Notable Music

01/07/2026

"Apple picks a live cover version of Frank Sinatra’s ‘The Best Is Yet to Come’ by Cy Coleman as an important track; indeed, we can hear the jazz sensibility strikingly as the double-bass keeps time beneath it all. “Out of the tree of life I just picked me a plum / You came along, and everything started to hum,” he sings dashingly, lyrics that might’ve easily come from an Apple tune."

Fiona Apple, as an artist, needs no introduction, but perhaps some of the artists she finds most inspiring do. Here's 15 of them.

01/06/2026

"Music brings people together, strengthens social movements, and helps define cultures. Allowing algorithms to use stolen human creativity to bring about these emotions and relationships should give us great pause." -- Tift Merritt

"Pushing humans aside for their inefficiency and creative process is a pattern we need to interrupt at first sight," says Tift Merritt

01/06/2026

01/02/2026

12/21/2025

Tift Merritt: “Last Day I Knew What to Do”

In August, Raleigh musician Tift Merritt marked the 20th anniversary of Tambourine, her Grammy-nominated sophomore album, with a special collection: a reissue of Tambourine accompanied by Time and Patience, a compilation of acoustic demos and unreleased songs. Merritt led the release with “Last Day I Knew What to Do,” a song originally recorded for Tambourine in the early 2000s, but left off the album. It’s a bright, brassy, toe-tapping track, a reflection on the passage of time that has only gained more meaning with two decades between its recording and now. Merritt’s music often deals in missed calls and old lovers and hard-won wisdom and twisty turns of phrase, as in this song, where the resolve of a young woman trying to stand her ground in a tough industry shine keenly through: “Everybody’s got a vodka drink / Nobody says what they mean / They’ll chase you out of your own life.” —SE

Songs that stuck with us this year, with releases from Triangle artists like Reese McHenry, Tre. Charles, Jooselord, and more.

12/16/2025

The all-Australian cast shines in this production of the Tony Award-winning musical Sweet Charity.

12/16/2025

Happy Holidays from the studio. I’m so excited for you to hear. Goodness, kindness and joy to all of us this season and lots of loud singing from us all in the new year! xx Tift

12/14/2025

"The show’s pivotal marriage proposal scene, opposite Jake Speer as Oscar Lindqvist, is so endearing it will rip your heart out."

To close out their 2025 Concert Series, Prospero Arts and QPAC present Sweet Charity, a hopelessly romantic musical – in concert for a very limited season.

12/12/2025

12/11/2025

12/10/2025

Full casting has been announced for the UK and Ireland tour of Barnum, the classic Broadway musical that celebrates the life of the world’s greatest showman, P.T. Barnum, which begins its tour at Theatre Royal Windsor on 30 January. Music by Cy Coleman, Lyrics by Michael Stewart:

Step right up! Full cast for BARNUM revealed today!

Starring alongside Lee Mead are Monique Young as Charity Barnum, Penny Ashmore as Jenny Lind, Dominique Planter as Joice Heth, and Fergus Rattigan as General Tom Thumb.

They are joined by Elena Buck, Gianpaolo Candelaria, Eamonn Cox, James Gill, Jessica Jolleys, Kevin Oliver Jones, Emma Jane Morton, Sophie Precious Muringu, Lennin Nelson-McClure, Emily Odunsi, André Rodrigues, Ben Scott, Laura Sillett, Tom Sowinski, Tom Sterling and Niki Tsonopoulou.