The mezzo-soprano will sing with the Jupiter Ensemble in a concert of 17th-century Italian compositions at the Salzburg Festival.The mezzo-soprano Lea Desandre, a member of the Jupiter Ensemble, does not distinguish between the Baroque era and the age of rock ’n’ roll.“We grew up with this music,” she said by video call from Montreal. “Just like we grew up with the Beatles and Amy Winehouse.”The 28-year-old has established herself as one of today’s most exciting voices in early-music performance. She also cultivates 18th- and 19th-century operatic repertoire from Mozart to Meyerbeer, at prominent houses such as Zurich Opera and the Paris Opera.The singer has appeared annually at the Salzburg Festival, on both the opera and concert stages, since 2018. On Saturday, she and musicians of Jupiter arrive at the Stiftung Mozarteum with the program “Lettres amoureuses” (“Love Letters”). The concert of 17th-century Italian music — which the group has thus far performed in France and the Netherlands — juxtaposes arias and instrumental music from well-known composers such as Monteverdi and Handel with exciting discoveries such as Tarquinio Merula and Andrea Falconieri.Ms. Desandre has sung at prominent houses on both sides of the Atlantic, from the Paris Opera to Carnegie Hall, above, where she took the stage with the Jupiter Ensemble. Jennifer TaylorMs. Desandre enjoys something of a symbiotic relationship with the ensemble, which was founded by the lute player Thomas Dunford in 2018. They joined forces last year for her first solo album, “Amazone,” exploring French and Italian repertoire written about the female warriors of Greek myth known as Amazons. Their next recording, scheduled for release this fall, is a lineup of numbers from Handel oratorios titled “Eternal Heaven.”Mr. Dunford, 34, promotes a democratic spirit, taking suggestions from members of the ensemble in the curation of programs. “It’s a bit like a jazz group in that way,” he said by phone from Montreal, where he and Ms. Desandre were on tour with the ensemble Les Arts Florissants (the two met performing with that group in 2015 and maintain a close relationship with its founder, William Christie). “It’s people who love spending time together and working on the music.”For Jupiter’s first album, “Vivaldi,” the members started a poll on Facebook asking about friends’ favorite arias. In another surprising twist, each of Jupiter’s albums ends with a newly composed surprise track: For “Amazone,” Mr. Dunford contributed “Amazones,” a song that addresses the importance of environmental consciousness.Mr. Dunford, a French native with American roots, cited Jordi Savall, a player of the viola da gamba (with whom both his parents studied), and Mr. Christie as among the trailblazers who set the stage for today’s generation of players. “The best lesson we can learn is to be authentic and passionate,” he said. “Because we don’t really know what Vivaldi sounded like [in his time] — we can just understand his music in a logical way and put our personalities into it.”Ms. Desandre contributes a particular affinity for Italian Baroque music. The singer, who is of French-Italian heritage, left the conservatory track to study with the contralto Sara Mingardo in Venice, who had access to unpublished manuscripts by Vivaldi, along with works by rarely heard composers.Spiritual songs by Tarquinio Merula quickly became a starting point for “Lettres amoureuses.” In “Hor ch’è tempo di dormire” (“Now That It’s Time to Sleep”), the text hovers between tenderness and violence as the Virgin Mary has a vision of Jesus’ crucifixion while rocking him as a baby.Ms. Desandre, who debuted at the Salzburg Festival in 2018, has particularly strong memories of singing the role of Despina in the 2020 production of “Così Fan Tutte,” above.Christian Bruna/EPA, via ShutterstockMs. Desandre compared the music to “a beating of the heart” or a kind of spiral. “She says ‘sleep peacefully,’ but she knows that something tragic is going to happen,” she explained.Her studies with Ms. Mingardo were based on a holistic, rather than technical, approach to vocal studies. At a certain point, Ms. Desandre said, she was advised to “go out and have a good time, find a boyfriend and live — so that you can transmit this experience onstage.”Further singer-mentors include Natalie Dessay (who inspired Ms. Desandre to enter the profession when she saw her on television at age 12), Vivica Genaux, Véronique Gens and Cecilia Bartoli. The latter two singers perform on “Amazone”; Mr. Christie also joins for an instrumental work by French composer Louis Couperin.“The album is a kind of homage to key people in my life,” Ms. Desandre said. The singer also personally chose the photographer, Julien Benhamou, who works with dancers at the Paris Opera, to create the cover art.This is also a nod to Ms. Desandre’s training as a ballerina, which she says allows her to let go physically onstage. “It is one of the best ingredients for singing,” she said. “To be anchored and not become mentally stressed.”For her Salzburg Festival debut in 2018, the director Jan Lauwers gave her full artistic freedom to dance onstage while singing the comprimario roles of Amore and Valletto in Monteverdi’s “L’incoronazione di Poppea.” The singer said that, if Paris was the city in which she was born and raised, Salzburg had become a “city of the heart, because I found a kind of family there — people who are willing to take risks with me.”A lover of nature, she also pointed to the city’s inspiring landscape. “To leave rehearsals and find oneself in front of a mountain and surrounded by greenery in five minutes is extremely nourishing,” she said. “These are moments of communion which allow us to connect with our energy, center ourselves and be very focused.”Singing the role of Despina in a production of Mozart’s “Così Fan Tutte” that took place at a scaled-down Salzburg Festival in August 2020, amid the coronavirus pandemic, remains a particularly strong memory. “There was an intensity during rehearsals,” she recalled. “Of remembering why we love to make music and be together.”A similar spirit drives the Jupiter Ensemble. The group’s members take the time to work on a program until it comes to full maturation, and they always live in the moment.“There are also the experiences we share offstage,” Ms. Desandre said. “Which means that when we perform, we take confidence in each other, we listen to each other, we adore each other. We want to share this happiness with the audience.” More

“Never take life for granted enjoy it while you have it!” the rapper wrote on social media. He posted a picture from a hospital, saying he had been in a nine-day fight for his life.Krayzie Bone, a member of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, one of the most influential rap groups in history, has been fighting for his life for several days, he said in a post on social media on Monday that included a photo of him in a hospital.The cause of the hospitalization is unknown. The 50-year-old rapper, whose real name is Anthony Henderson, has for several years battled sarcoidosis, a rare autoimmune disease that can cause respiratory problems if it reaches the lungs. He was forced to postpone part of a 2016 tour as a result. The hip-hop news site All Hiphop reported that he had checked himself into a Los Angeles area hospital on Sept. 22 after coughing up blood.Krayzie Bone said on Instagram on Monday that he had just fought to stay alive for “9 days straight.” “Never take life for granted enjoy it while you have it!” he wrote.Known for its harmonies and buzzy hooks, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony is one of the pioneering groups of the melodic rap that dominates the genre today. Mr. Henderson is one of five members of the group, which was formed in Cleveland in the early 1990s. They received a lift from Eazy-E, a founding member of the rap group N.W.A., who signed the group to his label, Ruthless Records, in 1993. “Creepin on ah Come Up,” their debut album on the label, sold millions and made them the first hip-hop group from Cleveland to break into the mainstream.Bone Thugs-N-Harmony were nominated for three Grammys, and won one in 1997 for best rap performance by a duo or group. (Their Grammy-winning hit, “Tha Crossroads,” was in part a tribute to Eazy-E, who died from AIDS in 1995.) Members of the group have collaborated with some of the biggest names in pop music history, including Tupac Shakur and Mariah Carey.“When our management got a call about Mariah Carey wanting to do a record with us, at the time, we didn’t even really understand how big Mariah Carey was,” Mr. Henderson told The New York Times in an interview published in August as part of a project celebrating five decades of hip hop. Krayzie Bone appeared on Carey’s track “Breakdown” off her 1997 album.“We knew of her, but we were so wrapped up in our newfound fame, we were just in our own little world. So, like, we almost didn’t even go.”In 2011, Mr. Henderson left the group but eventually reunited with his former bandmates. The city of Cleveland renamed a street after the group this summer.“The Bone Thugs style developed by just basically being in cyphers together,” Mr. Henderson told The Times. “We would smoke weed either in my mother’s basement or at whoever’s house we was at, and we’d just start rhyming, working on our harmonies and everything. We knew each other and we knew we could rhyme but when the other four would say the ad-libs, it would sound like we was harmonizing. It’s nothing we did on purpose — we just started doing it and that was our style one day.”Mr. Henderson was born on June 17, 1973. Along with his work with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Mr. Henderson has released solo albums since 1999, including “QuickFix: Level 3: Level Up,” which came out earlier this year. He also founded the nonprofit Spread the Love Foundation, a Cleveland-based initiative aimed at music education.Bone Thugs-N-Harmony are in the midst of a national tour and had returned to Cleveland with Krayzie Bone in August. More

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The ‘Madea’s Family Reunion’ filmmaker thanks the ‘Parachute’ crooner for belting out a rendition of ‘Tennessee Whiskey’ at the Nashville, Tennessee stop of his ‘Madea’s Farewell Play Tour’.
Feb 19, 2020
AceShowbiz – Country superstar Chris Stapleton helped Tyler Perry bid farewell to his Madea alter ego by performing an impromptu song at the actor/filmmaker’s tour stop in Nashville, Tennessee last week.
Perry has been taking his tough family matriarch on a farewell tour across North America, and when the trek wrapped for good in Nashville on Friday, February 14, Stapleton was spotted among the fans in the audience.
The singer was called upon to show off his talents, and he happily stood up from his seat and took the microphone to belt out a rendition of his hit tune, Tennessee Whiskey, sending fellow crowdmembers wild.
On Tuesday, Perry shared video footage of the unexpected set on Instagram, and thanked the father-of-five for adding his star power to the closing gig of “Madea’s Farewell Play Tour”.
“Madea could not come to the end of the farewell tour and have @chrisstapleton in the audience in Nashville, Tennessee and not have him sing a verse of Tennessee Whiskey! And he KILLED IT!!” Perry captioned the post.

“Thank you Chris, blessings to you, your wife, and them babies (sic)!!”.

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Lawyers for the rapper argued that he did not know the weapon was in his car when he was pulled over and arrested on a separate warrant in California last year.The chart-topping 22-year-old rapper YoungBoy Never Broke Again, born Kentrell D. Gaulden, was found not guilty on Friday of possessing a firearm and ammunition as a felon, concluding one of the two federal gun trials he had been facing.A jury in Los Angeles reached its verdict after about two hours on its second day of deliberations. Mr. Gaulden, who is known to fans as NBA YoungBoy or YB, faced up to 10 years in prison in the case.The gun possession charge in California stemmed from YoungBoy’s March 2021 arrest in the Los Angeles area on a separate federal gun possession warrant from an earlier incident in the rapper’s home state of Louisiana. In September 2020, YoungBoy was among 16 people accused of possessing guns and drugs at a video shoot in Baton Rouge. His lawyers have said none of the contraband was in his possession.Prosecutors in the Central District of California said that upon attempting to execute the warrant in that case, YoungBoy initially seemed to cooperate, pulling over his Mercedes Maybach before taking off again and leading officers on a “high-speed chase.” After the rapper fled on foot, police found an FNX .45 caliber pistol and ammunition behind the front passenger’s seat, along with cash and jewelry.Lawyers for YoungBoy argued that the rapper was unaware of his outstanding federal warrant at the time and panicked when armed officers approached his vehicle, leading him to take off. He did not know the weapon was in the car, they said, and no usable fingerprints or DNA tied YoungBoy to the gun.Prosecutors had sought to link the rapper to the weapon using a photo and video from social media of YoungBoy handling “a gold and tan gun that appeared identical to the firearm recovered from his car,” according to court records. The photo was taken at the same Philadelphia shop that had sold YoungBoy the jewelry also found in the car, they argued. Lawyers for the rapper said the gun was identical to an airsoft replica and could not be confirmed to be the same weapon.“We believe the evidence presented in this case supported the charges brought by the grand jury,” Ciaran McEvoy, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, said in a statement. “While we are disappointed with the verdict, we respect the jury’s decision.”As the trial started on Tuesday, the judge in the case, R. Gary Klausner, ruled to exclude lyrics from three YoungBoy songs from being used in court. Prosecutors had said that the tracks — “Gunsmoke,” “Life Support” and “Lonely Child” — referred “to an individual connected to the purchaser of the gun, the gun model found in his car, and the jewelry maker of the jewelry found next to the gun.”But lawyers for the rapper successfully argued that the “hardcore” and “highly inflammatory” rap lyrics would be prejudicial and were not directly relevant, noting that the song mentioning an FN pistol was released before the FN gun seized from the Maybach was purchased.“It’s for entertainment,” they wrote in a court filing. “It is not an admission of other bad acts but it does paint the rappers in a bad light and the jury may infer from the song that Mr. Gaulden is a violent person and take those feelings with them into the deliberation room.”The rapper’s lawyers added: “The real issues are: 1) whether he knew the gun was inside of the car and 2) whether he intended to possess it. It’s a relatively simple case.”Known for his raw reality rap, prolific output and obsessive online fan base, YoungBoy is among the most-streamed artists in the United States so far this year, competing with the likes of Drake and Taylor Swift. Since signing a $2 million deal with Atlantic Records in 2016, he has frequently topped the Billboard album chart — hitting No. 1 with four releases in less than two years — but continues to exist largely outside the mainstream entertainment business, owing in part to his ongoing legal issues.In 2017, YoungBoy pleaded guilty to aggravated assault with a firearm and received a suspended 10-year prison sentence, plus probation, stemming from his role in a nonfatal drive-by shooting for which he was originally charged with attempted first-degree murder. In 2019, following subsequent arrests, including for a domestic violence incident in which he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery, the rapper was sentenced to 90 days in jail.Since October, when he was granted a $500,000 bond in the federal gun cases, YoungBoy has lived under home confinement in Utah, where he has continued to record and release music.YoungBoy’s additional federal gun case in Louisiana is ongoing. His lawyers have argued that he was unfairly targeted, highlighting law enforcement’s name for one of its operations: Never Free Again, “an obvious take off on Gaulden’s highly successful music and marketing brand.” The rapper’s legal team has successfully suppressed video evidence in the case that it said was unconstitutionally obtained.The rapper’s arrest in Los Angeles last year, his lawyers said, was a “massive and wildly unnecessary militaristic display of force and intimidation.” More

Doc Severinsen hadn’t been able to practice his trumpet in a couple of days, and by his own admission, it was making him irritable. “I’m getting a little bit antsy,” he said one afternoon earlier this month.Were he not currently conducting a video interview from the kitchen of his home in Tennessee, he said, “By now, I’d have a trumpet in my hand, and I would be pretty much doing that the rest of the day.”Instead the 93-year-old Severinsen was sharing reflections from his life and career as a trumpeter and bandleader of “The Tonight Show” while his companion, Cathy Leach, sat nearby. As he occasionally, instinctually pursed his lips to practice the embouchure he uses on his mouthpiece, he explained that he was a different man when separated from his instrument. In his reedy, rumbling voice, he said, “I don’t become the most pleasant guy to live with.”Audiences got to know Severinsen best during his 30-year run on Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show,” where he served not only as its musical frontman but also as a flashily attired comic foil to its host, who became a close friend behind the scenes. Carson died in 2005, and his announcer and sidekick, Ed McMahon, died in 2009, leaving Severinsen the most prominent surviving face of that influential late-night show.Over 30 years on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon, Severinsen was both musical frontman and comic foil.Douglas C. Pizac/Associated PressNow, Severinsen is pulling back the curtain on his own life in a new documentary, “Never Too Late: The Doc Severinsen Story,” which will make its debut Friday on PBS’s “American Masters.”The film, which is directed by Kevin S. Bright and Jeff Consiglio, chronicles Severinsen’s upbringing in Arlington, Ore., where his father was the local dentist (thus earning his son, Carl, the lifelong nickname “Doc”). The documentary also explores his work as a musician, on “The Tonight Show” and off, and dives deeply into his personal life, his marriages and his family’s history with alcoholism.If the movie uncovers much that viewers didn’t know about him, Severinsen said, “I found out how much I didn’t know, too.”Severinsen spoke further about the making of “Never Too Late,” its revelations and his fulfilling, frustrating obsession with the trumpet. These are edited excerpts from that conversation.You’ve been off “The Tonight Show” now for almost as many years as you were on it. Does that experience seem distant to you now?It does. But at first — and I can’t tell you how long that went on for — I would wake up in the morning and think, Oh, God, I’ve got to get going or I’m going to be late for work. I’ve got to pick out a program of music. Oh, wait a minute — I don’t do that anymore.What keeps you occupied now?I’ve got that jealous bitch over in the corner — the trumpet. And if you don’t pick that baby up and treat it right, you’re going to have nothing but trouble.“All you know is you’ve got to pick out the right music, conduct the band and be ready to talk,” Severinsen said of his time on “The Tonight Show.”Ron Tom/NBCUniversal via Getty Images How were you persuaded to be the subject of a film about your life?Kevin Bright has had a working relationship with my eldest daughter, Nancy. They had renewed their friendship, and Kevin said: “How’s your dad? What’s he up to?” The next thing I know, Nancy’s calling me, saying, “Dad, I spoke to Kevin and he wants to do a documentary.” I laughed and said: “That’ll be the day. No thanks.”What changed your mind?Kevin knew how to handle me. One thing led to another, and all of a sudden we’re sitting in the kitchen, here in this house. I had this feeling of, Why am I doing this? What the hell is going on? Then we started talking and we never stopped.Are people surprised when they see you dressed casually, as you are today, instead of sporting some of your memorable apparel from “The Tonight Show”?The way you see me now, it’s the way I’ve always been. I’ve got a cowboy shirt on and jeans and cowboy boots. I thought I might go riding today — it turns out, that’s not going to happen, but I’ve still got the right clothes on for it.Severinsen, known for his garish outfits on “The Tonight Show,” opts for more muted attire these days.via Just Bright ProductionsSo all that eye-popping clothing you wore on the show was a kind of affectation?It was at first, yeah. It was a desperation kind of a thing. You don’t know when they’re going to talk to you or what they’re going to talk to you about. All you know is you’ve got to pick out the right music, conduct the band and be ready to talk. Because the one thing you don’t want to have happen is, you’re sitting there, [mindlessly] “Oh boy, I sure enjoyed that dinner last night,” and you hear Johnny say, “Isn’t that right, Doc?”Did Carson ever catch you off guard?One time, he asked me to hit a double high-C on trumpet. And I thought, Holy Christ. I knew I was capable of it if I had time to work on it. But somehow, from past experience, I hit that note and did a pretty doggone good job. And I thought, I’ve got to have a finish for this. So I did a take of great pain and reeling around and fell flat on the floor. I didn’t know I was going to do that! Neither did Johnny. It’s all about being in show business, I guess.Is it fair to say there was a kind of friendly one-upmanship in your on-camera relationship with Carson?Well, there was no one-upmanship because we knew who had the one-up. It was mostly me paying attention and trying to fit in. But Johnny, he was an artist. He could produce and write a script in his mind while he’s saying it.“You get out of the trumpet exactly what you put into the trumpet,” Severinsen said.via Just Bright ProductionsCarson had a behind-the-scenes reputation, even among people who worked for him, for being enigmatic or elusive. Was that your experience with him?Well, the only person who could answer that is Johnny. He knows if he’s thinking in his mind about some friend who’s passed away or a secret desire he has to do this or that, or God, I wish I’d had a hamburger for lunch. But he was an extremely bright man. He was friends with Carl Sagan, and he used to love to get together with him and talk about the universe. I’d go out with him on his boat, and we’re sitting there, looking up at night, and he’s explaining the whole damn works up there. There was a lot more to him than he ever let on.You felt you saw a side of him that he didn’t necessarily share with others?I did, and I can tell you right now, I ain’t going to talk about it. [Chuckles.] Us guys, sometimes, when we have real pain — Oh, I wish I hadn’t done that, or I wish I had done that — you don’t get the whole thing.You’re candid in the film about your history with alcoholism — how it ran in your family and how your first wife’s problems with it led to the dissolution of your marriage to her. Were you nervous about sharing this with people?No, I wasn’t nervous because it’s fact. If you’re an alcoholic, you should be one of the first ones to know. Well, I wasn’t one of the first ones to know that I was an alcoholic. My wife at that time, I’ll tell you, I feel sorry for her. I’m not angry over any of it. There I was with three little kids — I’ve got to be Dad, I’ve got to be Mom, I’ve got to be the maid. I’ve got to do it all. And then I have to go over to the police department and say to the guy at the des:, “Listen, if your patrolmen see my wife driving our car — and especially if there’s little kids in there, would you do me a favor? Would you pull her over? And if she’s been drinking at all, take the car from her, take her home and make the kids safe.”“If you don’t pick that baby up and treat it right,” Severinsen said about his trumpet, “you’re going to have nothing but trouble.”Kristine Potter for The New York TimesThere was often a lot of joking about drinking on “The Tonight Show.” Did that make it hard to maintain your sobriety?I didn’t come to work and say, “Now, Johnny, there’s something I’ve got to tell you — I’m an alcoholic, so look out now.” Quite the opposite. And about the time I was just starting out on “The Tonight Show,” I also became aware that if you’re an alcoholic, you’re probably a drug addict also. And I found out that I was. And I said, “Whoa, boy, they’re taking away all my toys.”But you’re better for it.I’ll put it to you this way, I’m alive.What drugs were you using?I don’t even want to discuss it. None of the rock-hard stuff. But close. Very close.Your third wife, Emily, is an on-camera subject in the documentary, and she speaks frankly about how your marriage to her unraveled after your time on “The Tonight Show” ended. Were you concerned about including her in the film?No, I had to trust Kevin on that. If you’re doing something that’s extremely revealing, about private matters, there’s a producer that will make that decision and you’d better figure out how you’re going to live with it. Emily, she’s a very bright person, and fair. She’s — well, I’m in a much better place.You’re happy in your life with Cathy Leach, who is a professor emeritus of trumpet at the University of Tennessee?I don’t know how to describe it. But when I pull the covers up under my chin at night and she reaches over and makes sure that I got my arms covered and I’m all settled and everything’s OK — I don’t want to get into religion, but I thank God she came into my life.Are you still discovering new things about the trumpet?Oh, yeah. But when you pick up a trumpet, don’t think it’s going to be a bouquet of roses the rest of your life. You get out of the trumpet exactly what you put into the trumpet. If you put bad timing and a bad attitude, anything negative at all into the trumpet, it comes right back to hit you in the face.Do you ever have days when you think, I can’t play that damned thing for another minute?Yes, but I don’t call it a “damned thing.” Because the trumpet has the last word. I try to remain respectful of that damned thing. More