney.

Review: ‘David Rosenboom: Propositional Music,’ an Avatar of Experimentalism

By ANTHONY TOMMASINI

A weekend series of programs devoted to works by the composer, conductor, performer and avatar of experimental music is ushering in concerts at the museum.

Victor Salvi at the Salvi Harps workshops near Turin, Italy, in 2006.

Victor Salvi, Who Played Harps and Made Them Too, Dies at 95

By MARGALIT FOX

Mr. Salvi, a former New York Philharmonic member, founded a company that became the world’s foremost harp producer.

Afterword, the AACM (as) Opera was performed by, from left, Julian Terrell Otis, Gwendolyn Brown and Joelle Lamarre at Roulette.

Review: ‘Afterword, the AACM (as) Opera’ Lends a Voice to Stories of Black History

By CORINNA da FONSECA-WOLLHEIM

An innovative orchestration by George Lewis, a composer, jazz trombonist and scholar on the faculty of Columbia University, about the humiliations of Jim Crow laws in the South.

Critic’s Notebook

On the red carpet in camera-courting little nothings are, from left, Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez and Kim Kardashian West.

Kim K., J-Lo, Beyoncé Undress for Success With the Naked Look

By ALEXANDRA JACOBS

Celebrities are making a far from modest splash at gala events.

The saxophonist and composer Bob Belden, center, performing with Pete Clagget, on trumpet, and Iranian musicians in Tehran earlier this year.

Bob Belden, Jazz Saxophonist, Composer and Historian, Dies at 58

By BEN RATLIFF

Mr. Belden, a musician, composer, arranger, bandleader and record producer, was part reformist and part conservationist in the world of jazz.

Back in the day: The indy rap act Juggaknots, above in the late 1980s, has reissued a compilation of old tracks on “Baby Pictures [c. 1989-1993].”

Kehlani and Nick Catchdubs Release New Albums

By JON CARAMANICA

New releases also include “Baby Pictures,” a compilation of early tracks by Juggaknots, and “Orthophonic Joy,” a compilation of covers of country music classics.

Harry Christophers leading the Handel and Haydn Society in Haydn’s “The Creation” on May 1, with, from left, the soloists Sarah Tynan, Jeremy Ovenden and Matthew Brook.

Handel and Haydn Society Celebrates 200 Years

By DAVID ALLEN

The Boston oratorio group’s performances began with an 1815 partial rendition of “The Creation” and included the American premiere of Verdi’s Requiem in 1878.

Franklin James Fisher on Protests, the South and an Algiers Album

By JOE COSCARELLI

An impeccably timed debut album combines the ambient doom of the days after the financial crisis and the recent unrest in Ferguson, Mo., and Baltimore with a critique of the systems responsible.

Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine, at the Jane Hotel in Manhattan.

Florence Welch Slows Down the Machine for the Band’s Next Album

By BEN SISARIO

While Florence and the Machine rose by celebrating elaborate, dramatic artifice, its new album is rawer and less adorned, with Florence Welch detailing a failed relationship.

Nashville Journal

Mower Meets Moonshine at a Museum for Country Star George Jones

By RICHARD FAUSSET

The George Jones Museum has one boot in the old Nashville and one in the new, reflecting a city being remade with gleaming towers and one where country music is part of the DNA.

The Finnish conductor Susanna Malkki, in her debut with the orchestra at Avery Fisher Hall.

Review: Susanna Malkki Makes an Immediate Impression

By ANTHONY TOMMASINI

The Finnish conductor’s debut at Avery Fisher Hall raises the question: How has it taken so long for the Philharmonic to invite her as a guest?

Coachella 2015

By BEN RATLIFF

Reports from the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif.

New York Times Popcast

The singer Shamir at R C Farms, down the street from where he grew up in North Las Vegas.

ArtsBeat

Popcast: Shamir’s Distinctive Voice

By BEN RATLIFF

Ben Ratliff and Jon Caramanica discuss the singer Shamir who combines early 1980s electro-pop, classic house, post-punk and R&B; on his debut solo album, “Ratchet” (XL).

Classical Playlists

ArtsBeat

Classical Playlist: Teodor Currentzis, Bach and Per Bloland

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

Times critics share what they’ve been listening to lately.

The Prettiots performing in Denton, Tex., during a stop in the New York trio's self-financed trip to the South by Southwest Music and Media Conference.

SXSW 2015

Dispatches from the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Tex., including reports from Jon Pareles, the chief pop music critic for The Times, and others, photos and more.

Timbaland and Tink perform at the Fader Fort during SXSW in Austin, Texas, on Saturday.

Slide Show

Scenes From SXSW

Timbaland and Tink, Meg Mac, Future, Kate Tempest and others performed at the music festival in Austin, Tex.

The Grammy Awards

Kanye West and Beck at the 57th Grammy Awards on Sunday.

Kanye West, Beck, Papa John and Other Grammy Awards Stars

By BEN RATLIFF

In a special post-Grammys Popcast, Jon Caramanica and Ben Ratliff discuss the flap over Beck’s album win, Iggy Azalea vs. Papa John and other highlights.