Opera singer Isabel Leonard photographed in 2017

Soprano Isabel Leonard

Photo: Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images)

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Lineup Set For GRAMMY Classical Salute With Lang Lang

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GRAMMY Salute To Classical Music on Jan. 26 to feature Kiana Ledé, Ledisi, Isabel Leonard, Pablo Sainz Villegas, Time For Three, and young pianists celebrating the legacy of Leonard Bernstein
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Jan 23, 2018 - 2:11 pm

Now that GRAMMY Week is here, performers have been announced for the Jan. 26 GRAMMY Salute To Classical Music, hosted by pianist Lang Lang at Carnegie Hall in New York. The rich line-up includes seasoned GRAMMY winners and nominees along with piano prodigies and a youth choir. Let's take a closer look.

The theme of this year's event is celebrating the legacy of legendary composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein. The Recording Academy, in conjunction with CAMI Music, prepared a program ready to take its place among the worldwide performances celebrating "Leonard Bernstein at 100."

To celebrate, the GRAMMY Salute To Classical Music has assembled a world-class collection of multigenre artists who will perform, including soprano Isabel Leonard, R&B star Ledisi, string trio Time For Three, Los Angeles-based R&B artist Kiana Ledé, and Spanish guitarist Pablo Sáinz Villegas. In addition, Lang Lang's Lang Lang International Music Foundation will be featured onstage as more than a dozen young prodigies share their musical insights into Bernstein's vision.

Concluding the program, a youth chorus from The Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, founded by Tony Bennett, and members of the Harmony Program will perform the finale with Leonard for a multigenerational look to the past and the future.

Like classical music itself, Bernstein's legacy is alive. Friday night will be a chance to enjoy its flourishing.

Lang Lang To Celebrate Leonard Bernstein: GRAMMY Salute To Classical Music

Ledisi

Ledisi

Photo: John Shearer/Getty Images

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Ledisi To Honor Louis Jordan On "GRAMMY Salute To Music Legends"

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Don't miss Ledisi's R&B/jazz mix of her Louis Jordan medley for the Recording Academy's 2018 Special Merit Awards recipient tribute concert that will air on PBS on Oct. 5
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Oct 3, 2018 - 4:19 pm

A bandleader who played a swinging alto sax, Louis Jordan sang, composed and most of all entertained audiences of every background. Born in 1908 in Arkansas, his pioneering blend of styles produced a string of hits during the1930s-50s that broadened musical tastes and led into the roots of rock. Four singles with his Tympany Five band in the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame were released by Decca in the mid-1940s: "Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens," "Caldonia Boogie," "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie," and "Let The Good Times Roll." The icon died in 1975.

Ledisi To Honor Louis Jordan At "GRAMMY Salute…"

A posthumous recipient of the Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award, Jordan will be honored by 12-time GRAMMY nominee Ledisi, who will perform a medley of "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie" and "Let The Good Times Roll" on the upcoming third annual "GRAMMY Salute To Music Legends."

"Without him we wouldn't have R&B, blues, jazz, all mixed up together," said Ledisi. "I love that he mixed the genres together and was able to write songs and produce songs for everyone."

Watch her performance during the special tribute concert that will air on PBS at 9 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 5 (check your local listings) and will be available to stream the following day via pbs.org/gperf.

"GRAMMY Salute To Music Legends" To Air On PBS Oct. 5

Ledisi

Ledisi

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Ledisi On Why She Celebrates Black History Month Year-Round

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The GRAMMY nominee lets us in on why celebrating the culture of African-Americans is so important
Renée Fabian
GRAMMYs
Feb 1, 2018 - 5:27 pm

Feb. 1 marks the beginning of Black History Month, a time to celebrate the many significant — and often overlooked — contributions that African-Americans have made to the fabric of our country, including in the arts.

Ledisi On Why Black History Month Matters

African-Americans have long since been integral to music, whether it's jazz, R&B, hip-hop, rock and roll, or the undeniable influences of all of these genres that have found their way into pop, rock and even country music. Think of greats such as Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Chuck Berry, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, and contemporary movers and shakers like Kendrick Lamar, Jay-Z, SZA, and Ledisi.

We caught up with the GRAMMY-nominated R&B singer/songwriter Ledisi at the Recording Academy Los Angeles Chapter's GRAMMY Nominees Reception to find out why it's so important to continue celebrating African-Americans in our country, and around the world. 

"I celebrate being black every single day. Every accomplishment I make is an honor of my ancestry, my parents, my walk, and my journey given to me in life," said Ledisi. "I think it's very important to celebrate my culture because we're in everything. We're in the makeup of everyone's lives whether they know it or not."

So this February, and all year long, let's celebrate the innumerable ways African-Americans enrich our culture.

"I love being black, I love being beautiful and I love my culture," she added. "We have to keep forwarding that."

Catching Up On Music News Powered By The Recording Academy Just Got Easier. Have A Google Home Device? "Talk To GRAMMYs"

Isabel Leonard

Isabel Leonard

Photo: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images

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GRAMMY Salute To Classical Music Salutes Leonard Bernstein, "West Side Story"

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With assists from Lang Lang, Ledisi and Isabel Leonard, a variety of selections from the famed composer formed the centerpiece of a classical celebration at the venerable Carnegie Hall
Tim McPhate
GRAMMYs
Jan 26, 2018 - 5:14 pm

There are a variety of delightful ways to spend a chilly Friday afternoon in New York. But taking in a matinee performance at Carnegie Hall just might rank at the top of the list.

Watch Spike Lee's Star-Studded 'NY Stories' Film

With GRAMMY Week kicking into high gear, the famed New York venue played host to the GRAMMY Salute To Classical Music, a program paying tribute to — as co-host Lang Lang described — one of the "greatest American musicians": legendary composer Leonard Bernstein. The event doubled as one of the 2,500 programs commemorating the composer's 100th birthday.

The location couldn't have been more appropriate as co-host Jamie Bernstein, and daughter of Leonard Bernstein, explained her father "conducted hundreds of concerts" at Carnegie Hall.

Ledisi at the 2018 GRAMMY Salute To Classical Music at Carnegie Hall in New York City on Jan. 26, 2018
2018 GRAMMY Salute To Classical Music

The brisk menu of performances was predominantly comprised of selections from Bernstein's incomparable "West Side Story," a musical that is not only arguably the 16-time GRAMMY winner's benchmark but is very much a timeless capsule of New York City given its storyline takes place in the Upper West Side neighborhood.

"My father believed in the power of music to promote peace and brotherhood, which inspired the music of 'West Side Story,'" said Jamie Bernstein.

Kicking off the proceedings was "Overture To Candide," a piece Bernstein composed for the 1956 operetta "Candide." The lilting number was given a fresh interpretation by a sextet of young pianists, Chelsea Guo, Eden Chen, Maxim Lando, Elliot Wuu, Clayton Stephenson, and Kimberly Han — all of whom are prodigies affiliated with Lang Lang's International Music Foundation, which is dedicated to ensuring children have access to music education.

The sound of nylon strings filled the hall as classical guitarist Pablo Sáinz Villegas plucked his way through two dynamic Francisco Tárrega pieces, "Memories Of Alhambra" and "Gran Jota De Concierto." The nimble-fingered Villegas also played a trio of selections from "West Side Story," including the romantic "Maria."

Vocalist Kiana Ledé brought some authentic Broadway-esque bravado to the proceedings with a reading of the upbeat "100 Easy Ways To Lose A Man," a selection from Bernstein's music to 1953's "Wonderful Town."

The trio Time For Three — violinists Nick Kendall and Charles Yang and double bassist Ranaan Meyer — performed an inventive arrangement of "Something's Coming" from "West Side Story."

Current GRAMMY nominee Ledisi showcased an operatic side of her voice. The R&B singer performed a song about "unadulterated joy," "A Simple Song" from Bernstein's 1971 theater work, "Mass." Ledisi punctuated her performance with fist pumps as she walked off stage.

Jamie Bernstein explained that her father wrote the next song as a "plea for all of us to keep our country honest and open-hearted." Mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard, an acclaimed singer who "grew up listening to the music of Bernstein," helmed the aptly titled "Take Care Of This House" from Bernstein's "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue" (named after the address of the White House). Accompanied by pianist Michael Barrett, Leonard's voice resonated to the hall's upper balcony.

"[This is] one of the most moving pieces ever wrote by Bernstein," Lang Lang explained as he introduced the finale, "Somewhere" from "West Side Story."

With Lang Lang joined by singers from the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts Chorus, the moving number — and its sentiment of "there's a place for us, somewhere a place for us" — seemed a perfect way to pull the curtain on the day's celebration of Bernstein and classical music.

Catching Up On The GRAMMY Awards Just Got Easier. Have A Google Home Device? Just Say "Talk To GRAMMYs"

Ledisi

Ledisi

Photo: David Livingston/Getty Images

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Diane Warren, Ledisi, Lisa Loeb & More Attend L.A. GRAMMY Nominee Reception

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Nominees from the Recording Academy's Los Angeles Chapter gathered to honor this year's nominees on Jan. 20
Renée Fabian
GRAMMYs
Jan 22, 2018 - 10:02 am

Boasting more than 250 60th GRAMMY Awards nominees, the Recording Academy's Los Angeles Chapter hosted a celebration brunch to remember on Jan. 20.

Ledisi Is Not Giving Up On R&B

The event, which was held at Fig & Olive restaurant in West Hollywood, Calif., was attended by many GRAMMY nominees to celebrate their latest GRAMMY accomplishments.

Diane Warren, who is nominated this year as a songwriter for Common and Andra Day's "Stand Up For Something," was in attendance. Also out to celebrate was R&B singer/songwriter Ledisi, who is up for Best R&B Performance ("High"), Best Traditional R&B Performance ("All The Way") and Best R&B Album (Let Love Rule). Lisa Loeb, who is nominated for Best Children's Album for Feel What U Feel, and La La Land composer Justin Hurwitz, who is nominated for three GRAMMYs, also made appearances.

Best Reggae Album nominees Common Kings, production collective the Stereotypes (Bruno Mars) and many others were also on hand to toast fellow nominees.