Music

Arts & Culture

'Imagining Freedom' will give $125 million to art projects focused on incarceration

Anastasia Tsioulcas

Since 2020, the Mellon Foundation has given over $40 million to arts and humanities projects addressing mass incarceration. In all, it says, it will donate $125 million to such efforts.
Caroline Polachek ponders 'Desire' at pop's outer limits

Sophie Kemp

Desire, I Want to Turn Into You is a natural next step in the adventurous songwriter's series of evolutions, one that embraces ridiculousness and beckons pop toward a rigorous, maximalist sound.
Prodigious fiddler Mark O'Connor celebrates 50 years of music with memoir

Olivia Hampton

NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with Mark O'Connor about his memoir, Crossing Bridges, on his journey from multi-instrumentalist child prodigy to solo artist composing and performing on world stages.
National

Rihanna's maternity style isn't just fashionable. It's revolutionary, experts say

Rachel Treisman

Rihanna has already been praised for redefining maternity fashion. She's not the first celebrity to challenge cultural norms about pregnancy, but is reigniting a conversation that could spark change.
National

David Jolicoeur, De La Soul's Trugoy the Dove, dies at 54

Oliver Wang

Trugoy brought skill and care-free charisma to De La Soul's innovative music, which helped to usher in a new age of hip-hop. After years of legal disputes, that music will soon be available again.
You've heard of love at first sight. How about love at first sound?

Barry Gordemer

Researchers at NYU have conducted a study on how long it takes for people to decide whether they love or hate a song.
Violinist's album honors the underground effort to keep jazz alive after Stalin's ban

Leila Fadel

Barry Gordemer

Russian-born violinist Nataly Merezhuk explores the history of jazz in the former Soviet Union in her new album: Jazz on Bones.
Local

San Diego Opera's 'Puccini Duo' makes history

Beth Accomando

Mezzo soprano Stephanie Blythe sings male baritone role in four performances of "The Puccini Duo" — a first for professional opera performances.
'This Is Why' it was a tough road to Paramore's new album

Leila Fadel

Milton Guevara

Hayley Williams was just a teenager when her band Paramore became a pop-punk favorite – now in her 30s, Paramore is back with an album that shows pop/punk can age gracefully. It's called This Is Why.
Arts & Culture

An artist's 'Healing Project,' focused on incarceration and violence, wins $1 million

Anastasia Tsioulcas

Multidisciplinary artist Samora Pinderhughes has explored mass incarceration for the last eight years. With this sizeable grant, he hopes to sustain "The Healing Project" for decades to come.