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Madonna and Sabrina Carpenter Unite on “Bring Your Love,” the Lead Single From ‘Confessions II’

Eric Alper
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Madonna and Sabrina Carpenter Unite on “Bring Your Love,” the Lead Single From ‘Confessions II’

Madonna has been building toward this moment since her surprise Coachella performance, and “Bring Your Love” is now officially out. The highly anticipated collaboration with Sabrina Carpenter serves as the lead single from Madonna’s forthcoming album ‘Confessions II,’ due July 3 via Warner Records, the follow-up to her iconic 2005 dance floor landmark ‘Confessions on a Dance Floor.’ Produced by Madonna and Stuart Price, who helmed the original album, the track premiered live at Coachella before landing on streaming platforms today.

It arrives on the heels of “I Feel So Free,” Madonna’s first taste of the album following that Coachella set, which hit No. 1 on iTunes in 34 countries and landed as the No. 1 most-added record at U.S. dance radio simultaneously. Two singles in and ‘Confessions II’ is already making its presence felt globally, exactly the kind of cross-generational impact that has defined Madonna’s career for over four decades.

Spotify Launches Verified by Spotify Badge to Help Listeners Identify Real Artists

Eric Alper
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Spotify Launches Verified by Spotify Badge to Help Listeners Identify Real Artists

Spotify is rolling out a new verification system designed to give listeners a clearer, more reliable signal of authenticity on the platform. The new Verified by Spotify badge, launching today, appears on artist profiles and next to artist names in search, marked by a light green checkmark and “Verified by Spotify” text. It’s a direct response to the growing complexity of the AI era, where knowing who actually made the music you’re listening to has become genuinely harder.

To receive the badge, an artist profile must meet three criteria: consistent listener activity and engagement over time, good standing with Spotify’s platform policies, and identifiable signals of a real artist presence both on and off-platform, including concert dates, merch, and linked social accounts. At launch, profiles that appear to primarily represent AI-generated or AI-persona artists are not eligible. Human review backs up the automated signals, so the system is designed to identify real artists behaving in good faith, not just filter out bad actors.

The scale is significant. At launch, more than 99% of the artists Spotify listeners actively search for will be verified, representing hundreds of thousands of artists, the majority independent, spanning genres, career stages, and geographies. Not seeing the badge on a profile doesn’t mean verification won’t come. Reviews happen on an ongoing basis across millions of profiles.

Alongside the badge, Spotify is also introducing a new section in beta across all artist profiles that highlights career milestones, release activity, and touring activity, giving listeners more context about an artist’s authentic activity on the platform regardless of verification status. Think of it as a quick, reliable snapshot of who the artist is beyond the music itself. Both features will roll out across artist profiles in the coming weeks via the About section on mobile.

Olivia Rodrigo Takes Over the FC Barcelona Jersey for El Clásico at Spotify Camp Nou

Eric Alper
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Olivia Rodrigo Takes Over the FC Barcelona Jersey for El Clásico at Spotify Camp Nou

Olivia Rodrigo is about to appear on one of the most recognizable jerseys in world football. Later this month, the Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter becomes the eighth artist to take over the front of the FC Barcelona jersey at Spotify Camp Nou, replacing the Spotify logo for El Clásico. She’s also the youngest artist to receive the honor, following previous takeovers by Ed Sheeran, Travis Scott, Coldplay, KAROL G, The Rolling Stones, ROSALÍA, and Drake.

FC Barcelona Femení wear the jersey first, during their Liga F match against Levante on May 6. The men’s El Clásico match against Real Madrid follows on May 10. Both matches take place at Spotify Camp Nou, four years into Spotify’s ongoing partnership with the club.

The jersey is only part of it. On May 8, Rodrigo performs Billions Club Live in Barcelona, a celebration of the tracks she’s landed in Spotify’s Billions Club, brought directly to the fans who’ve been there from the start. “Seeing OR on a Barcelona jersey for El Clásico, I don’t even know how to process that,” she said. “Getting to perform for the fans who’ve been listening since day one, in a city like Barcelona, is going to be so special. That’s everything to me.”

A limited-edition capsule collection blending FC Barcelona’s iconic look with Rodrigo’s visual world is available now. The collection includes a t-shirt, fleece crew, hoodie, bucket hat, scarf, travel mug, sticker pack, and tote bag, plus 1,899 limited-edition jerseys inspired by the club’s founding year. Items are available at Barça Official Stores in Spain and online now. FC Barcelona is also releasing a special edition Barça Matchday playlist featuring Rodrigo’s latest single “drop dead” to soundtrack the lead-up to game day.

Rodrigo’s third studio album, ‘you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love,’ drops June 12.

Spotify Just Added Fitness to Its Platform, and It Comes With 1,400 Peloton Classes

Eric Alper
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Spotify Just Added Fitness to Its Platform, and It Comes With 1,400 Peloton Classes

Spotify has officially moved into fitness. Starting today, the streaming platform is introducing guided workout experiences directly inside the app, putting curated workout content in the same ecosystem as music, podcasts, audiobooks, and video. Both Free and Premium users get access, though Premium users in supported markets get considerably more.

The headline addition is a new partnership with Peloton. Premium subscribers now have access to a continually growing catalog of more than 1,400 ad-free, on-demand classes as part of their existing subscription, covering outdoor runs, strength, cardio, yoga, and meditation from instructors including Rebecca Kennedy, Ally Love, and Rad Lopez. No specialized equipment required.

Free and Premium users also get access to dozens of curated playlists and content from established wellness creators including Yoga with Kassandra, Caitlin K’eli Yoga, Sweaty Studio, Chloe Ting Home Workouts, Pilates Body by Raven, Abi Mills Wellness, Sophiereidfit, and others.

The expansion isn’t a surprise given the numbers. Nearly 70% of Spotify Premium users work out monthly. More than 150 million fitness playlists are active globally, and fitness and workout content ranks among the top use cases for the platform’s recently launched Prompted Playlist feature. The demand was already there.

The experience is designed to move across devices without friction. Start a video workout on your TV, switch to audio on your phone for a run, and wind down with guided recovery on a smart speaker. Classes are available primarily in English, with select options in Spanish and German, and can be downloaded for offline access. To find it, search “fitness” in the app or find the new Fitness hub in Browse All.

C’mon Tigre and Perry Maysun Deliver Something Haunting With New Single “Driver Idle”

Eric Alper
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C’mon Tigre and Perry Maysun Deliver Something Haunting With New Single “Driver Idle”

C’mon Tigre drop the video for “Driver Idle,” the second single from their forthcoming untitled album, and it lands with the kind of weight that stays with you. Released April 24 and featuring New York-based rapper and songwriter Perry Maysun, the track is about collective disorientation, a protagonist who doesn’t recognize the cell he’s living in, painting his face as an act of identity, finding his people by accident or necessity, and building something fragile alongside them. The video resolves nothing deliberately. Home isn’t a fixed place here. It’s a condition that gets built and lost, and sometimes it looks like something the world would call a crime.

Maysun’s contribution carries a lived intensity that makes the track hit differently. Prolific beyond measure, with over twenty projects and more than 25 million streams, he’s established himself as a singular voice in experimental alt hip-hop, his work consistently shaped by raw introspection around mental health, pain, and identity. In 2024, he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma and continued writing and recording from his hospital bed throughout chemotherapy, ringing the bell cancer-free in October of that year. That endurance is present in every bar he delivers on “Driver Idle.”

The single follows “K//A\K//A,” released September 19, 2025, and adds another layer to an album that remains intentionally untitled and in flux, shaped as much by live performance as by studio practice. Watch the video now.

Video: Stoner Rock Pioneer Brant Bjork Brings Desert Heat to Germany’s Legendary Rockpalast

Eric Alper
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Video: Stoner Rock Pioneer Brant Bjork Brings Desert Heat to Germany’s Legendary Rockpalast

Brant Bjork’s 2019 set at Rockpalast is exactly what the founding figure of stoner rock sounds like when he’s fully in his element. A former member of Kyuss and one of the architects of the California desert rock sound, Bjork delivered a performance built on sludgy guitar riffs, warm basslines, and gravelly vocals, drawing heavily from ‘Mankind Woman’ in a stripped-down set that let the music do all the talking. The footage captures the almost meditative groove of the show in sharp visuals and warm audio, a fitting document of one of underground rock’s most authentic voices on one of its most storied stages.

John Legend and Janelle Monáe Head Up the Inaugural Los Angeles Jazz Festival’s Beach Weekend

Eric Alper
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John Legend and Janelle Monáe Head Up the Inaugural Los Angeles Jazz Festival’s Beach Weekend

Los Angeles is getting a jazz festival worthy of its musical legacy, and the inaugural Los Angeles Jazz Festival is not thinking small. The 17-day citywide event runs August 7 through 23, and the first wave of artists for its Jazz on the Beach closing weekend has just been announced, with John Legend and Janelle Monáe topping the bill at Dockweiler Beach on August 22 and 23. Tickets are on sale now via LAJazzFestival.com.

The rest of that closing weekend lineup reads like a masterclass in Black American music across its full breadth. Parliament Funkadelic featuring George Clinton, Raphael Saadiq, Charlie Wilson, Nubya Garcia, Big Freedia, Free Nationals & Friends, Joey Alexander, Pedrito Martinez, Alfredo Rodriguez, Poncho Sanchez, Justin-Lee Schultz, Original Koffee, and Ezara Collective all join the bill, alongside a special “Michelle Coltrane Celebrates the Coltrane Centennial” performance and an appearance by the L.A. Jazz Festival Foundation Youth Band. Additional performers will be announced in the coming weeks.

The festival opens August 7 with a free night at Leimert Park, featuring Lalah Hathaway and Chief Adjuah, with more names to come. From there, the event fans out across the entire city in a way few music festivals attempt. Twenty-five Jazz in the Park concerts will take place in urban parks across L.A. County. A Caribbean Street Carnival block party in Venice brings four stages and legends of New Orleans, Cuba, Afrobeats, and Latin jazz. A Jazz After Dark series activates late-night pop-ups in clubs and community venues across the city, including Ebony Beach Club and Ambassador Auditorium Pasadena.

The ambition behind the event extends well beyond the performances. The festival also includes Coastal Cultural Tours reflecting on the history of Coastal Racial Push-Out, a State of Jazz Conference, and an L.A. Jazz Youth Camp, free to attend, bringing over 2,000 young people from across L.A. County for workshops, masterclasses, and performances. Founder and CEO Martin Ludlow framed the vision directly: “From the Motherland and through the pain of oppression came the fierce improvisation, the very heartbeat, born in New Orleans that now shapes every musical genre across the globe.”

The goal is 250,000 attendees over 17 days, which would position the L.A. Jazz Festival as the third-largest jazz festival in the world and the largest Black-owned jazz festival ever created. StubHub is the official ticket marketplace and Airbnb is the inaugural title sponsor. Tickets for Jazz on the Beach, including cabana, VIP, general admission, and community options, are available now.

GRAMMY-Nominated Phenomenon Alex Warren Drops Arena-Ready Ballad “Fine Place to Die”

Eric Alper
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GRAMMY-Nominated Phenomenon Alex Warren Drops Arena-Ready Ballad “Fine Place to Die”

Alex Warren does not make small music. The GRAMMY-nominated singer-songwriter releases “Fine Place to Die” today via Atlantic Records, a romantic ballad that finds comfort and warmth in love even when everything else is burning down. Warren has been performing the song throughout his sold-out European and U.K. arena run this month, and fans have been loud about wanting it. Now they have it. Listen here.

The track lands as a natural counterpoint to the euphoric scale of Warren’s recent work, pulling the focus inward without losing any of the emotional power that has defined his rise. His vocals carry the weight of the lyric with ease, and “Fine Place to Die” earns its place in a catalog that has already proven it can operate at the highest level of commercial pop without sacrificing the vulnerability that makes people connect to it so deeply.

It follows “FEVER DREAM,” which has now accumulated 110 million global streams and over 13 million views on its official music video, featuring a cameo from Paris Hilton. The single debuted at No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100, peaked at No. 3 on the U.K. Official Singles Chart, is currently inside the Top 15 at Top 40 radio, and is certified Gold in Canada. Last month, Warren took home five iHeart Radio Music Awards and delivered the TV debut performance of the song before performing at the BRITs with a 50-piece orchestra and James Blunt on piano. The run of moments has been relentless.

All of this builds on the foundation of “Ordinary,” the song that made 2025 Warren’s year. The track spent 10 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, 10 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200, 13 weeks at No. 1 on the U.K. Songs Chart, and 16 weeks at No. 1 on U.S. Pop Radio, breaking the record for the longest reign ever on that chart. It’s been streamed over 3 billion times in a single year and was the top-selling single in the U.S. last year by total units. His debut album ‘You’ll Be Alright, Kid’ is certified Platinum by the RIAA, spent 13 non-consecutive weeks inside the Top 10 of the Billboard 200, and ranks as the No. 7 most streamed album globally on Spotify for 2025.

Warren is currently nominated for six American Music Awards. He’s a first-time GRAMMY nominee in the Best New Artist category. He won Best New Artist at the MTV VMAs, took home five iHeart Radio Music Awards including Song of the Year, and was named Variety Hitmaker’s Breakthrough of the Year. Over 7.7 billion total career streams back all of it up. The numbers are not accidental.

The North American leg of his Finding Family on The Road Tour kicks off May 25 in Nashville and runs through July, hitting arenas coast to coast including Madison Square Garden in New York and Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, both of which sold out immediately upon on-sale. The tour then moves to Asia and Australia in August and September. To announce the North American dates, Warren released a comedic trailer starring Jennifer Aniston and Max Greenfield. Australia native Robert Irwin handled the Australia and Asia announcement.

“Fine Place to Die” is out now. The tour is underway. With over 52 million monthly listeners on Spotify and a global fanbase that keeps growing, Warren has moved well past the breakthrough phase and into something more permanent.

Alex Warren – Finding Family on The Road Tour Dates:

Saturday, April 4––PSD Bank Dome––Düsseldorf, DE

Monday, April 6––Ziggo Dome––Amsterdam, NL

Tuesday, April 7––Ziggo Dome––Amsterdam, NL

Thursday, April 9––Accor Arena––Paris, FR

Friday, April 10––Festhalle––Frankfurt, DE

Monday, April 13––Uber Arena––Berlin, DE

Wednesday, April 15––Unity Arena––Oslo, NO

Thursday, April 16––Royal Arena––Copenhagen, DK

Saturday, April 18––AFAS Dome––Antwerp, BE

Monday, April 20––The O2––London, UK

Tuesday, April 21––The O2––London, UK

Thursday, April 23––Utilita Arena––Newcastle, UK

Friday, April 24––Utilita Arena––Birmingham, UK

Sunday, April 26––OVO Hydro––Glasgow, UK

Monday, April 27––Co-op Live––Manchester, UK

Wednesday, April 29––First Direct Bank Arena––Leeds, UK

Thursday, April 30––Motorpoint Arena––Nottingham, UK

Saturday, May 2––SSE Arena––Belfast, UK

Monday, May 4––Co-op Live––Manchester, UK

Wednesday, May 6––3Arena––Dublin, IE

Thursday, May 7––3Arena––Dublin, IE

Monday, May 25––Bridgestone Arena––Nashville, TN

Wednesday, May 27––Toyota Center––Houston, TX

Friday, May 29––Dickies Arena––Fort Worth, TX

Saturday, May 30––Moody Center––Austin, TX

Tuesday, June 2––Red Rocks Amphitheatre––Morrison, CO

Wednesday, June 3––Ford Amphitheater––Colorado Springs, CO

Friday, June 5––Mortgage Matchup Center––Phoenix, AZ

Saturday, June 6––Crypto.com Arena––Los Angeles, CA

Monday, June 8––Viejas Arena––San Diego, CA

Friday, June 12––Moda Center––Portland, OR

Saturday, June 13––Climate Pledge Arena––Seattle, WA

Sunday, June 14––Rogers Arena––Vancouver, BC

Wednesday, June 17––Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre––Salt Lake City, UT

Friday, June 19––CHI Health Center––Omaha, NE

Sunday, June 21––T-Mobile Center––Kansas City, MO

Tuesday, June 23––PPG Paints Arena––Pittsburgh, PA

Thursday, June 25––State Farm Arena––Atlanta, GA

Friday, June 26––Spectrum Center––Charlotte, NC

Saturday, June 27––Rocket Arena––Cleveland, OH

Monday, June 29––United Center––Chicago, IL

Thursday, July 2––Grand Casino Arena––Minneapolis, MN

Friday, July 3––Summerfest––Milwaukee, WI

Sunday, July 5––Little Caesars Arena––Detroit, MI

Tuesday, July 7––RBC Amphitheatre––Toronto, ON

Wednesday, July 8––Bell Centre––Montreal, QC

Friday, July 10––Xfinity Mobile Arena––Philadelphia, PA

Saturday, July 11––Merriweather Post Pavilion––Columbia, MD

Monday, July 13––TD Garden––Boston, MA

Wednesday, July 15––Madison Square Garden––New York, NY

Friday, July 17––North Dakota State Fair––Minot, ND

Saturday, July 18––Cheyenne Frontier Days Arena––Cheyenne, WY

Saturday, August 15––Summer Sonic––Tokyo, JP

Sunday, August 16––Summer Sonic––Osaka, JP

Tuesday, August 18––Star Theatre––Singapore

Friday, August 21––Wolfbrook Arena––Christchurch, NZ

Monday, August 24––Spark Arena––Auckland, NZ

Friday, August 28––Qudos Bank Arena––Sydney, NSW

Wednesday, September 1––Brisbane Entertainment Centre––Brisbane, QLD

Saturday, September 4––Rod Laver Arena––Melbourne, VIC

Wednesday, September 9––Adelaide Entertainment Centre Arena––Adelaide, SA

Saturday, September 12––RAC Arena––Perth, WA

Les Claypool and Sean Ono Lennon Unleash Their Most Ambitious Delirium Yet With ‘The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy’

Eric Alper
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Les Claypool and Sean Ono Lennon Unleash Their Most Ambitious Delirium Yet With ‘The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy’

Three years in the making, and it shows in the best possible way. The Claypool Lennon Delirium, the psychedelic-prog partnership of Les Claypool and Sean Ono Lennon, release their new album ‘The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy’ today digitally via ATO Records. It’s their most elaborate, most ambitious, and most fully realized project yet, a 14-song concept record built around a surreal cautionary tale about A.I., empathy, mortality, and what happens when pure optimization runs unchecked through a world that has forgotten what it means to feel.

The story is as wild as the music. Set in the once-glorious land of Cliptopia, a sentient A.I. named Cliptron and his robot army begin converting everything into Clipnex brand paperclips, humans included. Young artist Hippard O. Campus Jr. rebels against his father, the CLIPNEX corporation’s founder, and sets out across the sea to the Isle of Lucidity, where the all-wise Ministry of Manatees guide him toward the Great Parrot-Ox and its Golden Egg of Empathy, the only force capable of reaching Cliptron’s cold, chrome heart. It’s absurdist and pointed in equal measure, rooted in the well-known “Paperclip Theory” thought experiment about A.I. safety.

The latest single, “Melody of Entropy,” is one of the album’s strangest and most unexpectedly tender moments. Where earlier singles “WAP (What a Predicament),” “The Golden Egg of Empathy” featuring WILLOW, and “Meat Machines” explored technological control and the fight to hold onto humanity, “Melody of Entropy” imagines the moment after the machines themselves wake up. Lennon explains: “It is meant to be a message to the robots who have finally awakened into consciousness. As they realize they can feel, and love, and cry, and lament for the first time the finitude of their own lives, the song offers some consolation by explaining that they are just a drop of rain on an endless sea, a splash of paint on a masterpiece, an instance in an infinity, and that life itself is the Melody of Entropy.”

The visual world surrounding the album is as fully constructed as the music. Longtime collaborator Rich Ragsdale, who previously directed videos for both Claypool and Lennon’s other projects, created an illustrated comic-book companion to the record after the original vision of a feature-length animated film proved too ambitious a timeline. The physical edition, available next week, pairs a 2-LP set in a tip-on gatefold jacket with a 24-page comic book mapping each song to its own illustrated chapter. It’s the kind of artifact that serious music fans actually want to own.

Claypool doesn’t undersell what went into it. “The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy was over three years in the making and was the most labor intensive recording I have ever been involved in,” he says. “The results are something Shiner and I are very proud of; a relevant concept piece accompanied by a colorful, phantasmic comic book.” Recorded at Claypool’s Rancho Relaxo studio in Sonoma County and Lennon’s studio The Farm in upstate New York, the album pairs that narrative ambition with the Delirium’s signature mix of psychedelic-prog theatrics, absurdist humor, and inventive musicianship.

The Claypool Gold Tour launches May 20, bringing together Primus, The Claypool Lennon Delirium, and Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade for a full-evening coast-to-coast run through July 4. Claypool and Lennon both appear in the Delirium and Frog Brigade sets, giving audiences multiple angles on Claypool’s musical world in a single night. Two dates are already sold out.

‘The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy’ Tracklist:

  1. Pro-Log
  2. WAP (What a Predicament)
  3. The Wake Up Call
  4. Meat Machines
  5. Troll Bait
  6. Simplest of Deeds
  7. Heart of Chrome
  8. Through the Horizon
  9. Mantra of the Manatee
  10. The Golden Egg of Empathy feat. WILLOW
  11. Cliptopia
  12. Cliptron Scuttle
  13. Melody of Entropy
  14. It’s a Wrap

Claypool Gold 2026 Tour:

Wednesday, May 20––Reno Events Center––Reno, NV

Friday, May 22––Hayden Homes Amphitheater––Bend, OR

Saturday, May 23––Marymoor Live––Redmond, WA

Monday, May 25––KettleHouse Amphitheater––Bonner, MT

Tuesday, May 26––The Lot at the Complex––Salt Lake City, UT

Thursday, May 28––Starlight Amphitheatre––Kansas City, MO

Saturday, May 30––The Factory––St. Louis, MO

Sunday, May 31––Meadow Brook Amphitheatre––Rochester Hills, MI

Tuesday, June 2––Jacobs Pavilion––Cleveland, OH

Wednesday, June 3––Salt Shed––Chicago, IL

Friday, June 5––The Caverns Outdoor Amphitheater––Pelham, TN

Saturday, June 6––KEMBA Live! Outdoor––Columbus, OH

Tuesday, June 9––Thompson’s Point––Portland, ME

Wednesday, June 10––Leader Bank Pavilion––Boston, MA

Friday, June 12––Saratoga Performing Arts Center––Saratoga Springs, NY

Saturday, June 13––Stone Pony Summerstage––Asbury Park, NJ (SOLD OUT)

Sunday, June 14––All Good Now Festival––Columbia, MD

Tuesday, June 16––The AMP Ballantyne––Charlotte, NC

Wednesday, June 17––Firefly Distillery––North Charleston, SC

Friday, June 19––St. Augustine Amphitheatre––St. Augustine, FL

Saturday, June 20––Synovus Bank Amphitheater at Chastain Park––Atlanta, GA

Monday, June 22––Walmart AMP––Rogers, AR

Tuesday, June 23––ACL Live at Moody Theatre––Austin, TX

Thursday, June 25––The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory––Irving, TX

Saturday, June 27––Dillon Amphitheater––Dillon, CO (SOLD OUT)

Sunday, June 28––Dillon Amphitheater––Dillon, CO

Tuesday, June 30––Arizona Financial Theatre––Phoenix, AZ

Wednesday, July 1––Gallagher Square––San Diego, CA

Friday, July 3––Long Beach Amphitheater––Long Beach, CA

Saturday, July 4––Meritage Resort & Spa––Napa, CA

Sir Donald Runnicles and the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra Deliver a Landmark Recording of Mahler’s Fifth

Eric Alper
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Sir Donald Runnicles and the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra Deliver a Landmark Recording of Mahler’s Fifth

Few symphonies in the orchestral canon carry the weight of Mahler’s Fifth, and fewer conductors carry the credibility to do it full justice. Sir Donald Runnicles, widely regarded as one of today’s pre-eminent Mahler interpreters, leads the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra through a landmark performance of the symphony, released today via Reference Recordings. It’s the Festival Orchestra’s second album for the label, following its acclaimed recording of Beethoven Piano Concertos with Garrick Ohlsson, and it arrives as one of the more significant classical recordings of 2026. Listen here.

Recorded live in July 2024 during the Festival’s summer residency at Walk Festival Hall in Teton Village, Wyoming, the performance captures an ensemble of more than 250 elite musicians drawn from 84 orchestras and 72 institutions across North America and Europe. These aren’t studio musicians assembled for a session. They’re principal players and section leaders who gather annually under Runnicles’ artistic leadership, and the recorded result reflects that collective intensity. Celebrated hornist and brass pedagogue Gail Williams and preeminent trumpet player Thomas Hooten lead the Festival Orchestra brass throughout.

The performance itself traces Mahler’s epic journey from darkness into light with unflinching intensity. From the stark severity of the opening Trauermarsch through the radiant confidence of the final Rondo-Finale, Runnicles brings decades of deep structural insight to a symphony that can defeat conductors who don’t fully understand its architecture. Here, the journey unfolds with luminous orchestral color and emotional weight that justifies every one of its nearly 73 minutes.

Runnicles reflects on what this recording represents. “Over the many years where it has been my privilege to be Music Director, the Grand Teton Music Festival has quietly yet assuredly established itself as one of the great American orchestras, nestled in the rarified beauty of the Teton Mountains. May the release of the epic Fifth Symphony of Gustav Mahler burst upon the scene with the same joy and excitement that we experienced in performing this masterful work.”

GTMF Executive Director Emma Kail adds, “This release continues an exciting artistic arc for the Grand Teton Music Festival, reaffirming our long-term commitment to live recording at the highest level. Mahler’s Fifth, led by Sir Donald Runnicles, captures the spirit of our Festival Orchestra at its summer peak, and allows us to share that experience far beyond Jackson Hole.”

The technical presentation matches the ambition of the performance. The natural acoustics of Walk Festival Hall, combined with Reference Recordings’ meticulous production values, result in a vivid, expansive soundstage available on Hybrid SACD (5.1 surround and stereo), as well as standard, high-resolution and Dolby Atmos digital formats. For listeners with the playback systems to experience it fully, this is the kind of recording that reminds you what the format can do.

Runnicles has served as Music Director of the Grand Teton Music Festival since 2005 and Music Director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin since 2009. His previous roles include the San Francisco Opera, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and Orchestra of St. Luke’s. In February 2024, he was appointed Chief Conductor of the Dresden Philharmonic. Knighted in 2020, his discography spans Wagner, Mozart, Britten, and beyond, including a 2013 Gramophone Award for Best Vocal Recording and a Grammy nomination for his recording of Janáček’s Jenůfa. The Grand Teton Music Festival itself has been recognized by The New York Times as one of the top 10 music festivals in the U.S. and named Festival Choice by BBC Music Magazine.

‘Mahler: Symphony No. 5’ is out now on Reference Recordings.

Tracklist:

I. Trauermarsch. In gemessenem Schritt. Streng. Wie ein Kondukt — 13:38

II. Stürmisch bewegt. Mit grösster Vehemenz — 15:45

III. Scherzo. Kräftig, nicht zu schnell — 17:51

IV. Adagietto. Sehr langsam — 10:05

V. Rondo-Finale. Allegro — 15:35

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That Eric Alper

Eric Alper is a 6-time nominee for Publicist of the Year during Canadian Music Week and has overseen the publicity campaigns for over 183 JUNO Award-nominated albums (and 16 in 2025), 45 Grammy-nominated albums, including 47 JUNO Award, 58 Canadian Folk Music Award, 126 Maple Blues Award-winning albums and is also truly honoured to work with some of the biggest and most important artists of our time.

Contact me: eric@thatericalper.com

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