Speranza Scappucci to become Royal Opera's principal guest conductor

Speranza Scappucci will become principal guest conductor of London’s Royal Opera starting with the 2025-26 season. Her appointment was announced by the company on Monday. The 50-year-old Italian, a graduate of the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome and the Juilliard...

CNN chief apologizes to employees for distracting from work

NEW YORK (AP) — Chris Licht, the embattled chief executive of CNN, apologized to network employees on Monday for distracting from their work and promised to “fight like hell” to earn their trust amid criticism of his year at the helm. Licht's tenure hit a low point last week...

Celebrity birthdays for the week of June 11-17

Celebrity birthdays for the week of June 11-17 June 11: Singer Joey Dee of Joey Dee and the Starliters is 83. Actor Roscoe Orman (“Sesame Street”) is 79. Actor Adrienne Barbeau (“Maude”) is 78. Drummer Frank Beard of ZZ Top is 74. Singer Graham Russell of Air Supply is 73....

Too much information? Jason Isbell believes opening your life to fans builds a stronger bond

NEW YORK (AP) — If Jason Isbell is keeping many more secrets, it's hard to imagine what they might be. The singer-songwriter and his wife, fellow musician Amanda Shires, open their lives for public consumption in a manner unusual even to artists who mine their own world for...

How the most 'incompetent talk show host of all time' keeps getting guests

LOS ANGELES (AP) — “The Eric Andre Show” is ostensibly not a series that lends itself to longevity. Its titular star, who plays a version of himself and satirizes talk shows by putting unsuspecting celebrity guests through hellish interviews, has become considerably more famous since the...

Tony Award-nominee Sara Bareilles sees a future with both stage work and her music

NEW YORK (AP) — When Sara Bareilles signed on for a two-week, stripped down production of “Into the Woods” off-Broadway, she had no idea the adventure would lead to Broadway and a Tony Award nomination. She also had no idea it would become a moving tribute to composer Stephen Sondheim. ...

Young Kabuki actor's debut breaks Japanese theater traditions

TOKYO (AP) — Ten-year-old Maholo Terajima Ghnassia loves watching anime and playing baseball. He likes making beats and whisper ASMR. And he's breaking conventions in Japan’s 420-year-old Kabuki theater tradition. In Kabuki, all the roles are played by men, including beautiful...

Tommy Prine doesn't dodge his father's legacy but makes his own way in compelling debut

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Standing before a packed house at The Basement, one of Nashville’s most intimate music venues, Tommy Prine talked about the death of his father. “It sucks to lose a parent at any age — in my case when he was the world’s greatest songwriter,” he...

Jury finds ‘That ’70s Show’ star Danny Masterson guilty of 2 counts of rape in retrial where Scientology played key role

Heyward to become music director of Mostly Mozart, which will get new name

NEW YORK (AP) — Jonathon Heyward will succeed Louis Langrée as music director of Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Orchestra, which will be given a new and as yet undetermined name by the summer of 2024. The 30-year-old conductor will start a three-year contract in 2024, the...