CGI Rochester International Jazz Festival 2024 producersMarc Iacona and John Nugent announced the first two headliners for the nine-day 21st Edition Festival, from June 21 to 29, 2024.
One of the festival headliners is Samara Joy. Photo credit: Meredith Traux.
The 21st edition of the Rochester International Jazz Festival is from June 21 to 29, 2024. The first headliner is the 2023 GRAMMY-winning Artist of the Year Samara Joy, who performed at RIJF in 2022 and 2023 in the Club Pass Series.
23-year-old Samara Joy has a rich, velvety, precociously refined voice, earning appearances on the TODAY Show, The Tonight Show w/ Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show w/ Stephen Colbert, and CBS Mornings. She further cements her status as perhaps the first Gen Z jazz singing star every day. The New York Times praised the “silky-voiced rising star” for “helping jazz take a youthful turn” while NPR All Things Considered named her a “classic jazz singer from a new generation.” Joy will perform at the 2024 Rochester International Jazz Festival on Friday, June 28 at 8 p.m. at Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre.
Jazz guitar legend, Lee Ritenour makes his debut performance at RIJF on Saturday, June 22, with his band and special guests Randy Brecker and Bill Evans. The concert is at 8 p.m. at Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre. During his dazzling five-decade career, Lee Ritenour has taken his music to the outer limits, touching on every genre and occupying every position in the rock ‘n’ roll sphere.
He’s been involved in ’70s fusion, the ’80s pop chart, Brazilian jazz, and the ’90s supergroup, Fourplay. Ritenour’s accolades include 45 albums, 16 GRAMMY nominations, Alumnus of the Year at USC, Los Angeles’ Jazz Society Honoree (2019), plus thousands of sessions with legends such as Frank Sinatra, Pink Floyd, B.B. King, and Tony Bennett, among others.
Tickets for both shows go on sale this Friday, December 8th at 10 a.m. EST.
The 2024 GRAMMY Awards announced the nominations for the 66th edition of the event, happening on Feb. 4. The nominees include a wide variety of talent from New York State, like Ice Spice, Lana Del Rey, Nas, and more.
Graphic courtesy of Recording Academy.
One of the fastest emerging artists of the 2020s, Bronx native and rapper Ice Spice is taking the world by storm with her infectious lyricism and danceable beats. This year she was nominated in four categories including Best New Artist, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for her collaboration on Taylor Swift’s “Karma” remix, Best Rap Song for her collaboration with Nicki Minaj for the Barbie movie with the track “Barbie World,” and Best Song Written for Visual Media, also for “Barbie World.”
Lana Del Rey, a Manhattan native, is nominated for five GRAMMYs this year. These include Best Alternative Music Album for her viral album Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, Best Alternative Music Performance for “A&W,” Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for her collaboration with Jon Batiste on “Candy Necklace,” Song of the Year for “A&W,” and Album of the Year.
Lana Del Rey, photo by Rebecca Sapp/Getty Images.
Daniel Nigro, who has written for artists like Olivia Rodrigo, Taylor Swift, Conan Gray, and more, who is also from Long Island, is nominated for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical. Also nominated in that same category is Brooklyn native Dernst “D’Mile” Emile II. Brooklyn native and iconic musician Bebe Rexha is nominated in the Best Pop Dance Recording category (a brand new one this year) for her collaboration with David Guetta “One in a Million.”
Iconic Harlem-born rapper Diddy has gone through many names over the years including Puffy Daddy or P. Diddy, and is raking in a nomination for Best Progressive R&B Album for The Love Album: Off the Grid. Speaking of iconic rappers, Crown Heights’ own Nas was nominated for Best Rap Album for King’s Disease III alongside the likes of Drake and Travis Scott.
Nas and Hit-Boy. (Photo by Johnny Nunez/WireImage).
Iconic singer Mariah Carey, who is embarking on a Holiday tour this winter, coming to Madison Square Garden, was nominated for Best Remixed Recording for “Workin’ Hard (Terry Hunter Remix).” Another iconic NYC native Alicia Keys is nominated this year for Best Immersive Audio Album for The Diary of Alicia Keys.
Iconic producer Rick Rubin from Long Beach, who is the co-founder of Def Jam Recordings, founder of American Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records, received a nomination in the Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling Recording category for The Creative Act: A Way of Being.
Singer/songwriter Emily King, from NYC, is nominated for Best R&B Album for her record Special Occasion. Aja Monet, a contemporary poet, writer, lyricist, and activist from Brooklyn was nominated in the Best Spoken Word Poetry Album for When the Poems Do What They Do. Samara Joy, who won the 2023 GRAMMY for Best New Artist is nominated in two categories. One category is Best Jazz Performance for “Tight,” and the other is Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals for “Lush Life.”
Samara Joy.
More GRAMMY nominations include NYC-based jazz duo The Baylor Project for Best Jazz Performance, with Adam Blackstone and Russell Ferranté in “Vulnerable (Live).” Lakecia Benjamin from Washington Heights is also nominated in that category for “Basquiat,” as well as in Best Jazz Instrumental Album for Phoenix and Best Instrumental Composition with Angela Davis for “Amerikkan Skin.”
Pop artists from NYS secured multiple nominations this year. Madison Beer from Jericho has been steadily rising over the past couple of years, receiving her first GRAMMY nomination in the Best Immersive Audio Album category for Silence Between Songs. Caroline Polachek from NYC also received her first nomination in Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical for Desire, I Want to Turn Into You. Caroline Rose from Long Island was nominated in the Best Recording Package category for The Art of Forgetting.
The Best Jazz Vocal Album category saw a nomination for Harlem-based musician Patti Austin, featuring Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band. The NYC-based Mingus Big Band received a nomination for The Charles Mingus Centennial Sessions in the Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album category. A new category for the 2024 GRAMMYs, Best Alternative Jazz Album, saw Brooklyn-based musician Cory Henry secure a nomination for Live at the Piano. Albany native Vijay Iver also secured a nomination in that category as well as in Best Global Music Performance.
Rochester native Elaine Martone secured a nomination in the Producer of the Year, Classical category. Several NYS orchestras received nominations, including the JoAnn Fealletta with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra for Best Orchestral Performance and The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and The Metropolitan Opera Chorus for Best Opera Recording.
NYC-based composer John Williams received three nominations. These include Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media (Includes Film and Television for The Fabelmans and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, and Best Instrumental Composition for Helena’s Theme.
Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.
NYC native Béla Fleck, alongside Edgar Meyer, Zakir Hussain, and Rakesh Chaurasia, was nominated in three categories, including Best Instrumental Composition, Best Global Music Performance, and Best Contemporary Instrumental Album.
Best Traditional Blues Album saw NYC native Eric Bibb receive a nomination for Ridin’. Rufus Wainwright from Rhinebeck was nominated for Best Folk Album for his record Folkocracy. The final NYS-based 2024 GRAMMY nominations were for NYC-based musicians Flor de Toloache in Best Música Mexicana Album (Including Tejano), and Kirsten Agresta and Omar Akram in Best New Age, Ambient, or Chant Album.
For more information about the 66th annual GRAMMYs and the full list of nominees, visit here.
Bronx native and two-time GRAMMY winner Samara Joy is set to release A Joyful Holiday, a 6-song EP of beloved seasonal favorites.
This extension of her latest album, Linger Awhile, features accomplished jazz musicians and includes singles like “O Holy Night,” “Warm in December,” and a new take on Stevie Wonder’s “Twinkle Twinkle Little Me.”
A Joyful Holiday, produced by Matt Pierson, will drop on October 27 via Verve, with an exclusive emerald green color variant LP available.
The holiday EP comes after an extraordinary year for Samara Joy, who clinched the prestigious Best New Artist and Best Jazz Vocal Album awards at this year’s Grammys.
Samara Joy has shared a delightful rendition of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas,” which you can listen to here.
“Singing alongside my family has always been a special time kept between us, but this December, I’m excited to share that special feeling with you all! This holiday season, it brings me great joy to present my first role models, the McLendon Family, on a month-long tour throughout the US. Join us for a show you’ll never forget!”
Samara Joy
Samara Joy has also announced the Verve Vinyl Collection, comprising her three Verve LPs, Linger Awhile, Linger Awhile Longer, and A Joyful Holiday. This collection will hit the shelves on November 17 and can be pre-ordered here.
A Joyful Holiday Tracklist
“Warm In December” “Twinkle Twinkle Little Me ft. Sullivan Fortner” “The Christmas Song” “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” “O Holy Night” “The Christmas Song (Live)”
Samara Joy 2023 Tour Dates
9/28 – 10/1 – Seattle, WA @ Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley Jazz
10/4 – Davis, CA @ Mondavi Center
10/6 – 7 – New York, NY @ Rose Hall at The Lincoln Center
10/14 – Kansas City @ Folly Theater
10/15 – Denver, CO @ Newman Center
10/18 – Easton, PA @ Williams Center for the Arts / Performance Series
10/20 – Storrs, CT @ Jorgenson Center
10/22 – Brookville, NY @ Tilles Center
10/24 – Columbia, MO @ Missouri Theater
10/25 – Iowa City @ Hancher Auditorium
10/27 – Chicago, IL @ Chicago Symphony Orchestra
11/3 – Zurich, Switzerland @ TVD
11/5 – Athens, Greece @ Megaron Athens
11/7 – Hamburg, Germany @ Elb Philharmonic
11/8 – Berlin, Germany @ TBD
11/12 – Paris, FR @ Le Trianon
11/17 – Bologna, Italy @ TBD
11/18 – Milan, Italy @ TBD
11/19 – London, UK @ Barbican Center, London Jazz Festival
12/3 – Austin, TX @ Bass Concert Hall, UT Austin
12/4 – Nashville, TN @ Nashville Symphony
12/7 – Los Angeles, CA @ Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts
Caramoor, a cultural arts destination located on a unique 80-plus-acre estate in Northern Westchester County, has announced its events for the 2023 summer season.
Some of the many talents coming to Caramoor this summer.
Caramoor’s curated concert season presents performers representing a vast array of backgrounds and lived experiences, including classical live performances, American roots, jazz, and more. The estate sits on beautiful grounds, including the historic Rosen House, a stunning mansion listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Edward J. Lewis III, Caramoor’s President and Chief Executive Officer, elaborated on the experiences one can have at the venue.
True to the vision of our founders, Caramoor is the place where you can be transformed by the convergence of an exciting and diverse mix of remarkable live music performances, stunning gardens and grounds, and the beauty of an art-filled historic home. The Caramoor experience leaves both the artist and audience refreshed and renewed and compels all to return again and again.
Edward J. Lewis III
There are five venues for performances, for more large-scale ones, those can go beneath the open-sided tent of the Venetian Theater surrounded by woods (cap: 1,220), while casual concerts on Friends Field offer a more relaxed vibe (cap: 1,000). More intimate settings include the outdoor Spanish Courtyard (cap: 388) and the Sunken Garden, the venue for Caramoor’s Music & Meditation series, classical guitar performances, and more. This summer, guests can attend intimate classical recitals in the Music Room, which was once the living room of Caramoor’s founders, Walter and Lucie Rosen (cap: 192).
The summer season runs from June 17-Aug. 18. Tony, Emmy, and Grammy Award–winning singer and actor Audra McDonald opens with an Opening Night Gala featuring classics from the Great American Songbook, led by her longtime musical director Andy Einhorn conducting the Orchestra of St. Luke’s (OSL).
Described as “one of the most versatile and galvanic ensembles in the U.S,” by WQXR, OSL returns twice this summer, first with passionate pianist Hélène Grimaud and conductor Lina González-Granado for a program of Gabriela Lena Frank’s Elegía Andina, Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G and Brahms’s Second Symphony on July 16. The next performance on Aug. 6 features MacArthur “genius grant”-winning cellist Alisa Weilerstein, along with conductor Roderick Cox, joining OSL for Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1, as well as Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 and George Walker’s Lyric for Strings.
Audra McDonald
New Music
Brooklyn Rider performs its “Four Elements” program at Caramoor on June 23, exploring the elements (earth, air, water, and fire) as a metaphor for the complex inner world of the string quartet and the current health of planet Earth. The program also includes works by Shostakovich, Osvaldo Golijov, and a Suite of American Folk Songs, collected/transcribed by Ruth Crawford Seeger and arranged by Brooklyn Rider violinist Colin Jacobsen.
Caramoor’s 2022-23 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence (ESSQIR) is the Ivalas Quartet – with a mission to champion diverse voices and spotlight Black and indigenous composers. Their yearlong residency concludes with a performance on June 29, including the world premiere of a Caramoor commission by Derrick Skye, a composer with Ghanian, Nigerian, Native American, and British/Irish ancestry who believes music is a doorway into the understanding of other cultures. Also on the program are works by Jessie Montgomery, Carlos Simon, and Eleanor Alberga.
Hailed by The New York Times as “a lush, brooding celebration of noise,” Andy Akiho’s Grammy-nominated Seven Pillars comes to Caramoor on June 30, his most ambitious project to date. Performed by Sandbox Percussion, the evening-length work is the largest-scale chamber music work that Akiho has written and that Sandbox has commissioned, their ongoing collaboration on the piece has spanned the past eight years. There will be a 7:00 p.m. pre-concert talk with members of the ensemble.
TheNew York Times declared that “America’s most astonishing choir…” The Crossing, led by Donald Nally, “combines an embrace of the new, a social conscience, and fearless technique.” They will perform the New York premiere of Ted Hearne’s FARMING for free on July 9 in the Sunken Garden. There will also be a pre-concert talk with Hearne, Nally, and director Ashley Tata.
Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto and celebrated American composer and pianist Nico Muhly collaborate on an intimate evening of unexpected musical connections on July 27. They reunite in a different format the following night, when The Knights perform the New York premiere of Muhly’s violin concerto titled Shrink, with Kuusisto as soloist. The Knights are dedicated to transforming the orchestral experience and eliminating barriers between audience and music.
The Knights
The rotating annual Sonic Innovations sound art exhibition is curated by Chicago-based sound artist and Northwestern University professor Stephan Moore. New this summer is Dyning in the Dovecote by Liz Phillips, an interactive sound installation where one can hear sounds of water, insects, dove calls and bird wings flicke, while underwater sound transducers create ripple patterns on the surface of the fountain. The official opening of Sonic Innovations and the grounds will take place at “Soundscapes” on June 4.
Baroque Music: Caccini’s Alcina, Handel’s Acis and Galatea, Ruckus
Caramoor welcomes the Boston Early Music Festival production of Francesca Caccini’s La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola d’Alcina, the first known opera by a female composer, to the Venetian Theater on June 25. Co-music directors Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs and director Gilbert Blin lead a stellar cast of Baroque soloists including mezzo-soprano Mireille Lebel, tenor Colin Balzer, and mezzo-soprano Virginia Warnken Kelsey. July 7 brings Baroque supergroup Ruckus, with soloists Rachell Ellen Wong– the only early music artist ever to win the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant – on violin and Emi Ferguson on flute.
On July 23, another Baroque opera graces the stage, the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, with the original 1718 version of Handel’s Acis and Galatea, one of the composer’s most popular dramatic works, led by Richard Egarr. There will be a pre-concert lecture with MIT professor emeritus and Handel scholar Ellen T. Harris.
Chamber music and recitals
July 13 has Davóne Tines at the intimate Spanish Courtyard with a program of spiritual and intellectual exploration titled Recital No 1: Mass, with pianist Adam Nielsen, featuring works by Caroline Shaw, J.S. Bach, Tyshawn Sorey, Margaret Bonds, and Julius Eastman. Austin-based, internationally celebrated Miró Quartet, formed in 1995 and one of Caramoor’s earliest quartets-in-residence, performs as well.
The Dover Quartet returns with classical saxophonist, composer, and 2022 Avery Fisher Career Grant winner Steven Banks, performing Banks’s recent quintet Cries, Sighs, and Dreams. July 20 brings pianist-composer Conrad Tao, performing a collaborative event with choreographer-dancer Caleb Teicher titled “Counterpoint.” It is a dynamic interplay of piano and tap dance that includes works by J.S. Bach, Brahms, Mozart, Gershwin, Ravel, Schoenberg, and more.
Pianist Garrick Ohlsson, who 53 years later remains the only American to have ever won the Chopin International Piano Competition, performs an all-Chopin recital in the Venetian Theater on July 30. This summer, Tengyue Zhang – who received First Prize in the 2017 Guitar Foundation of America (GFA) International Concert Artists Competition, plays music by J.S. Bach, Domenico Scarlatti, Albéniz, Rameau, and more at the Sunken Garden on Aug. 3.
A new series debuting this summer, Recitals in the Music Room comprises hour-long programs on Saturdays in the late afternoon. Alexander Hersh is joined by pianist Christopher Goodpasture for the first concert on July 8, including works by Debussy, Paul Wiancko, Webern, Mendelssohn, and Sollima. Chinese pianist Zhu Wang, winner of the 2020 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, will perform the music of Schumann, Beethoven, Stravinsky, William Grant Still, and Zhang Zhao on Aug. 5.
Jazz Festival and Events
Caramoor’s annual Jazz Festival returns on July 22, presented in collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center and headlined by six-time Grammy-winning vocalist and MacArthur Grant recipient Cécile McLorin Salvant. Caramoor’s second Hot Jazz Age Frolic, featuring the 17-piece Eyal Vilner Big Band, takes place in the Friends Field tent on June 18. Two-time Grammy winner Samara Joy performs on Aug. 4.
Samara Joy.
Broadway/Pops: Over the Rainbow: The Music of Harold Arlen
Stage, jazz, and television artist Aisha de Haas, celebrated vocalist Mikaela Bennett, and Broadway actors and singers Nicholas Ward and Julie Benko join multi-faceted, Tony Award-winning orchestrator and musical director Ted Sperling for “Over the Rainbow,” an all-Harold Arlen evening in the Venetian Theater. Composer of over 500 songs, Arlen collaborated with some of the 20th century’s most notable lyricists on songs including “Over the Rainbow,” “Stormy Weather,” “Get Happy,” and more. The event takes place on July 8.
To celebrate Independence Day, Curt Ebersole and the Westchester Symphonic Winds return to Caramoor on July 2 for their annual Pops & Patriots concert. There will be guest vocalists and more performing patriotic tunes.
American Roots: Brandy Clark, Mary Chapin Carpenter & more
Caramoor’s American Roots Music Festival, an all-day celebration of the best in Americana, blues, folk, and bluegrass, returns on June 24. Headlining the festival this summer is acclaimed singer/songwriter and ten-time Grammy nominee Brandy Clark. Her songs have been recorded by the likes of George Strait, Carly Pearce with Patty Loveless, Toby Keith, Reba McEntire, Sheryl Crow, and many others, and she co-wrote the score for the new Broadway musical Shucked. Daytime artists for the American Roots Music Festival include Sunny War, Miko Marks, and the Mike Block Trio, with more artists to be announced soon.
On Aug. 5, Mary Chapin Carpenter performs her most recent album The Diry and the Stars. She is the winner of five Grammy Awards, two CMA Awards and is one of only 15 women inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Mary Chapin Carpenter
This summer, six Roots and world music concerts are held for the Concerts on the Lawn series, happening at Friends Field. The series opens on June 22 with a nod to Juneteenth featuring the Harlem Gospel Travelers. Closing out the Caramoor season and Concerts on the Lawn on Aug. 18 is Chicago-based singer/songwriter Neal Francis, whose new album In Plain Sight is a “must hear” according to Rolling Stone.
Global Music: Oumou Sangaré, Arooj Aftab, DakhaBrakha & more
Plena Libre are multi-Grammy-nominated masters of the traditional Puerto Rican plena and bomba styles, fusing well-loved traditions with modern Afro-Caribbean influences. On July 1, they will be performing at Caramoor. With roots in Ukrainian folklore and music filtered through punk, cabaret, rock, and hip-hop, DakhaBrakha is an award-winning quartet from Kyiv. On July 14 they will combine various instruments from multiple countries and powerful vocals to create an evening of “ethnic chaos” and national pride.
Grammy Award-winner Oumou Sangaré mixes traditional African percussion, distinctive vocals, and progressive social criticism, returning to the Venetian Theater at Caramoor after 12 years on July 15. She will perform a program that ranges from traditional Wassoulou music to contemporary African sounds, as well as songs from her recent critically acclaimed album, Timbuktu.
Brooklyn-based singer and composer Arooj Aftab, the first Pakistani woman to win a Grammy, brings her new project “Love in Exile” to Friends Field on July 29 with two of her most trusted collaborators, pianist Vijay Iyer and multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily. The New York Times said: “Her voice is contemplative, breathy and relaxed, with the intimacy of indie-pop and jazz though she occasionally uses the microtonal embellishments of classical South Asian singing.”
Brooklyn-based electronic indie band Balún fuses Caribbean rhythms, Dembow (old-school reggaeton), intelligent dance music (IDM), and dreamy dance-pop tunes with the traditional sounds of their Puerto Rican homeland. On Aug. 11, they will be performing “music that you can sleep to while dancing.” Aug. 16 brings what NPR describes as “a sonic experience of epic proportions” in the form of composer, bandleader, and bassist Michael Olatuja, blending the sounds of Lagos, Nigeria (his hometown), London (his birthplace), and New York (his current home).
Music and Meditation in the Garden
Promoting mindful listening, the Music & Meditation in the Garden series on three Saturday mornings in July in the Sunken Garden comprises a meditation led by Jennifer Llewelyn followed by a performance. The first event on July 1 features the duo of violinist and ERS alum Tessa Larkand bassist Michael Thurber, member of Stephen Colbert’s house band.
Next on July 15 is Celtic harpist Maeve Gilchrist, whose music has been described by the Irish Times as “buoyant, sprightly, and utterly beguiling” performing with guitarist Kyle Sanna. The series concludes with a string quartet performance from the Harlem Chamber Players on July 29.
Children’s Programming
Caramoor also mentors young professional musicians and provides music-centered educational programs for young children. One of Caramoor’s new ventures this summer is devoted to its youngest demographic: children ages 2–6 and their guardians. On Friday mornings at 11 a.m., the series Concerts for Little Ones, featuring world-class artists, will invite children to sing and dance to diverse styles of music. On July 7, the Musiquita program is presented by husband-and-wife team Blanca Cecilia González and Jesse Elder, who playfully explore Spanish and English music and song.
On June 18, a family concert with the Eyal Vilner Swing Band called “Gotta Swing!” will explore the history of jazz with dancers Nathan Bugh, Gaby Cook, Jennifer Jones, and Ray Davis.
Bassoonist Alexander Davis, one of Caramoor’s teaching artists, brings along some friends on July 14 to give a guided tour of his unique woodwind instrument. Finally, on July 21 two-time Grammy-nominated trumpeter Alphonso Horne brings the series to a close with the irresistible rhythms and energy of New Orleans jazz.
For more information on Caramoor’s 2023 summer season events and to purchase tickets, go here.
The 2023 Grammy awards were an eventful night full of catchy performances and some of the biggest stars in music. This year multiple artists from New York State won prestigious awards, including Best New Artist, and many more.
Beyoncé became the record holder for most Grammy award wins, photo by Francis Specker.
Beyoncé won four Grammys, making her total number of awards 32, the most that have ever been one (previously held by Georg Solti). She won Best R&B Song for “Cuff It,” Best Dance/Electronic Recording for “Break My Soul,” Best Traditional R&B Performance for “Plastic Off the Sofa,” and Best Dance/Electronic Music Album for Renaissance. Viola Davis made history by achieving EGOT status by winning the award for “Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling Recording.”
Lizzo won Record of the Year for “About Damn Time,” as well as Best Remixed Recording for “About Damn Time (Purple Disco Machine Remix).” Harry Styles, who has been a part of the music industry for a long time since his days in the boy band One Direction, won the prestigious Album of the Year award for Harry’s House, Best Pop Vocal Album, and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. Wet Leg, who sparked to fame after their debut, won Best Alternative Music Album for Wet Leg, and Best Alternative Music Performance for “Chaise Longue.”
To the surprise of many fans online, blues singer Bonnie Raitt won Song of the Year for “Just Like That.” She beat the likes of Adele, Beyoncé, Harry Styles, and more in that category. Best Rap Album saw Kendrick Lamar winning for Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, and Lamar also won Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance for “The Heart Part 5.” Kim Petras made history last night as the first transgender Grammy winner for her collaboration with Sam Smith for Unholy, winning in the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance category.
Samara Joy
Many artists from New York State won awards last night, including Bronx native Samara Joy, who won Best New Artist and Best Jazz Vocal Album for Linger Awhile. The Grateful Dead and art directors Lisa Glines, Doran Tyson, and Dave Van Patten won Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package forIn and Out of the Garden: Madison Square Garden ’81 ’82 ’83. Stephanie Economou from Long Island made history as the first winner of the Grammy for Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarök.
Lin-Manuel Miranda, from Inwood, won Best Song Written for Visual Media for “We Don’t Talk About Bruno (from Encanto).” The New York Youth Symphony made Grammy history last night, becoming the first youth orchestra to win Best Orchestral Performance. The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra & The Metropolitan Opera Chorus won a Grammy for Best Opera Recording. Finally, Attacca Quartet from Buffalo won Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance for Caroline Shaw: Evergreen.
The 2023 Grammy awards were full of historic moments, showcasing talent from all over New York State and beyond. From dazzling fashion on the red carpet to over-the-top performances, the Grammys are one of the best nights in the music industry.
