Acclaimed U.S. singer, saxophonist and songwriter Curtis Stigers returns to Dublin this August to join the RTÉ Concert Orchestra in concert with Golden Globe-nominated arranger and conductor Brian Byrne, for a very special concert celebrating the songs and songwriters who have inspired him through his three-decade-plus recording and touring career.
For the Love of the Song features songs by John Lennon, Randy Newman, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Leonard Cohen, George Gershwin and many more, as well as Curtis's own greatest hits.
We asked Curtis for his choice cultural picks
FILM
I've read that The Banshees of Inisherin has split film audiences, but I thought it was marvellous. As is often the case with Martin McDonagh’s work, it’s at times savage and punishingly sad, but I took it all in as an allegorical fable and that seemed to make it hurt a touch less. And, like much of his work, it’s funny, in a bracing sort of way. Of course the acting is extraordinary. Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon, Barry Keoghan and Colin Farrell all richly deserved their Oscar nominations, but the donkey was robbed.
MUSIC
I’ve been listening to Brandy Clark’s new eponymous release a lot. I can’t get through the first song without choking back tears. The second song kicks in and they’re streaming down my face. Don’t even talk to me about the third song. This album gets to me. Brandy Clark has been writing hit songs for Nashville artists and recording albums as a singer/songwriter for years but she’s never quite fit into that world. This is a bit of a career reboot. The brilliant, prolific singer/songwriter Brandi Carlile produced, and helped frame Clark in a way that makes these songs soar well above and beyond the bland country/pop we hear on radio these days. Just be sure to bring a box of tissues.
BOOK
My friend and fellow Idahoan Anthony Doerr won the Pulitzer Prize for his 2014 bestselling novel All the Light We Cannot See, and followed it up in 2021 with another masterpiece, Cloud Cuckoo Land. Set in several historical eras ranging from ancient Greece and 15th century-Constantinople to present-day Idaho and a 22nd-century spaceship, it’s an epic love story about books and storytelling, and a cautionary tale about our destruction of the planet.
TV
I finally gathered up the nerve to watch Chernobyl, the HBO mini-series about the 1986 nuclear plant disaster in the Soviet Union. It came out in 2019 but I just couldn’t bring myself to brave it before now. We know how bad this turns out, right? Well, guess what, it’s worse. But the show is so bloody good.
It’s less a series than a five-and-a-half hour movie in chapters, and the episodes zoom by. The cast is massive and extraordinary and they all speak in their own accents, rather than putting on dodgy 'Russian’ accents. It’s brutal, it’s heartbreaking, it’s infuriating, but it’s also beautiful and inspiring. So many courageously gave their lives to save millions, to literally save the world.
PODCAST
While most podcasts are platforms for interviews, political punditry or exploring a particular theme, Imaginary Advice is a rare bird indeed. Edinburgh-born writer/performer Ross Sutherland creates monthly stand-alone audio-fiction experiments that are like nothing you’ve ever heard. I think he’s making some of the most original and exciting art – of any kind – being created these days. It's smart, funny, dramatic, spooky, poetic, and entertaining as hell. I’m addicted. Ross is on hiatus right now, taking care of his newborn son, but there’s a treasure trove of episodes waiting for you. Listen now and thank me later.
GIG
Before my Irish tour began last November, my dear old friend Paul Brady took me along to the National Concert Hall as his guest to see mandolinist/singer/songwriter Chris Thile. It was mind-blowing. Music just pours out of the guy like fresh spring water. At the end of that same tour I stuck around Dublin an extra day to attend what was likely to be one of the final concerts ever by the legendary Irish supergroup consisting of Paul Brady, Andy Irvine, Dónal Lunny and Kevin Burke, at Vicar Street. It was everything I’d hoped, the fulfilment of a lifelong musical dream for me. Also, keep an ear out for my fellow Idaho boy, Josh Ritter, coming to the NCH 24 and 25 October. He’s a terrific singer/songwriter and he penned the most romantic love song about a mummy I’ve ever heard. Seriously.
Curtis Stigers joins the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and conductor/arranger Brian Byrne on Friday 25th August at the National Concert Hall, Dublin - find out more here.
