“One of the most successful and enduring alternative artists to emerge from the eighties –- intact and uncompromised.” —Vogue
"…gentle, lush, and magnificent" —The Daily Telegraph
DALLAS (May 6, 2010) – The AT&T Performing Arts Center and KXT will present Natalie Merchant in concert on August 19 at 8 p.m. in the Center’s Winspear Opera House. The nationwide, tour in support of her new album Leave Your Sleep, will be Merchant’s first major outing in seven years. Merchant and her eight-piece band will perform new material as well as favorites from throughout her career. Tickets go on sale Saturday, May 8, at 10 a.m.
Tickets for Natalie Merchant range from $42.50 to $62.50 and can be purchased online at www.attpac.org/nataliemerchant, by phone at 214.880.0202, at the AT&T Performing Arts Center Box Office at the Winspear Opera House, 2403 Flora Street (Monday through Saturday, 10 am – 6 pm; Sunday 11 am – 4 pm), or at the remote box office at Park Place Lexus Plano at 1025 Preston Road.
Leave Your Sleep, out now on Nonesuch Records, has received critical acclaim with Entertainment Weekly praising its “gorgeous arrangements of dreamy chamber folk,” The Daily Beast calling it “soothing and electric,” and the BBC citing its “sheer ravishing beauty.” The tour launch follows a series of high profile appearances, including “Good Morning America,” “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and NPR’s “Morning Edition,” as well as a performance at the annual TED Conference in February.
Her first studio album since 2003’s The House Carpenter’s Daughter, Leave Your Sleep is the culmination of six years of research and collaboration and is, in Merchant’s words, “the most elaborate project I have ever completed or even imagined.” A two-disc set, Leave Your Sleep is a collection of songs adapted from poems selected by Merchant including pieces by both well-known and obscure writers. Featured are works by British Victorians, early- and mid-20th century Americans, and contemporary writers, as well as anonymous nursery rhymes and lullabies. Among the authors included are Ogden Nash, E.E. Cummings, Robert Louis Stevenson, Christina Rossetti, Edward Lear, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and Robert Graves.
In addition to this new method of creating lyrics, Merchant also stretches out musically on Leave Your Sleep by collaborating with a broad spectrum of artists including the Wynton Marsalis Quartet, Medeski Martin & Wood, The Fairfield Four, The Chinese Music Ensemble of New York, the Ditty Bops, members of the New York Philharmonic, The Klezmatics, Lúnasa, and Hazmat Modine. The album was co-produced by Merchant with Andres Levin and engineered by Nick Wollage.
Merchant—who has sold millions of records worldwide over the course of her recording career—has remained busy in the time since her last studio album by curating compilations for both 10,000 Maniacs’ Campfire Songs and her own Retrospective. Additionally, Merchant performed live to the accompaniment of Philip Glass, Dr. John, Pete Seeger, and Wynton Marsalis, and collaborated with British composer Gavin Bryars as part of The Royal Shakespeare Company’s Complete Works series.
About the AT&T Performing Arts Center
Open since October 2009, the AT&T Performing Arts Center is a vibrant destination for entertainment in the heart of the downtown Dallas Arts District. The Center presents a variety of programs, including its Lexus Broadway Series, Brinker International Forum, JAZZ ROOTS and, in association with TITAS, contemporary dance and music, and other performances. The Center also provides performance space for The Dallas Opera, Dallas Theater Center, Dallas Black Dance Theatre and Anita N. Martinez Ballet Folklorico, in unparalleled venues set within a 10-acre urban park.
The Dallas Fort Worth Lexus Dealer Association is the title sponsor of the Center’s Lexus Broadway Series. Lexus is the official vehicle of the Center and its resident companies, the official valet sponsor and the naming rights holder for the Center’s two underground parking areas. RideCentric is the Official Ground Transportation Provider of the Center.
More information on the AT&T Performing Arts Center is available at www.attpac.org.
About the AT&T Performing Arts Center:
The AT&T Performing Arts Center, a new multi-venue Center for music, opera, theatre and dance will open in October 2009, completing the 25-year vision of the Dallas Arts District. The Center will provide multi-state-of-the-art facilities woven together by an urban park covering more than ten acres to create a dynamic cultural destination that will be unparalleled in the world. The Center will feature the following:
- The Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House, designed in a modern horseshoe configuration, will seat 2,200 (with capacity up to 2,300), designed by Foster + Partners.
- The Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre will serve as a gateway to the Dallas Arts District from the downtown Dallas business center and will seat 600, designed by REX/OMA, Joshua Prince-Ramus (partner in charge) and Rem Koolhaas.
- The completely new Annette Strauss Artist Square will be the Center’s outdoor entertainment venue, designed by Foster + Partners.
- The City Performance Hall will provide main stage production space for many of Dallas’ smaller performing arts organizations, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
- The Elaine D. and Charles A. Sammons Park will unify the venues within a lush urban oasis and will create a dynamic cultural destination in downtown Dallas, designed by Michel Desvigne.
- Two underground parking areas that will accommodate more than 850 vehicles.
The Dallas Fort Worth Lexus Dealer Association is the title sponsor of the Center’s Lexus Broadway Series, the official vehicle of the Center and its resident companies, the official valet sponsor and the naming rights holder for the Center’s two underground parking areas. More information on the AT&T Performing Arts Center is available at www.attpac.org.
Contact:
Maria May
AT&T Performing Arts Center
214.978.2834
maria.may@attpac.org