Sony Pictures has unveiled first look images of Paul Mescal, Barry Keoghan, Joseph Quinn, and Harris Dickinson in character for ‘The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event’, directed by Sam Mendes. Each film focuses on a different band member and will unfold from that member’s unique perspective, with Mescal as Paul McCartney, Keoghan as Ringo Starr, Quinn as George Harrison, and Dickinson as John Lennon. This marks the first time that Apple Corps Ltd. and the Beatles estate have granted full life and music rights for a scripted production. The images initially appeared as postcards hidden around the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, the drama school co-founded by Paul McCartney, as part of a marketing campaign. The project carries a budget of about $100 million per film, totaling over $400 million, with cinematography by Greig Fraser.
Keoghan recently revealed that the group anticipates 15 months of shooting, breaking down to about three to four months of production per film. The ensemble cast also includes Saoirse Ronan as Linda McCartney, Anna Sawai as Yoko Ono, Aimee Lou Wood as Pattie Boyd, James Norton as manager Brian Epstein, Mia McKenna-Bruce as Maureen Starkey Tigrett, Harry Lloyd as producer George Martin, David Morrissey as Jim McCartney, Leanne Best as Aunt Mimi Smith, Bobby Schofield as road manager Neil Aspinall, Daniel Hoffman-Gill as roadie Mal Evans, Arthur Darvill as press officer Derek Taylor, and Adam Pally as Allen Klein. Mendes promised that the multi-part biopic will be the “first binge-able theatrical experience”, though the exact release strategy remains unclear. All four films are currently scheduled to release in theaters on April 7, 2028. The production is being made by Neal Street Productions in association with Apple Corps for Sony Pictures, with Mendes, Pippa Harris, Julie Pastor, and Alexandra Derbyshire producing and Jeff Jones executive producing.
Yot Club, the multi-platinum indie pop project of LA-based Ryan Kaiser, has announced his self-produced third studio album ‘Simpleton’, arriving April 17th via Amuse. The new single “Projecting” offers the first glimpse of the record, accompanied by a 25-date North American headline tour with stops in major cities including New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. The track embraces simplicity and patience in both production and songwriting, opening with accusatory lyrics that gradually soften into a contemplative bridge before resolving into a more empathetic, self-aware final chorus. The music video, directed by Nathan Castiel, features Kaiser alongside musicians Jordana, Faerybabyy, Blaketheman1000, and Anton Hochheim of Beach Fossils. Kaiser explains his evolving approach: “When I first started, I was posting music into the void with no expectations that anyone would hear it. I want the lyrics to cut through now because I’m putting a lot more care into what I’m saying.”
‘Simpleton’ dismantles the utopian view of American suburbs, treating finely manicured life as a mirage. Across its 13 tracks, the album wrestles with how gated neighborhoods, curated feeds, and predictable routines can blur and even erase empathy and responsibility, creating a walled-off world where difficult questions are easy to ignore. The album artwork, a painting from one of Kaiser’s favorite artists Jake Longstreth, depicts a nondescript fast food joint pointing to the malaise that can settle when comfort replaces curiosity. “I feel more ready now to write about something nuanced, whereas a few years ago I’d probably just say, ‘I’ll write about my dog,'” Kaiser reflects. “I’ve realized it all has to mean something, otherwise, what’s the point?”
YOT CLUB 2026 SIMPLETON TOUR DATES: May 15, The Foundry, Philadelphia, PA May 16, The Black Cat, Washington, D.C. May 17, Motorco Music Hall, Durham, NC May 18, Terminal West, Atlanta, GA May 20, GASA GASA, New Orleans, LA May 21, White Oak Music Hall Upstairs, Houston, TX May 22, Scoot Inn, Austin, TX May 23, Studio at The Bomb Factory, Dallas, TX May 25, Crescent Ballroom, Phoenix, AZ May 26, Quartyard, San Diego, CA May 28, The Fonda, Los Angeles, CA May 29, August Hall, San Francisco, CA May 31, Wonder Ballroom, Portland, OR June 1, Neptune Theatre, Seattle, WA June 2, Biltmore Cabaret, Vancouver, BC June 4, Shrine Social Club, Boise, ID June 5, Soundwell, Salt Lake City, UT June 6, Summit Music Hall, Denver, CO June 9, Fine Line, Minneapolis, MN June 10, Thalia Hall, Chicago, IL June 11, Mahalls, Lakewood, OH June 12, El Club, Detroit, MI June 13, Mod Club, Toronto, ON June 16, Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA June 17, Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
Shoegaze, grunge, and punk rockers Margaritas Podridas are ushering in a new chapter with the announcement of their forthcoming album ‘Metales Pesados’. The band has shared “Rompecabezas,” offering a powerful introduction that blends their signature raw intensity with vocalist Carolina Enriquez’s unique vocal prowess. The track captures Margaritas Podridas at their most confident, ready to parade into a new era full force. The band explains the album title: “‘Metales Pesados’ is translated as ‘heavy metals’ that’s why we picked that name. We don’t feel like the album sounds heavy metal but there are moments during the songs that feel very heavy, some mention metallic or sharp weapons because that’s how we wanted to sound. We like our guitars fuzzy and pointy enough to cut.”
The recording of ‘Metales Pesados’ proved deeply personal for the band. “The recording of this album saved me personally as I was being pulled by the demons of depression. It gave me a purpose to keep going,” they share. “The album is the angry part of betrayal, desire for revenge and healing. Being in the studio and having a safe place to express emotions helped and we really like how it came out. It is the third album of the band and we are very excited for the audience to hear it.” The studio served as a sanctuary for channeling difficult emotions into their heaviest and most pointed work yet.
Pickathon returns to Pendarvis Farm July 30 through August 2, 2026 for its 26th year, presenting a unique curation strategy that honors pioneers while handing main stages to vanguard artists reinventing genres. The Portland-area festival anchors its bill with “Legends,” celebrating musical architects including master songwriter Steve Earle, bossa nova royalty Marcos Valle, Jamaican roots reggae artist Clinton Fearon, Bogotá’s psychedelic cumbia ensemble Meridian Brothers, doom metal legends Acid King, Mexican Institute of Sound, indie rock heroes Built to Spill, folk troubadour Alela Diane, and returning headliner Shakey Graves. Founder Zale Schoenborn explains: “We don’t book artists because they’re obvious and everywhere. We book them because they’re pointing to what’s next, and over 26 years we’ve built a community that trusts in the Pickathon process.”
The Discovery Artists tier showcases titans of underground scenes currently electrifying major rooms, including soul-revival giants Thee Altons and Thee Sinseers, bluegrass titans The Brothers Comatose, and indie rock stalwarts Widowspeak. Buzz builds around vocal soul dynasty The Womack Sisters, lo-fi songwriter Hudson Freeman, glitch-heavy alternative artist mercury, and Folk Bitch Trio’s rising harmonies. The lineup expands with cinematic jazz-funk artist Misha Panfilov making his US tour debut, classic country storyteller Hannah Juanita, hip-hop artist SA-Roc, and post-punk outfit Automatic. For 26 years, Pickathon has served as the stage where fans first encountered The War on Drugs, Kamasi Washington, Tyler Childers, The Marías, Black Pumas, Khruangbin, and Big Thief long before they sold out arenas.
Pendarvis Farm transforms each summer into a walkable temporary village with purpose-built stages and gathering spaces woven into the surrounding forest. Nearly every artist performs two distinct sets on different stages, while rotating DJs carry momentum between live performances. Programming includes literary readings, standup comedy, a family-focused neighborhood, and the Curation series, an intimate farm-to-table dining experience. Sustainability remains central through zero-waste operations, reusable serviceware, and site-wide composting systems. Wellness offerings include yoga, massage, showers, and quiet spaces, creating a festival experience built for sustained discovery rather than constant consumption.
Pickathon 2026 Lineup Legends Steve Earle Marcos Valle Built to Spill Shakey Graves Meridian Brothers Alela Diane Acid King Mexican Institute of Sound Clinton Fearon
Discovery Artists Thee Altons + Thee Sinseers The Brothers Comatose The Womack Sisters Widowspeak Hudson Freeman Mary Halvorson Florry Battle of Santiago Family Company Folk Bitch Trio SA-Roc Misha Panfilov Ana Frango Elétrico Hannah Frances Ben Chapman D.K. Harrell The South Hill Experiment Rumba Tumba Friendship Boy Golden Hannah Juanita Channing Wilson Dylan Earl Hogslop String Band El Khat Briscoe Automatic DUG The Onlies Ken Pomeroy Prewn mercury PISS Hannah Hill Meatbodies Setting Caitlin Canty Terror Cactus Jonny’s Day Out Cosmic Tones Research Trio Buddy Wynkoop
MusiCounts, Canada’s music education charity, revealed the nominees for the 2026 MusiCounts Teacher of the Year Award, presented by Anthem Entertainment. The winner of this prestigious award, which recognizes excellence in music education, will be announced at The 55th Annual JUNO Awards in Hamilton, ON on March 29, 2026.
The MusiCounts Teacher of the Year Award, now in its 21st year, celebrates the impact, innovation, and passion demonstrated by music educators across the country. This year’s nominees embody the characteristics of an exceptional music teacher, from fostering inclusivity to advocating for the importance of music education in all schools nationwide.
The finalists for the 2026 MusiCounts Teacher of the Year Award, presented by Anthem Entertainment, are:
Zeda Ali – Sunny View Middle School – Brampton, ON
Lynn Harper – Chateauguay Valley Regional High School – Ormstown, QC
Raquel McIntosh – Adelaide Hoodless Elementary School – Hamilton, ON
Zeda Ali from Sunny View Middle School (Brampton, ON) has now got a second nomination for this Award on her belt. She is the driving force behind the school’s steel pan program, one of the few in the Peel District School Board. Zeda goes beyond traditional instruction, making music accessible and relatable for all students, incorporating pieces from Trinidad, Guyana, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and beyond.
Lynn Harper from Chateauguay Valley Regional High School (Ormstown, QC) is not just the music teacher — but the choir director, performing arts leader and Arts Consultant at the school, highly respected and an inspiration to students and community. She is outspoken about arts funding, inclusion, and equity in the classroom, a safe space where youth are encouraged to take creative risks and find their voice.
Alex Hutcheon from Cremona School (Cremona, AB) is a visionary educator who rebuilt the music program that was at risk of being cut, into a thriving community of five concert and jazz bands, representing more than 60% of the eligible student population and varying skills. He even engineered instrument solutions so students with physical disabilities could fully participate, which opened the door for opportunities beyond the classroom.
Isabelle Lemieux from École Caps-des-Neiges (Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges, QC) is a deeply committed music teacher to her students from early childhood through Grade 6. She creates rich, inclusive musical experiences through choir, instrumental harmony programs, and classroom instruction that blend music, technology, culture, and community engagement such as participating in large-scale events such as Vocalies, to performing at seniors’ residences.
Raquel McIntosh from Adelaide Hoodless Elementary School (Hamilton, ON) is an extraordinary educator and has transformed the music program that experienced years of turnover and fragmentation into well-established choirs, organized school performances, and on stage & behind the scenes opportunities for every student. McIntosh is a key contributor to the unique Creative Minds initiative at the school, aligning educator strengths and passions with student voice to meet learner needs. McIntosh founded “Beyond the Soundtrack”, a program that combines spoken word, slam poetry, restorative practice and musical foundations to prepare students for the highly anticipated mobile music production studio at the school. Through this initiative McIntosh continues to model Black Excellence by ensuring BIPOC, LGBTQ +, and the diverse array of students can access space to be vulnerable, explore identity, and grow together through music-making.
“I would like to extend a heartfelt congratulations to the nominees for the 2026 MusiCounts Teacher of the Year Award, presented by Anthem Entertainment. It is our greatest honour to highlight the important work and advocacy done by music educators across the country,”said Kristy Fletcher, President of MusiCounts. “This well-deserved spotlight on these five teachers highlights the impact great educators have on kids, and the importance of continuing to support and sustain music education for every young person in Canada.”
One outstanding educator will be chosen among the five nominees by an external committee of music education specialists and announced as the MusiCounts Teacher of The Year Award winner during The55th Annual JUNO Awards at the TD Coliseum in Hamilton, ON on March 29, 2026. The winner receives a JUNO Award statuette, a $10,000 cash prize, and a grant for their school through the MusiCounts School Music Funding Program.
Please visit musicounts.ca to learn more about MusiCounts and the Teacher of the Year Award, presented by Anthem Entertainment.
Braison Cyrus has released “Looking Forward to the Past,” featuring singer-songwriter Tyler Ramsey, from his forthcoming album ‘From Now On’ arriving March 13th via Billion Streams Entertainment. Anchored by lush acoustic guitars and airy, emotionally restrained vocals, the melancholic track reflects on nostalgia and the quiet pull of simpler times. Together, Cyrus and Ramsey convey a calm vulnerability that feels both intimate and timeless.
The eight-track album also includes previously released songs “From Now On,” “Here in the Middle” featuring Sierra Lundy, “As Long As You Stay” marking Cyrus’ first recorded duet with sister Noah Cyrus, and “Know This” featuring his sister Miley Cyrus. The latter recently reached number 40 on Billboard’s Adult Alternative Airplay chart, making Braison the latest member of the Cyrus family to land on a Billboard chart alongside siblings Miley, Noah, and Trace, and father Billy Ray Cyrus.
Self-produced in a small Nashville studio with a range of collaborators, ‘From Now On’ marks Cyrus’ first full-length project since his 2021 narrative-driven psychedelic folk debut ‘Javelina’, praised as “an unexpectedly brilliant debut.” The Nashville-based songwriter and producer has forged his own path as a writer and producer, collaborating with artists including Noah Cyrus and Fleet Foxes.
The NFL and GLAAD present the fifth annual ‘A Night of Pride with GLAAD’ on Friday, February 6th at the NFL Culture Club, celebrating inclusion, authenticity, and belonging in sports during Super Bowl week. Presented by Smirnoff and supported by Novartis, the event will be hosted by NFL Network’s Kimmi Chex and feature performances by Young Miko, Durand Bernarr, Ruby Ibarra, and DJ Lady Ryan.
The evening remains one of the NFL’s signature LGBTQ-focused moments of Super Bowl week, bringing together athletes, creators, and cultural figures. Guests include TV personality Ariana Madix, New York Jets defensive tackle Khalen Saunders, NBC Sports’ Matthew Berry, former NFL player R.K. Russell, NFL Brand Ambassador Ryan Mitchell, rock trio The Warning, NFL Chief Marketing Officer Tim Ellis, and GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis. GLAAD rewrites the script for LGBTQ acceptance as a dynamic media force that tackles tough issues to shape the narrative and provoke dialogue that leads to cultural change.
Step aboard the machine to stir-up the time i-330: the debut album by Flore Benguigui – former singer of L’Impératrice – and her band The Sensible Notes, to be released on March 13, 2026 via Decca Records France. Returning to the jazz that shaped her, Flore explores, alongside her musical partners, the great eras of jazz and French pop – from Nat King Cole to Barbara – blending timeless standards with forgotten gems. Her soft yet disarming voice unfolds in a universe where acoustic instruments converse with shimmering synthesizers, building bridges between past and present.
Listen now to their reinterpretation of “Didn’t I Tell You So?”, a little-known standard originally performed by the Nat King Cole Trio.
“Jazz is a very democratic musical form. It comes out of a communal experience. We take our respective instruments and collectively create a thing of beauty.” This quote from the legendary author of We Insist!, Max Roach, perfectly captures what unfolded during the making of Flore Benguigui’s (not quite) solo debut album, i-330.
It is the story of an artist reclaiming her creative power and sharing her love for a music that encourages emancipation. It is also the story of a dystopian science-fiction novel published in Russia in 1920 – at a time when jazz was thriving in America: We by Yevgeny Zamyatin. In a world where human beings are reduced to numbers in order to dissolve into the collective, the protagonist D-503 falls in love with a rebellious woman, I-330. It is no coincidence that Flore Benguigui pays tribute to her through a “machine to stir up time,” a retro-futuristic sonic device designed by the female architecture and scenography collective Atelier Hors Forme – and more specifically by her sister, Fanny.
As Flore sings in the introduction, this machine does not travel back in time – certainly not! – but rather blends eras into a singular yet familiar mixture. “It’s jazz, but it’s fun,” she announces in her instantly recognizable voice, while playing organ, dulcitone and Mellotron. For the first time, Flore single-handedly performs all the instrumentation on a composition she carried from start to finish. A clear indication of what follows: the meeting of “1930s songs and singing synthesizers,” a collision of eras forming a largely Anglo-Saxon repertoire in which Flore delights in unearthing hidden treasures… only to reinvent them.
The journey began on the stage of Le Baiser Salé, where she has performed with her band for eleven years – a second home for the singer. Between arena tours with L’Impératrice, she found her breath again in this intimate venue cherished by jazz lovers. Then came Studio Pigalle: in the summer of 2025, twelve tracks were recorded live over five days, answering a need for sonic spontaneity and embracing rough edges and imperfections. Surrounded by upright and grand pianos, synthesizers and vintage microphones, Flore healed the wounds left by a demanding chapter with L’Impératrice. She was joined by a team with contagious energy, embodying the most joyful and accessible side of jazz. “Just because you play jazz doesn’t mean you have to be cerebral or elitist,” Flore emphasizes. “This album is the exact opposite – it was made with joy and kindness.”
She is joined by three long-time companions: Pierre-François Maurin (double bass), Charles Tois (piano) and Maxime Mary (drums). Rozann Béziers handles trombone and brass arrangements. Julie Varlet plays trumpet, Jeanne Michard shines on tenor saxophone, and Aurélie Tropez on clarinet. Mixing and mastering were handled by Jennifer Gros (Voyou, Jade, Lenny Kravitz), Marie Pieprzownik and Bénédicte Schmitt. Production and synthesizers are by English musician Nicky Green. Add graphic designer Clara Vallino and stylist Lola Dubas, and the team is predominantly female – still rare enough to be worth noting. Together, this joyful tribe forms The Sensible Notes – a reference to the major seventh, a tension note frequently used in jazz to color chords and call for resolution. In French, this interval is called a note sensible – a term that does not exist in English, where “sensible” means “reasonable.” And if there is one music that escapes rationality, it is jazz: a boundless territory constantly demanding exploration, reinvention and freedom. Something Flore fully embraces.
Drawing from swing as much as bebop, blurring analog and synthetic lines, and infusing pop energy into sometimes century-old compositions, i-330 breathes new life into these songs. The album features jazz and soul divas such as Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Dionne Warwick. The raw vulnerability of Chet Baker appears in Blue Room and in an Everything Happens to Me twisted through a vocoder. We also dance to echoes of Nat King Cole and linger in the shadow of Benny Goodman. The tone is set early with More Understanding Than a Man, a mischievous feminist track by Margo Guryan. Traumatized by tours with trombonist Bob Brookmeyer – once her husband – Guryan crafted her music in a DIY spirit. With this song, Flore returns “to the river,” as Guryan put it, toward a safe place she longed for. When she sings Barbara’s words over a minimalist backdrop, she feels them down to her spine: “I will take the road again, the world amazes me / I’ll warm myself beneath another sun.” At the heart of the album lies La Chanson de Simon from Les Demoiselles de Rochefort, a film that obsessed Flore as a child and which she now reinterprets, drifting away from the original lyrics to let melodic emotion take over.
Melodic emotion… Beyond the deeply feminist DNA of an artist engaged for years against all odds, these two words could define every track on i-330. “Listening to an album from start to finish has become an almost militant act,” Flore Benguigui notes. But listening to this one also means retreating, for twelve tracks, into a groovy yet poetic space-time where nothing else matters – except the vibration of our feelings, so often bruised.
Tracklist
i-330 Machine à remuer le temps (Flore Benguigui)
More Understanding Than A Man (Margo Guryan)
What A Little Moonlight Can Do (Harry M. Woods)
Everything Happens To Me (Matt Dennis & Tom Adair)
Didn’t I Tell You So?(Unknown)
Dis, quand reviendras-tu ? (Barbara)
The Blue Room (Lorenz Hart & Richard Rodgers)
Goody Goody (John Herndon Mercer & Matt Malneck)
Riffin’ At The Bar-B-Q (Nat King Cole)
Chanson de Simon(Jacques Demy / Michel Legrand)
Till Then (Eddie Seiler, Sol Marcus, Guy Wood)
Louisiana Fairy Tale (Haven Gillespie, Mitchell Parish, J. Fred Coots)
Saxophonist Melissa Alanda has shared her stunning rendition of “Little Church,” a piece by Brazilian composer Hermeto Pascoal that first appeared on the 1971 Miles Davis electric album Live-Evil. It’s the second single to be revealed from Aldana’s forthcoming ballads album Filin featuring pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, bassist Peter Washington, and drummer Kush Abadey. Produced by Don Was, the album also features a special guest appearance by vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant on two tracks.
In Aldana’s hands, “Little Church” is pure poignant lyricism, devoid of the eerie surreality that defines the Miles version. “This is my favorite track on the album,” says Aldana, “and a song I’ve been playing for a little while with my own band. I just had to record it. I was really thinking hard about how to approach it, and the first person who came to mind was Wayne Shorter.”
For as long as she’s been a recording artist, the Chilean-born saxophonist has wanted to make a ballads record. With archetypes like John Coltrane’s classic 1963 LP Ballads as her North Star, Aldana saw a slow-tempo project as a way to advance her lifelong quest for sound.
“I transcribe Sonny Rollins, Wayne Shorter, John Coltrane, Joe Henderson, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, and Don Byas, among many others. For them the sound itself is a tool to express an emotion,” she explains. “Every single note is a whole world. So there is a technical side to playing, but then there is this mystical side of sound that… I still don’t know exactly what it is.” A ballads record, she believed, would help her burrow deeper into the essence of her sound.
The end product is both enthralling and unlike anything else in Aldana’s catalog. Throughout these eight tracks, six of which are drawn from Cuba’s Filin music tradition, the ensemble enacts a stirring emotional minimalism that glows with a quiet intensity and places paramount importance on Aldana’s radiant delivery of the melody. This music moves slowly, simmering forward with great deliberation and restraint, which is all the more impressive once you consider the runaway virtuosity these players are capable of.
Perhaps most remarkable, however, is the fact that this incredibly patient program is never less than compelling; like great cinema, it holds its audience rapt without bells and whistles. When Aldana solos, she plays in a way that contrasts the longform harmonic probings she’s best known for. Her improvising here is mellifluous and moves like gossamer, with a newfound focus on accenting the core tunefulness. “I wasn’t trying to play the perfect jazz solo,” she says. “I was just trying to play inside the band — to leave space and be as present as I could, let the songs breathe. I’m older too, so I might be feeling less like I have something to prove. I also just felt in my gut that I wanted to do a ballads record,” she adds, “that I have something to say.”
MELISSA ALDANA – TOUR DATES:
Feb. 11-12 – Bebop Club – Buenos Aires, Argentina
Feb. 14 – Festival de Jazz de San Juan – San Juan, Argentina
Feb. 16 – Teatro Nescafe de las Artes – Santiago Chile
Mar. 17 – Music Center De Bijloke – Ghent, Belgium
Mar. 18 – Fasching – Stockholm, Sweden
Mar. 19 – Teatro Sociale – Bergamo, Italy
Mar. 20 – Zig Zag Bar – Berlin, Germany
Mar. 21 – Köln Philharmonie – Köln, Germany
Mar. 24 – Teatro Metropolitan – Catania, Italy
Mar. 25 – Teatro Golden – Palermo, Italy
Mar. 27 – Menorca Jazz Festival – Menorca, Spain
Mar. 28 – Clarence Jazz Club – Málaga – Spain
June 5-7 – Jazz Showcase – Chicago, IL
June 19-21 – Birdland – New York, NY
Visit melissaaldana.net for a full list of Aldana’s tour dates including performances with the Gerald Clayton Quintet at the Village Vanguard (Feb. 24-March 1) and the all-star tour Coltrane 100: Both Directions At Once featuring Joe Lovano, Nduduzo Makhathini, Linda May Han Oh, and Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts (April 8-18).
Decca Classics announces Prokofiev, the new album from pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason, released on 10 April 2026. The recording stems from a long and personal relationship with the composer’s music, which reached a major public milestone when she made her BBC Proms solo debut in 2023, performing Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3.
The eldest of the famous musical siblings, Isata recalls at the time: “I’m playing Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto, one of my favourites, completely crazy and very rhythmic.”. “That’s something I really relate to, the patterns and precision.” She first heard the concerto at the age of 18 through a YouTube performance by Yuja Wang. “I instantly fell in love with it and dreamed about playing it,” she says. “It was another eight years before I started learning it properly, but I listened to it constantly. It’s always exciting to bring this piece to new people. The music speaks to a place deep inside of me. I feel very free when I perform it.”
The concerto has been a key part of Isata Kanneh-Mason’s concert life. She has performed it with orchestras across the UK, Europe, and North America, including the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Bremer Philharmoniker, Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on tour in the United States, and brought it to a wide national audience at the BBC Proms.
A significant milestone came with performances of the concerto in Toronto under the baton of Ryan Bancroft, followed by her BBC Proms debut with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. These performances directly informed the recording, which was made with Bancroft and the Philharmonia Orchestra, bringing a shared performance history into the studio.
Prokofiev places the Concerto at the centre of a wider programme exploring the composer’s piano music across different periods and styles. Alongside the concerto, which moves between dreamy lyricism, percussive rhythms and dazzling virtuosity, the album includes early pieces such as the Toccata, Ten Pieces for Piano and the striking Sonata No. 3, works that already show Prokofiev’s restless imagination and rhythmic bite. These sit alongside piano transcriptions from Romeo and Juliet and Cinderella, where pointed energy and humour contrast with moments of tenderness and lyrical ease, as well as music from The Love for Three Oranges, whose March and Scherzo capture the composer’s satirical edge. Completing the programme is Troika from Lieutenant Kijé, a piece full of colour and character that reflects Prokofiev’s gift for memorable melody and vivid storytelling.
Highlights of Isata Kanneh-Mason’s 2026 season include concerto appearances with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Rudolfinum, performing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3, followed later in the summer by further performances of the same work with the Budapest Festival Orchestra at the Gstaad Festival and at La Chaise-Dieu. Alongside these orchestral engagements, she undertakes an extensive international solo recital tour, appearing across Europe and the UK at the Società Filarmonica di Trento, Brucknerhaus Linz, De Bijloke in Ghent, the Norwegian National Opera in Oslo, Buxton Festival, Bold Tendencies in London, Snape Maltings, and with the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra at Merton College Chapel. In North America, highlights include recitals presented by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the St Louis Symphony Orchestra, and the Howland Chamber Music Circle in Beacon, New York. In June, she is joined by members of her family for chamber concerts at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, Wigmore Hall, Perth Concert Hall, and Munich’s Herkulessaal.
