Sting.com . What's New

Guitar signed by Sting to go under the hammer for Cumbria flood victims...

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 04:00:01 -0400

Rock memorabilia enthusiasts are buzzing with the news that a bass guitar signed by Sting will go under the hammer to help raise funds for Cumbria's flood victims.

The guitar is up for auction on March 25th in Cockermouth as part of Mitchells antique furniture, fine art and collector's sale. Money raised from the sale will go towards the Cumbria Community Foundation's Flood Recovery Fund. £2.2m has been raised for Cumbria's flood victims and nearly £1m has been given out in grants to date.

The choice of venue for the sale of Lot 573 is an apt one: Mitchells were instrumental in helping local businesses during the Cockermouth floods, providing 14 temporary relocation units for flood-affected businesses.

The vintage-style guitar, a Fender Sting Precision Bass with a two-colour sunburst finish, has been signed by Sting on the pick guard under the strings.

Cllr Gary Strong, Cumbria County Council's Cabinet member responsible for culture, said:

"The breadth and depth of the flood recovery fundraising efforts have been remarkable. Last month we had the Concert for Cumbria featuring Lesley Garrett and now another world-renowned musician has stepped forward to help out. Auctioning this guitar signed by Sting just the day after Cockermouth's Main Street will be reopened is a fitting message to the world that the town is back in business."

Mitchells director Mark Wise said:

"This guitar is a real Fender Precision Bass, a proper musical instrument and not a cheap and cheerful off-the-shelf budget guitar. It is valuable in its own right and with the association and Sting's actual signature, it should prove a real investment for any musician or collector."

Dallas performance update...

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:55:09 -0400

The Dallas performance of Sting featuring the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, previously scheduled for June 26th, has been cancelled. Unfortunately, we will be unable to reschedule this show. We apologize for the inconvenience.

More Concert Dates Added today To Summer Tour; Presales Begin Tomorrow For nine Shows...

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 02:45:01 -0400

We are pleased to announce nine new shows in Eastern Canada and the US to the forthcoming "An Evening With Sting featuring The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra Conducted By Steven Mercurio" tour.

New dates in Canada (London, Toronto and Ottawa), in addition to the nine US shows announced March 9th (see below grid), will be available for presale to Fan Club members tomorrow, Wednesday, March 17. There will be no American Express® presale offered for the Canadian concert dates.

The six newly announced US dates - shows in West Palm Beach, Tampa, Bristow, Detroit, Cincinnati, and Saratoga - will be available for presale to Fan Club members beginning next Wednesday, March 24. Sting's previously announced concert at Atlanta's Chastain Park will join the newly announced US dates with its own Fan Club presale on Wednesday, March 24.

On Sale Dates

(All 10am)

Date
City
Venue

Public

Fan Club

Jun 2
Vancouver, BC
Centre For the Performing Arts
Mar 8
Mar 5

Jun 4
Portland, OR
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
Mar 15
Mar 10

Jun 5
Portland, OR
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
Mar 15
Mar 10

Jun 6
Seattle, WA
White River Amphitheatre
Mar 22
Mar 17

Jun 9
Morrison, CO
Red Rocks Park &
Amphitheatre
Mar 8
Mar 5

Jun 10
Salt Lake City, UT
USANA Amphitheatre
Mar 22
Mar 17

Jun 12
Concord, CA
Sleep Train Pavilion
Mar 15
Mar 10

Jun 13
San Diego, CA
Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre
Mar 15
Mar 10

Jun 15
Los Angeles, CA
Hollywood Bowl
Mar 8
Mar 5

Jun 16
Irvine, CA
Verizon Amphitheatre
Mar 15
Mar 10

Jun 18
Las Vegas, NV
MGM Grand
Mar 15
Mar 10

Jun 21
St. Paul, MN
Xcel Centre
Mar 22
Mar 17

Jun 23
St. Louis, MO
Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
Mar 22
Mar 17

Jun 25
Houston, TX
Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
Mar 22
Mar 17

Jun 28
Atlanta, GA
Chastain Park
Mar 27
Mar 24

Jul 2
West Palm Bch, FL
Cruzan Amphitheatre
Mar 29
Mar 24

Jul 3
Tampa, FL
Ford Amphitheatre
Mar 29
Mar 24

Jul 6
Uncasville, CT
Mohegan Sun Arena
Mar 22
Mar 17

Jul 9
Atlantic City, NJ
Borgata
Mar 20
Mar 17

Jul 10
Camden, NJ
Susquehanna Bank Centre
Mar 22
Mar 17

Jul 11
Bristow, VA
Jiffy Lube Live Amphitheatre
Mar 27
Mar 24

Jul 16
Detroit, MI
DTE Energy Music Theatre
Mar 29
Mar 24

Jul 17
Chicago, IL
Ravinia Festival
Apr 22

Apr 19

Jul 18
Chicago, IL
Ravinia Festival
Apr 22
Apr 19

Jul 20
Cincinnati, OH
Riverbend Amphitheatre
Mar 29
Mar 24

Jul 21
London, ON
John Labatt Centre
Mar 22
Mar 17

Jul 23
Toronto, ON
Molson Amphitheatre
Mar 22
Mar 17

Jul 24
Montreal, QC
Bell Centre
Mar 15
Mar 10

Jul 25
Ottawa, QC
Scotiabank Place
Mar 22
Mar 17

Jul 29
Mansfield, MA
Comcast Center
Mar 15
Mar 10

Jul 30
Bethel, NY
Bethel Woods
Mar 15
Mar 10

Jul 31
Saratoga, NY
Saratoga Performing Arts
Centre
Mar 29
Mar 24

Additional dates and venues to soon be announced.

Backed by the 45-piece Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra and a quartet consisting of longtime Sting guitarist Dominic Miller, David Cossin (multi-percussionist), Jo Lawry (vocalist) and Ira Coleman (bassist), Sting's new tour will see him performing his most celebrated songs re-imagined for symphonic arrangement, conducted by Steven Mercurio (Pavarotti, Bocelli). Among the reinterpreted selections with brand new orchestrations are fan-favorites such as "Roxanne," "Next To You," "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" and "Every Breath You Take," along with notable songs from Sting's enduring solo career, including "Englishman in New York," "Fragile," "Russians," "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You," "Fields of Gold," and "Desert Rose."

Members of the Sting Fan Club will have an exclusive presale window for "An Evening With Sting" shows with tickets coming from a separate, members-only allotment. Legacy members will have a one hour advance window when presales open at 10AM (local time) with the presales then being opened up to all members at 11AM (local time).

Not a member of the Fan Club? Join today for presale ticket access, complete coverage of Sting's latest world tour, admission into Sting's worldwide fan community and more!

American Express® cardmembers will also have the exclusive opportunity to purchase advance tickets from a separate allotment for some shows with details mailed to cardmembers weekly directly from American Express®.

Sting Premium Ticket Packages will be available during both presales and, where packages remain, during the public sale. To learn more about Sting Ticket packages, click here.

Sting With The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra Dallas Ticket Sales Suspended Due To Potential Scheduling Conflict

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:48:12 -0400

Dallas, TX (March 15, 2010)

Unfortunately, ticket sales for the Dallas performance of Sting featuring the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra previously planned for June 26 have been suspended due to a potential scheduling conflict. We hope to have this resolved in the next several days and will provide details as soon as they become available.

Additional Sting Concert Dates Announced; New Presales Begin Tomorrow...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 06:50:01 -0500

New concert dates in Seattle, Salt Lake City, St. Paul, St. Louis, Houston, Uncasville, Philadelphia, Atlantic City and Montreal were just added to the forthcoming "An Evening With Sting featuring The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra Conducted By Steven Mercurio" North American tour.

STING Featuring the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra Conducted by Steve Mercurio Presented by Xerox

On Sale Dates

(All 10am)

Date
City
Venue

Public

Fan Club

Jun 2
Vancouver, BC
Centre For the Performing Arts
Mar 8
Mar 5

Jun 4
Portland, OR
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
Mar 15
Mar 10

Jun 5
Portland, OR
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
Mar 15
Mar 10

Jun 6
Seattle, WA
White River Amphitheatre
Mar 22
Mar 17

Jun 9
Morrison, CO
Red Rocks Park &
Amphitheatre
Mar 8
Mar 5

Jun 10
Salt Lake City, UT
USANA Amphitheatre
Mar 22
Mar 17

Jun 12
Concord, CA
Sleep Train Pavilion
Mar 15
Mar 10

Jun 13
San Diego, CA
Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre
Mar 15
Mar 10

Jun 15
Los Angeles, CA
Hollywood Bowl
Mar 8
Mar 5

Jun 16
Irvine, CA
Verizon Amphitheatre
Mar 15
Mar 10

Jun 18
Las Vegas, NV
MGM Grand
Mar 15
Mar 10

Jun 21
St. Paul, MN
Xcel Centre
Mar 22
Mar 17

Jun 23
St. Louis, MO
Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
Mar 22
Mar 17

Jun 25
Houston, TX
Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
Mar 22
Mar 17

Jun 28
Atlanta, GA
Chastain Park
Mar 27
Mar 24

Jul 6
Uncasville, CT
Mohegan Sun Arena
Mar 22
Mar 17

Jul 9
Atlantic City, NJ
Borgata
Mar 20
Mar 17

Jul 10
Camden, NJ
Susquehanna Bank Centre
Mar 22
Mar 17

Jul 17
Chicago, IL
Ravinia Festival
Apr 22

Apr 19

Jul 18
Chicago, IL
Ravinia Festival
Apr 22
Apr 19

Jul 24
Montreal, QB
Bell Centre
Mar 15
Mar 10

Jul 29
Mansfield, MA
Comcast Center
Mar 15
Mar 10

Jul 30
Bethel, NY
Bethel Woods
Mar 15
Mar 10

Additional dates and venues to soon be announced.

The presale for Montreal, in addition to the other shows announced March 2nd (see above grid), will be available to fan club members tomorrow, Wednesday, March 10. Tickets for the newly announced US shows will be available for presale on Wednesday, March 17. These concerts join the previously announced and currently on-sale dates in Los Angeles, Denver and Vancouver.

Backed by the 45-piece Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra and a quartet consisting of longtime Sting guitarist Dominic Miller, David Cossin (multi-percussionist), Jo Lawry (vocalist) and Ira Coleman (bassist), Sting's new tour will see him performing his most celebrated songs re-imagined for symphonic arrangement. Among the reinterpreted selections with brand new orchestrations are fan-favorites such as "Roxanne," "Next To You," "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" and "Every Breath You Take," along with notable songs from Sting's enduring solo career, including "Englishman in New York," "Fragile," "Russians," "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You," "Fields of Gold," and "Desert Rose."

Members of the Sting Fan Club will have an exclusive presale window for An Evening With Sting shows with tickets coming from a separate, members-only allotment. Legacy members will have a one hour advance window when presales open at 10am local with the presale then being opened up to all members at 11am local.

Not a member of the Fan Club? Join today for presale ticket access, complete coverage of Sting's latest world tour, admission into Sting's worldwide fan community and more!

American Express® cardmembers will also have the exclusive opportunity to purchase advance tickets from a separate allotment with details mailed to cardmembers weekly directly from American Express®.

Sting Premium Ticket Packages will be available during both presales and, where packages remain, during the public sale. To learn more about Sting Ticket packages, click here.

Check out Sting in the Handsome Men's Club...

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 07:37:36 -0500

Click above to watch The Handsome Men's Club from Jimmy Kimmel's After The Awards show...

Forthcoming TV & Radio appearances...

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 10:00:01 -0500

Please use this listing as a guide only for timings and check your LOCAL TV listings to avoid disappointment. These listings do not pretend to be complete, so if you hear of any TV or Radio shows being broadcast in your country that are not mentioned here be sure to let us know. If you have any information about an upcoming show, even if it is in your own language, please email details to us at at daveandwendy @sting.com so we can include it here. Please note that US times given are ET.

March 7
Channel 4 | 3.45pm (UK) | 'The Simpsons' (UK)
Radio Bart: Krusty the Clown brings his celebrity friends, along to including Sting, to record a song "We're Sending Our Love Down the Well" to benefit a boy trapped in old well. Realizing things are getting out of hand Bart admits to the prank but only after falling down the well for real, leaving the only two people willing to help him get out - Homer and Sting.

March 7
ABC | 00.05am (USA) | 'Jimmy Kimmel Live: After The Academy Awards' (USA)
On a historic night where Jimmy Kimmel has previously debuted such pieces as the "I'm F***ing Ben Affleck" video and Mel Gibson's "The Colonel," the fifth consecutive "Jimmy Kimmel Live: After The Academy Awards"® will feature another celebrity filled surprise with appearances from such notables as Sting, Robert Downey Jr. Matthew McConaughey, Rob Lowe, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner and many more airing on Sunday, March 7 on ABC immediately following the late local news (12:05-1:05 a.m., ET, approx).

March 10
PBS | 10pm (USA) | 'Great Performances - Sting: Songs From the Labyrinth' (USA)
"Sting: Songs From the Labyrinth" features the works of composer John Dowland (1563-1626) performed by Sting and lute player Edin Karamazov. Included: "Come Again," "Flow My Tears," "Can She Excuse My Wrongs?" and "In Darkness Let Me Dwell."

March 13
ABC | 10pm (USA) | 'Jimmy Kimmel Live: After The Academy Awards' (USA)
On a historic night where Jimmy Kimmel has previously debuted such pieces as the "I'm F***ing Ben Affleck" video and Mel Gibson's "The Colonel," the fifth consecutive "Jimmy Kimmel Live: After The Academy Awards"® will feature another celebrity filled surprise with appearances from such notables as Sting, Robert Downey Jr. Matthew McConaughey, Rob Lowe, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner and many more airing on Sunday, March 7 on ABC immediately following the late local news (12:05-1:05 a.m., ET, approx).

March 14
Radio 3 | 10.15pm (UK) | 'Words and Music' (UK)
A sequence of poetry, prose and music on the subject of healing, with readings by Celia Imrie and Bill Paterson. Texts range from Jesus' healing miracles in the Gospels of the New Testatment to Florence Nightingale's advice on nursing. Doctors and nurses feature in works by HG Wells, Louisa M Alcott and Richard Gordon. Then there are spiritual, emotional and political healing as described by authors as diverse as Dorothy Parker, Robert Burns, Carol Ann Duffy and Nelson Mandela, interwoven with music by Wagner, John Adams, Durufle and Sting.

March 20
Sky Arts 1 |1.20am (UK) | 'Montreux Years 2006' (UK)
Sky Arts presents some of the top highlights from the 2006 Montreux Jazz Festival, featuring performances from Sting, The Strokes, Iggy Pop and Deep Purple.

April 1
Arte |11.35pm (Germany) | 'Jamsession mit Manu Katché und Alice Tumler' (Germany)
Die Musiksendung "Jamsession mit Manu Katché und Alice Tumler" bringt Rock-, Pop- und Worldmusic-Konzerte im Clubformat auf den Bildschirm. Wöchentlich, immer donnerstags, macht ARTE die Bühne frei für unterschiedliche Stars und Newcomer der internationalen Musikszene. Empfangen werden sie von dem französischen Schlagzeuger Manu Katché und seiner Ko-Moderatorin Alice Tumler. Diesmal zu Gast:: Sting, Blood Red Shoes und Balake Sissoko.

April 3
Sky Arts 1 | 12.10pm (UK) | 'Eric Clapton: Standing at the Crossroads' (UK)
Slowhand gives an intimate insight into his turbulent life and glittering career in this documentary. Includes interviews with Keith Richards, John Lee Hooker and Sting.

April 7
Arte |5am (Germany) | 'Jamsession mit Manu Katché und Alice Tumler' (Germany)
Die Musiksendung "Jamsession mit Manu Katché und Alice Tumler" bringt Rock-, Pop- und Worldmusic-Konzerte im Clubformat auf den Bildschirm. Wöchentlich, immer donnerstags, macht ARTE die Bühne frei für unterschiedliche Stars und Newcomer der internationalen Musikszene. Empfangen werden sie von dem französischen Schlagzeuger Manu Katché und seiner Ko-Moderatorin Alice Tumler. Diesmal zu Gast:: Sting, Blood Red Shoes und Balake Sissoko.

April 20
G.O.L.D. | 00.15am + 11.50pm (UK) | 'The Smell of Reeves & Mortimer' (UK)
Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer rustle up more off-the-wall humour. Here, they perform some magic tricks, and Sting is the special guest in Donald and Davey Stott's talk show.

Thanks to Ruediger

Sting has the city in a rapture... The 59-year-old singer's voice was in top form as he kicked the tempo a notch higher with a funk-jam highlighted by scat-style singing on the crowd-pleasing 'Roxanne'. Sting had the women screaming for more...

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 06:10:56 -0500

Sting has the city in a rapture...

It was truly a Super Thursday evening with the Derrinstown Stud-sponsored Super racecard kicking off the final weekend of racing of the Dubai International Racing Carnival and a post-race concert by the Sting.

The concert, which began at midnight, at the magnificent newly-built Meydan at Nad Al Sheba saw the 16 Grammy Award-winning singer perform a greatest hits filled set of his solo material as well as classics from The Police.

Dressed in all black, he warmed up the patient-but-freezing Dubai audience with 'Message In A Bottle' quickly followed by 'If I Ever Lose My Faith In You'. His four-piece touring band gave new energy to many of his old well-known hits throughout the night including 'Englishman In New York', the foot-tapping 'Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic' and acoustic intros to 'Fields Of Gold' and 'Shape Of My Heart' drew whistles and long rounds of applause.

"Dubai is amazing," he said as he conducted the audience masterfully through hand-clapping and singalongs on classics like 'If You Love Somebody Set Them Free', which also featured an extended guitar solo set.

The songs that had even the men in suits swaying and crooning were, of course, 'Every Breath You Take', 'Walking On The Moon'and the high-powered 'When The World Is Running Down'.

The 59-year-old singer's voice was in top form as he kicked the tempo a notch higher with a funk-jam highlighted by scat-style singing on the crowd-pleasing 'Roxanne'. Sting had the women screaming for more on one of his newer hits - 'Desert Rose' from his 'Brand New Day' album. The nearly two-hour concert ended with the gentle ballad 'Fragile' leaving the thousands of fans who had turned up with memories for a lifetime.

© Khaleej Times by Gita Rajan

Transfigured Nights - Sting's musical curiosity has led him to Dowland, Schumann, Schubert, and Bach. Sting talks to Symphony magazine about one of his newest passions: the orchestra...

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 12:32:49 -0500

Transfigured Nights...

Sting's musical curiosity has led him to Dowland, Schumann, Schubert, and Bach. Here, the rock legend talks about one of his newest passions: the orchestra.

I was brought up in the '50s, when there was only one radio station really - BBC Radio - so you could hear everything, from Beethoven's Fifth to music hall to the Beatles. I grew up with the taste that music was universal and not necessarily this ghettoized... this tribal ghetto. Although there are qualitative differences between music forms, and certainly skill differences, it's basically the same building blocks. And so I approach music that way. I have a great deal of respect for classical music - and awe, sometimes. Nonetheless I see it as a language that I can communicate in, and certainly be reached by.

I had a great experience last May when I worked with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and we put together a concert of my own compositions for orchestra. And we tried as far as possible to use the orchestra to its strengths, rather than, you know, what happens when pop singers work with an orchestra - they just play whole notes behind ballads, and it's kind of boring. The Chicago Symphony is a very rhythmic orchestra, so we wrote arrangements that we hope were challenging and fun for them to play. They certainly had a great time. I had a ball, standing in front of that band. Boy, can they blow!

That experience really inspired me, In January with the Philadelphia Orchestra, I played more or less the same program. It's a very exciting adventure for me. But I think it is a two-way commerce - that an orchestra exposed to my music may have an effect on the way I compose.

I like playing with musicians who can improvise, but who can also - if it's a classical player - be dyed-in-the-wool classicists. More and more classical players are familiar with pop music. They are familiar with its limitations, but also sometimes pop music is quite sublime. They don't have a prejudiced view about it. They are open to it. So I am always looking for people with flexible and open minds about music, because that's what I think it should be, that's where we have growth.

For one of the songs on my 2009 recording 'If On A Winter's Night...', I chose a fairly simple Schubert song - 'Der Leiermann' from 'Winterreise' - and I interpreted it in my own way. I think it is important for me to say to the classical world that my job is not to impersonate a classical performer or a classical singer. It's to interpret. I read music fairly well, I know what a C-sharp is, and I can read the value of the note. But I will not interpret that note the same way a trained, operatic bel canto tenor would. My technique is different. My emotional take on it is different. So, it's not an impersonation. Hopefully it's a respectful interpretation.

I enjoy performing in football stadiums as much as I enjoy performing in small clubs. I think there are different skill sets that are required. Your job in a large place is to make it an intimate event, so that the person at the top of the bleachers has some sort of connection with what you're doing. In a small club, your intention is to make a memorable event out of something that is small and intimate. They involve different ways of looking at and presenting music, different ways of singing, different gestures, perhaps. But I like the challenge. For me, success is having the freedom to explore new territory and making that territory, as far as possible, my own. But that involves in the first instance putting yourself out of your comfort zone. So I'm certainly outside my comfort zone with classical music, but I'm here to learn.

© Symphony

Sting talks to BlackBook about why he no longer buys Springsteen a birthday present...

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 03:27:36 -0500

Sting on Why He No Longer Buys Springsteen B-Day Presents

Musician, actor, activist, philanthropist, tantric sex enthusiast and probably everything else you associate with being awesome, Sting has done it all. The man is simply put, a chameleon. But even for someone with his versatility, his current project sounds like a total mind trip. Twin Spirits is the re-imagining of one of German composer Robert Schumann's most celebrated works. It's Sting (a classical music enthusiast) and his wife Trudie Styler, onstage, together as Schumann and the piano prodigy Clara respectively, reenacting the process of falling in love. They're backed by a group of musicians in in a production that's part opera, part spoken-word, part play and all Sting. Here is the man and the myth on his winter fetish, shopping for the Boss and Obama.

So why a winter album?

I've always loved snow, and the winter time, for me, is such a creative time. It's a time to reflect. It's a miserable time for a lot of people with long hours of darkness and frost, but also it's the season of the imagination. People sit around telling stories too. So I spent about six months researching the music of the winter season, from every available source: classical music, folk music, sacred music, secular music, pre-Christian ideas even. Also as global warming takes place, it's flattening out the seasons. And that I find worrying because psychologically we need them.

This connection to winter, it's not just an irrational love of big thick woolly jumpers?

[Laughs]I think we are always rushing around and we naturally use winter as a time to slow down. Animals hibernate. We're meant to reflect on the year before in order that we can move efficiently into the spring. It's pretty simple psychology, but often now we are disconnected from the seasons because of air-conditioning or global warming. So we are losing that sense of a cycle that had been useful to us for thousands of years. I mourn the loss of winter. Without it I think we're in a lot of trouble. I lived in a very gray, industrial town, but the snow would transform it into this magical landscape.

Your album 'Soul Cages' deals with growing up in Newcastle and on the new record, 'If On A Winter's Night', you return to this. And you sing about Soul Cakes! From 'Soul Cages' to 'Soul Cakes' - have you taken us all on a journey to look for the inner Geordie? [Ed note: Geordie is a British nickname for someone from Newcastle.]

I don't have to search very hard for the inner Geordie! I think he's always been in there. I'm certainly still very connected to my roots. On 'Soul Cages' I was trying to get over the death of my parents. Just trying to figure out how to deal with it. I think I did what most 'modern' people do, which is to try and ignore it, pretend it doesn't affect you, so you just work. You go to work the next day. So when my parents died nearly 20 years ago I went on tour for nearly a year and then did a play straight afterward with no break. It was all designed to keep my mind off this terrible thing. But I don't think this approach can ever possibly work, because you run away from it, but then it comes back and bites you in the leg. The big thing is it means that you're next in line in a way. And you have to deal with that.

Do you think you're extra aware of the winter as a Northerner?

Oh yeah, we are proud of our toughness up there. That's why when you watch my soccer team on a freezing cold day some of the fans will stand there half naked with no shirt on to demonstrate their hardness. They're nuts!

Do you think there is a built-in craziness to Geordie behavior?

Absolutely. And I do have that in abundance! Plus, as you point out correctly, I do like to wear a nice sweater.

You've come a long way from the bumble-bee t-shirt in The Police days to designer mohair...

I have. Maturing. Slowly but surely!

You turn 60 in two years time.

Thanks Andrew.

Hang on, I'm going somewhere with this. Did you call up your close friend Bruce Springsteen a couple of months ago when he hit the same milestone?

I did indeed. I called him because I like to see how my elders are getting on!

What did you buy The Boss for his 60th?

Actually we have an agreement now that we don't get each other presents. It just became too stressful.

Will you be taking the new album out on the road?

Absolutely, although it can only really be performed for a fairly short time. You couldn't really perform these songs in the summertime. It needs the season of winter to support it.

You're also busy staging Twin Spirits, a theater piece about this really tragic love story. Tell me about that.

It's the story of the passionate romance and subsequent marriage between composer Robert Schumann and a piano prodigy, Clara, which her father tried to wreck. It eventually resulted in Robert's attempted suicide and death in an asylum in 1856. I knew Schumann's music, but I didn't really know the story or Clara's music, which we play side by side to great effect with his.

Your wife Trudie plays Clara in the piece - how is it performing it live?

We've played it in total about six times, including one night on Broadway, but I found that it left the audiences kind of stunned. And crying! Which is kind of interesting! Some of the letters that Trudie as Clara reads out are very poignant. This love story provides a great introduction for people who don't normally listen to classical music. The passion of Robert and Clara's love is transcendent.

Does working with topics like suicide and winter depress you?

I don't think these topics are morbid or maudlin. I think mortality and madness are important topics to discuss!

Where do you go to escape winter?

I've still got a very close affinity to Brazil, although I don't go to the jungle as often these days. I think celebrity just gets in the way. So I limit my connection to fundraising rather than going out there to the Amazon. South America is just one of the most interesting places on the planet politically, religiously, economically and environmentally. A set of circumstances found me there 20 years ago and I don't regret it for a second. I feel very at home there.

Are you still close friends with the old Indian chief?

I haven't seen him for a long time now but I know he's safe in his jungle for now.

Did all the micky taking you received at the time for hanging around with the Indian chief get on your nerves?

Er, well yeah it did slightly, but 20 years later I'm still fighting the same fight. And now people are agreeing with those things I was talking about. You can get rid of motor cars and plane travel tomorrow but if we don't address chopping down the rain forests we are still fucked! And this is scientifically proven now. It's not just a feeling. The biggest contribution to greenhouse gasses is deforestation. And unless we stop that nothing else matters.

What do you think about Brazil getting to host the World Cup and then the Olympics in Rio in 2016?

Look they've got a long way to come before they host these events, but so has England, to be honest, before we host the Olympics.

Is there a charitable cause big enough for another Police reunion?

[Laughing] You know the answer to that!!!

Never rule anything out. Last time we spoke you couldn't have envisaged a black president in the USA. How do you think he's doing?

As right for the job as he is, Obama is facing enormous difficulties in moving the political system to his way of thinking. When I look at the health care crisis, it appalls that in a country like America you cannot get health insurance. Most people remain uncovered. And if you do get sick in America you could be left bankrupt no matter how much you are earning. It's tragic. The logic of the people who were against health care reform I just fail to see.

What did you make of Obama winning the Nobel prize?

I think he should really say, 'Look, I'll accept it, but in four years time when I've achieved something, but not until then.' I think he basically said something like it should be considered a call to arms, which was very smart. And by the way I'm not personally losing any sleep over never getting nominated for a Nobel over the rainforest campaign, even though 20 years later, I'm still fighting the fight for what I've been bleating on about for two decades!

© BlackBook by Andy Threlfall

New Sting Concert Dates Announced On The Eve Of Initial Presales...

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 06:42:01 -0500

New concert dates in Portland, Concord, San Diego, Irvine, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Montreal, Boston & Bethel were just added to the forthcoming An Evening With Sting Featuring The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra Conducted By Steven Mercurio North American tour.

STING
Featuring the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra
Conducted by Steve Mercurio
Presented by Xerox

Additional dates and venues to soon be announced.

The 10 new shows join the previously announced dates in Vancouver, Denver and Los Angeles - for which Fan Club presales begin on March 5th, followed by public sales on March 8th - as well as two dates at Chicago's renowned Ravinia Festival, which go onsale in mid-April.

Backed by the 45-piece Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra and a quartet consisting of longtime Sting guitarist Dominic Miller, David Cossin (multi-percussionist), Jo Lawry (vocalist) and Ira Coleman (bassist), Sting's new tour will see him performing his most celebrated songs re-imagined for symphonic arrangement. Among the reinterpreted selections with brand new orchestrations are fan-favorites such as "Roxanne," "Next To You," "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" and "Every Breath You Take," along with notable songs from Sting's enduring solo career, including "Englishman in New York," "Fragile," "Russians," "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You," "Fields of Gold," and "Desert Rose."

Not a member of the Fan Club? Join today for presale ticket access, complete coverage of Sting's latest world tour, admission into Sting's worldwide fan community and more!

Sting Premium Ticket Packages will be available during both presales and, where packages remain, during the public sale. To learn more about Sting Ticket packages, click here.

Buchanan's® Forever to 'Present' an unprecedented musical experience with Sting in May 2010 - Proceeds to Benefit the Diageo 'Learning for Life' program that provides education and life skills to thousands of individuals throughout Latin America...

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:50:34 -0500

Buchanan's® Forever is pleased to welcome Sting for performances on May 1, 6, and 8, 2010, in Caracas, Bogota and Mexico City, respectively. Sting is the latest addition to the roster of talent who have joined Buchanan's® Forever over the past three years and graced the stage in the name of social responsibility. Artists are chosen to perform with Buchanan's® Forever on the basis of their iconic status, history of philanthropic endeavours and willingness to support Diageo's philanthropic platform LEARNING FOR LIFE, which provides educational tools and life skills to thousands of individuals throughout Latin America & the Caribbean.

"I am pleased to be performing with Buchanan's Forever in support of Learning for Life" said Sting. "Education is really at the heart of improving societies large and small and ultimately the world. I congratulate Diageo for creating this initiative and hope these concerts help raise much needed funds for individuals throughout Latin America."

Sting returns to Mexico for Buchanan's® Forever after having played there three-years ago and to Venezuela following a performance over nine-years ago; moreover, it will be the first time that Sting performs in Colombia. An artist with a career that spans more than three decades, Sting has received 16 Grammy Awards, an Emmy and Golden Globe award, as well as three Academy Award nominations. Prior to his solo career, he was the principal songwriter, lead singer and bassist for the rock band, The Police. He is a member of both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He has also been committed to several causes over the years through various organizations including Amnesty International, Elton John AIDS Foundation, and The Rainforest Foundation, which he founded with his wife in 1989 to protect indigenous people and traditional populations of the world's rainforests. His latest performances in Latin America were with The Police in 2007 and in Brazil in 2009.

"Sting is an amazing artist and person whose presence will undoubtedly perpetuate the musical legacy we have created through Buchanan's Forever and enable us to reach our goal of raising 1 million dollars this year for Learning for Life," said Jose Moreno, Vice President for Scotch Whisky, Diageo Latin America & the Caribbean. "For this next edition of the campaign, funds will be raised through several means including tickets sales, product purchase, and on-site silent auctions."

Previous Buchanan's® Forever artists have included Elton John, James Blunt, Jon Bon Jovi, Fonseca, Fito Paez, Alek Syntek, Gerry Weil and Franco de Vita.

Sting will share the bill this year with legendary Latin artists who are joining Buchanan's Forever not only as performers, but as the programs' Learning for Life Ambassadors to help raise awareness and funds for the philanthropic platform.

For more information on Buchanan's Forever, please visit www.buchanansforever.com. You can also interact with us via Facebook on the "Buchanan's Forever" fan page, and on Twitter at twitter.com/buchanans4ever.

Buchanan's® Forever, a unique, intimate musical experience, honours the legacy of Buchanan's founder, James Buchanan, by way of an ongoing community enrichment program which forms part of DIAGEO's regional social responsibility platform, Learning for Life. Buchanan's® Forever will be held this year in Venezuela, Colombia and Mexico and in each country will support a charitable project that will directly impact each of these communities.

About Buchanan's®

Buchanan's® is a premium whisky brand first introduced in 1897, with a portfolio featuring three award-winning whiskies - BUCHANAN'S® De Luxe, BUCHANAN'S® Special Reserve and BUCHANAN'S® Red Seal. The BUCHANAN'S® whisky portfolio represents a range of unique and finely-crafted premium whiskies perfectly blended to suit every occasion, and which share a remarkable 110-year history and a commitment to quality. In 1898, James Buchanan was given the Royal warrant to supply the royal household with Buchanan's Whisky starting with Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales in 1898. In Latin America, BUCHANAN'S® De Luxe 12 year old is the best-selling premium 12-year whisky.

About Diageo

DIAGEO (Dee-AH-Gee-O) is the world's leading premium drinks business with an outstanding collection of beverage alcohol brands across spirits, wine and beer. These brands include, in addition to Buchanan's, Johnnie Walker, Old Parr, Guinness, Smirnoff, J&B, Baileys, Tanqueray, Red Stripe, Zacapa, Pampero and Navarro Correas wine.

Diageo is a global company, trading in some 180 countries around the world. The company is listed on both the New York Stock Exchange (DEO) and the London Stock Exchange (DGE). For more information about Diageo, its people, brands, and performance, visit us at http://www.diageo.com.

Asana, meditation and rock'n'roll - Sting and Trudie Styler talk yoga, the creative life, and human rights...

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 03:38:44 -0500

Asana, meditation and rock'n'roll - Sting and Trudie Styler talk yoga, the creative life, and human rights...

Sting and his wife of 27 years, Trudie Styler, are into yoga. They often invite musicians, friends, and yoga teachers for week long Visits to their estate in Tuscany, and they find that the stays can evolve into informal yoga retreats. The duo founded the Rainforest Foundation in 1989 to tackle deforestation. They're passionate about effecting environmental, social, and political change. Now Styler is showcasing her Ashtanga Yoga training on Warrior Yoga, a DVD produced by Gaiam, which she hopes will inspire people to practice yoga and find their-inner strength.

How long have you been practicing yoga?

STYLER Nineteen years ago, I was looking for a way to get rid of the pounds added during pregnancy. Dominic Miller, Sting's guitarist, had a friend named Danny Paradise in town. Dominic described Danny as a "freaky-deaky yoga guy." I remember he arrived with his satchel and bandana, looking quite New Age. The first thing that happened was our dog peed on his satchel. I thought, "Oh, no, this is a disaster!" But be was sweet enough to smile about it. Right then I thought, "There's already something good about this man." He demonstrated the first Ashtanga Yoga practice that I'd seen. Pretty soon he was staying for a few weeks, and we did a class every day. It was quite challenging, but bit by bit we came to really appreciate it. Now, nearly two decades later, I have great joy in participating in Mysore-style classes. That's how it began.

What does your practice consist of today?

STING I try and do between 60 and 90 minutes of yoga a day - preferably before breakfast, but sometimes it's later in the day if I'm on tour. What struck me at first was that I didn't think I'd like it. When I was younger, I preferred more aggressive exercise, such as running, and didn't fancy the idea of sitting on the floor contemplating my navel, as I rather naively considered it at the time. Of course, I was totally wrong. Ashtanga Yoga requires a great deal of physical and mental effort, and it wasn't long before I became hooked.

STYLER I travel and take different yoga classes in whatever town I'm in. I practice two or three times a week. But I meditate every day; on waking and before sleep. The morning meditation sets me up for the day and gives me a great sense of calm. I can go into my meetings feeling calm and empowered. I can stay clear and really listen to what's coming up. That's an everyday thing. One of the most wonderful things about yoga is that it's a practice for every day of your life. I was lucky enough to have a private class with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, who stayed in our home. Once I was complaining about my body being stiff, and he shouted: "Bad woman! Body not stiff; mind stiff!" He smiled and laughed as he said it. Of course, he's right. If we give in to the thought that this is the way things are, we fix it in our minds. We need to make space for the possibility that the next time we practice, things will have opened up. If you tune in during meditation, it gives you a sense of who you are and where you are today. It's great to have that information at the start of your day. It's not as if your energy is fixed forever; it might be for that hour or that day your body feels sore or tired. But yoga and meditation inform you where you are with your life.

Has yoga brought you closer as a couple?

STYLER Yes, Sting and I have been together for 27 years. You get to know a person over that amount of time. The mainstream press made much of "Tantra and Sting and Trudie"; it was a running joke. But, jokes aside, what's important is making time for one another. Sustaining intimacy is an important ingredient in chemistry. People say to us that, after all these years, we seem like we are in love. It's because being together for us still feels fresh. It's about devoting time to one another talking, sharing, valuing one another, and giving each other pleasure. But yoga helps with all relationships - working relationships, friendships, parenting - because it helps With listening, patience, tolerance, understand!ng. People yell when they're really crying on the inside. By listening on a deeper level, you feel another person's vibration. Yoga practice is an exercise in listening, and it teaches you to tune in to your relationships.

How has your practice inspired your creative life?

STING It composes my mind; it gives me more energy, and, as a consequence, I find I am more productive. As a singer, I also think some aspects of yoga, such as breathing properly and eating well, are key to maintaining a healthy voice. So, yes, yoga is an important part of my creative life. I'm sure my lung capacity has also increased - I can certainly hold notes longer than I used to be able to. For me, yoga has become more than just exercise: It's about control, discipline, and emotion, and those are useful tools for any songwriter.

STYLER I produce films, typically with first-time writer-directors, like I did with Guy Ritchie. Yoga helps me be braver about making choices. In yoga, you think, "How on earth will I ever be able to do Hanumanasana? It seems so hopelessly far away from what I can do." But you don't have to do it in one day; or even ever. And you aren't a lesser person for not doing Hanumanasana. But in your head, you might tell yourself; "I'm going to do my best to do a version of Hanumanasana that doesn't injure me. It's my goal to get to my idea of Hanumanasana." I apply that to working with risk. Not many people in Hollywood are willing to work with unknowns, but it doesn't matter to me. Stories are what fire my imagination. When I can connect to a story as I connect to an asana, then I know I can do it. I check in with myself. "OK, be honest with yourself, Trudie. Do you have a connection here?" I don't force it anymore. Forcing something I'm not connected to isn't really going to go very far, so I have to have the honesty and integrity and courage to walk away from something, as well as to have the courage to jump into something that I feel is important, even if it's like, "Wow, this is going to take years."

You are involved in social causes. Where does your sense of justice come from?

STYLER My mother. We lived in government housing and had no money. My dad was a factory worker. When I was two, I got hit by a truck. My mother took the company to court and basically said, "You guys ruined my daughter's face. She might need her looks one day." The company didn't want to take responsibility because the driver was underage, but my mom had courage and got some money to compensate for this severe injury that I sustained. So this voice has been active in me for many years. My mom had a great sense of justice and compassion. And yoga has given me a lot of courage to fight injustice. I was involved in making a documentary in Ecuador called 'Crude' that shows how 30,000 indigenous people have been tragically and catastrophically affected by the actions of big oil companies. Because of illegal drilling practices, toxic waste has been injected into the groundwater, and now people are suffering from cancer, leukemia, and respiratory illnesses. It's appalling that the oil companies won't take responsibility. These people have suffered miscarriages of justice year in, year out - in the name of oil, gold, timber. It's always about profit. We have to. say "Enough!" I don't believe in anger for anger's sake, but we need creative energy to do something. With this film, I hope to be a voice for the tiny voices that aren't usually heard.

What was the inspiration behind your DVD Warrior Yoga, and what do you want people to get from it?

STYLER Warrior Yoga was created for everyone, but especially for women, who are on the battlefield of life. We multitask and are asked to perform well in all aspects - career, mother, wife, friend, taking care of our bodies to look and feel beautiful. Gaiam asked me to do some DVDs, so I worked with my teacher James D'Silva. We came up with the idea of Warrior Yoga, which is Ashtanga based.

In our sequence, when you drawback the imaginary arrow from the bow and lengthen out the opposite arm, it represents the targets that we want to reach. You need to take aim and go for your goals. After that, Valiant Warrior is symbolic of surrender. By surrendering, we give in to what is. That's the seat of leaming. We can grow from hurting. I want to help people to find their strength and learn acceptance. The body is the one precious vehicle we've been given in our life to take us through our journey. It needs to be nourished and nurtured and replenished.

Jivamukti Yoga co-founder David Life was a friend to me when I had my knees operated on after a skiing accident. Bit by bit, he kindly gave me his time and rehabbed my knees. His sense of humour and lightness of touch helped. Instead of cranking with grim faced determination to do a pose better than someone else, we need to be compassionate with ourselves. At the same time, we need to have fun with it. Get on the mat with people you like or music you like. Yoga and meditation can be transformational.

How has yoga changed your life?

STYLER I am a high-energy person and tend towards being quite impatient. Yoga reminds me that impatience and intolerance are obstacles. Fiery energy is great; my can-do mentality gets me a long way. But better things are done through being patient; more things open up if we take more time.

STING Yoga has enriched my life by allowing me to improve physically; which is very inspiring, especially as you get older. I tour an awful lot, and being on the road is not always easy. Yoga is a great way to offset the downsides of touring by bringing much-needed peace and sanity into what can be a hectic life. Like music, yoga is a journy one that is long enough so you keep developing, and keep learning. I don't see an end to it.

© Yoga Journal by Diane Anderson

An Evening With Sting - Performing His Most Celebrated Songs Featuring the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra Conducted by Steven Mercurio - World Tour Presented by Xerox...

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 01:59:01 -0500

Live Nation announced today that Sting, accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, will embark on a world tour this summer. The tour will find Sting performing his most celebrated songs re-imagined for symphonic arrangement. The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra will be conducted by Maestro Steven Mercurio (Pavarotti, Bocelli).

Drawing from a diverse and illustrious career that has produced numerous multi-platinum albums, a staggering list of number one songs, countless accolades and worldwide record sales of nearly 100 million, Sting's greatest hits will be reinterpreted with brand new orchestrations created especially for this tour. Selections will include fan-favorites such as 'Roxanne', 'Next To You', 'Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic' and 'Every Breath You Take', to notable songs from Sting's enduring solo career - 'Englishman in New York', 'Fragile', 'Russians', 'If I Ever Lose My Faith in You', 'Fields of Gold', and 'Desert Rose.'

Presented in a variety of settings, the tour begins June 2 in Vancouver and then travels to numerous cities across North America. Dates announced today include: June 9 at Red Rocks in Denver; June 15 at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles; July 17 and 18 at Chicago's renowned Ravinia Festival. Sting will also perform in New York, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia, Portland, Seattle and Washington and return to Canada, with stops in Toronto and Montreal. Additional North American cities, venues and on-sale dates will be announced in the next few weeks, with other territories throughout the UK and Europe to follow soon.

Never afraid to blaze the path of new musical territory, Sting's foray into the classical realm began with the crossover success of his #1 album 'Songs from the Labyrinth', a lute-based interpretation of the music of 16th century composer John Dowland, released in 2006 on Deutsche Grammophon. After completing the enormously successful Police reunion world tour, Sting returned to pursue his passion for uniting musical genres with his most recent release 'If On A Winter's Night...' which debuted at #1 on Billboard's classical chart and remains there.

Sting's interest in collaborating with an orchestra began in 2008 following an invitation to perform with the legendary Chicago Symphony Orchestra. After reworking selections from his expansive catalog, he and several members of his longtime band joined the orchestra in a performance that left an indelible mark on Sting. Eager to explore the possibilities of further symphonic collaboration, Sting was excited when the Philadelphia Orchestra asked him to join them in commemoration of the 153rd anniversary of the Academy of Music.

"Performing with both the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Philadelphia Orchestra was truly a highlight of my career. I'm delighted by this new opportunity to tour with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra and reinterpret the songs I've been playing for many years," commented Sting.

The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra has previously performed with internationally-renowned artists ranging from opera luminaries Andrea Bocelli, Bryn Terfel, Renée Fleming, Kiri Te Kanawa and the late Luciano Pavarotti to popular cultural icons including Burt Bacharach, George Benson, Michel Legrand, Diana Krall, Tina Turner and Randy Newman. The 45-piece orchestra will be featured on all North American concert dates of the tour.

Sting will also be joined by a quartet comprised of Dominic Miller (Sting's longtime guitarist), David Cossin (a multi-percussion specialist in new and experimental music and featured member of the Bang on a Can All-Stars), Jo Lawry (vocalist) and Ira Coleman (bassist).

The tour is promoted by Live Nation and produced by RZO Entertainment, Inc. in association with Universal Music Classical Management & Productions.

"We are thrilled to be a part of bringing this exciting and unique tour with Sting to the world," said Arthur Fogel (CEO/Chairman Live Nation Global Touring). "The arrangements, combined with Sting's brilliant songwriting and musicianship, will no doubt result in a magical evening of music."

We are pleased to have Xerox as the tour presenter.

"Our global sponsorship of Sting's 2010 world tour offers an opportunity for Xerox to showcase not only Sting's legendary talents but also the real business of entertainment," said Christa Carone, vice president, Marketing and Communications, Xerox. "Every great performance depends on a smoothly run backstage and that's the role Xerox plays behind the scenes with our customers today. Our technology and services will support the needs of the tour so that they can focus on what they do best: giving Sting's fans around the world a magical evening of music."

We are also delighted to have Starwood Hotels and Resorts as the official hotel partner.

"As one of the most celebrated artists of our time, we're thrilled to be the Official Hotel sponsor of the 2010 Sting tour. This sponsorship provides a distinctive opportunity for us to reward our loyal members by connecting with them through their passion for music," said Phil McAveety, Chief Brand Officer for Starwood.

For complete Tour and Ticket information, Fan Club Memberships, Merchandise and more, visit: www.sting.com and www.livenation.com

STING
Featuring the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra
Conducted by Steve Mercurio
Presented by Xerox

Tour Itinerary:

June 2 Vancouver Centre For the Performing Arts On sale March 8th
June 9 Denver Red Rocks Park & Amphitheater On sale March 8th
June 15 Los Angeles Hollywood Bowl On sale March 8th
July 17/18 Chicago Ravinia Festival On sale April 22nd

Additional dates and venues to soon be announced

American Express® Cardmembers have the exclusive opportunity to purchase advance tickets to Sting for the performances in Denver and Los Angeles from Monday, March 1st at 10am (local time) through Sunday, March 7th at 10pm (local time). Tickets in Los Angeles, Denver and Vancouver go on sale to the general public beginning on Monday, March 8th at 10am (local time).

Fan Club presales for the performances in Vancouver, Denver and Los Angeles will go on sale from 10am (local time) on March 5th until March 7th. Legacy members will have a one hour exclusive window on the presales before they are opened up to all members. Fan Club members will be able to purchase up to four tickets per show in the presales.

Tickets for the above shows go on sale to the general public beginning at 10am (local time) on Monday, March 8th.

About Live Nation
Live Nation Entertainment is the world's premier live entertainment company, consisting of Live Nation, Ticketmaster and Front Line Management Group. As the world's first artist-to-fan vertically integrated live entertainment platform, the company is improving the fan experience and driving major innovations in ticketing technology, marketing and service. Live Nation is the largest producer of live concerts in the world, annually producing more than 22,000 concerts on behalf of 1,500 artists in 57 countries. In 2008, over 50 million fans attended Live Nation concerts, and the company drove more than 70 million unique visitors to LiveNation.com and other online properties. Ticketmaster serves more than 10,000 clients worldwide in multiple event categories and sold more than 141 million tickets valued at over $8.9 billion on behalf of its clients in 2008. Live Nation is headquartered in Los Angeles, California and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, trading under the symbol LYV. For additional information about the company, please visit www.livenation.com/investors.

About Xerox
Xerox Corporation is a $22 billion leading global enterprise for business process and document management. Through its broad portfolio of technology, services and outsourcing offerings, Xerox provides the essential back-office support that clears the way for clients to focus on what they do best: their real business. Headquartered in Norwalk, Conn., Xerox provides leading-edge document technology, services, software and supplies for production and office environments of any size. Through ACS, A Xerox Company, which Xerox acquired in February 2010, Xerox also offers extensive business process outsourcing and information technology outsourcing services, including data processing, HR benefits management, finance support, and customer relationship management services for commercial and government organizations worldwide. The 130,000 people of Xerox serve clients in more than 160 countries. For more information, visit http://www.xerox.com or http://www.xerox.com/news. For investor information, visit www.xerox.com/investor.

About Starwood Preferred Guest
The SPG program's breakthrough policy of No Blackout Dates at the world's most sought after collection of hotels, reinvented the hospitality loyalty program when it launched in 1999. By creating a program centered on its members, SPG has developed the most passionate and knowledgeable membership base in the hotel loyalty space. Through its use of new technologies and innovative channels such as SPG.com, SPG.com/stayconnected, SPG.com/flights, thelobby.com and others, SPG continues to innovate and lead the industry. By offering No Blackouts on standard rooms at 940 participating properties, No Blackouts on hundreds of airlines, and once in a lifetime experiences available through SPG Moments at spg.com/moments, the program has proven to be a big draw for the world's most frequent travelers. It is also a significant competitive advantage for Starwood and its nine distinct and compelling brands: St. Regis®, The Luxury Collection®, W®, Westin®, Le Méridien®, Sheraton®, Four Points® by Sheraton, and the recently launched Aloft®, and Element SM. With the world's largest portfolio of upper-upscale and luxury hotels, SPG members enjoy unrivaled access to distinctive, aspirational experiences located in premiere destinations in nearly 100 countries. For more information about Starwood Preferred Guest please visit SPG.com or call (877) - STARWOOD.

Englishman in Rabat - Sting to perform at the 9th Edition of the Mawazine Festival, Rhythms of the World, Saturday May 29, 2010...

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 09:59:53 -0500

For the first time in Morocco, Sting - world renowned artist, activist, author, actor, philanthropist and composer of such hits as 'Englishman in New York', 'Fields of Gold', 'Desert Rose' and 'Roxanne' - has been added to the amazing list of artists who will perform at Rabat's Mawazine Festival - Rhythms of the World which will be held from May 21st to May 29th, 2010.

The former lead singer and bassist of the British rock band ;The Police; will perform on the outdoor stage of the OLM Souissi for Rabat's Mawazine Festival - Rhythms of the World on Saturday, May 29th, 2010 at 9:30 PM. Sting's concert will undoubtedly be a highlight of this years' Mawazine edition, performing alongside the Royal Symphony Orchestra. The concert will consist of his most celebrated hits as well as songs off his latest album 'If On a Winter's Night...' This critically-acclaimed release finds Sting in collaboration with renowned producer/arranger Robert Sadin and features a collection of traditional music spanning the centuries.

A milkman's son from Newcastle, England, Sting was a teacher, soccer coach and ditchdigger before turning to music. Inspired equally by jazz and the Beatles, he met Stewart Copeland and they, along with guitarist Andy Summers, formed the Police in 1977. The band quickly became a success both in the UK and U.S. scoring several No. 1 hits including 'Roxanne', 'Every Breath You Take', 'King of Pain', and 'Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic'. They earned five Grammy Awards and two Brits, and in 2003 the band was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The trio's live work forecast the astonishing inventiveness and range of influences that Sting would realize fully in his solo career.

With the release of 'The Dream of the Blue Turtles' in 1985, followed by 'Bring On The Night', 'Nothing Like The Sun', 'The Soul Cages', 'Ten Summoner's Tales', 'Mercury Falling', 'Brand New Day', 'All This Time', 'Sacred Love' and 'Songs From the Labyrinth', Sting has evolved into one of the world's most distinctive and highly respected performers, collecting as a solo performer an additional 11 Grammys, 2 Brits, a Golden Globe, an Emmy, three Oscar nominations, Billboard Magazine's Century Award, and MusiCares 2004 Person of the Year.

He has appeared in 15 films, Executive Produced the critically acclaimed, 'A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints', and in 1989 starred in a Broadway play the 'Three penny Opera'.

Also an accomplished author, Sting published a memoir entitled 'Broken Music' in 2003, which spent 13 weeks on the New York Times Best Sellers list. Most recently, he released 'Lyrics'- a comprehensive collection of lyrics and personal commentary, also featuring photographs from throughout his career.

In 2007, The Police reformed and embarked on a world tour. This much heralded tour played to over 3.7 million people on five continents and ranked as the third highest grossing tour of all time. The Police world tour also garnered numerous accolades including 'Major Tour of the Year' (Pollstar), 'Top Selling' and 'Top Tour of the Year' (Billboard) as well as the People's Choice award for 'Favorite Reunion Tour of 2007.'

Sting's support for human rights organization like the Rainforest Foundation, Amnesty International, and Live Aid mirrors his art in its universal outreach. Along with wife Trudie Styler, Sting founded the Rainforest Foundation in 1989 to protect both the world's rain forests and the indigenous peoples who live there.

For the 9th Mawazine edition, festival goers will experience Sting's first-ever performance in Morocco. Access to the OLM Souissi concert will be free, except for a space in front of the stage that will be reserved to a limited number of ticket and card holders. Those tickets will go on sale very soon (March 2010) on www.festivalmawazine.ma.

Sting to perform 'live' at Dubai Racing Carnival on March 4 - 'Super Thursday' racemeeting is widely seen as precursor to the Dubai World Cup...

Sat, 13 Feb 2010 09:50:33 -0500

Meydan today announced that internationally renowned artiste Sting will perform 'live' at the Dubai International Racing Carnival's Super Thursday on March 4.

A composer, singer, actor and activist, Sting has evolved into one of the world's most distinctive and highly respected performers, collecting as a solo performer 11 Grammys, 2 Brits, a Golden Globe, an Emmy, three Oscar nominations, Billboard Magazine's Century Award, and MusiCares 2004 Person of the Year.

Speaking of the upcoming performance by Sting, Mohammad A.Nasser Al Khayat, Commercial Director of Meydan said: "Sting is not only one of the best in his field, a perennial performer who has seen not only international success but also longevity in his career span. He appeals to both young and old and is a true citizen of the world who cares about the people and the environment around him. Sting represents many of the values Meydan upholds for itself, as we hope to set the same benchmarks when it comes to international racing, the same way Sting has achieved worldwide acclaim over the course of his career."

Frank Gabriel Jr, CEO of the Dubai Racing Club added: "Sting is an excellent addition to our Super Thursday programme as his music transcends all. It is important to us that performances at the Dubai International Racing Carnival are appreciated by general audiences, as our race meetings see participants from various geographies, and Sting's music is a universal example of how it can bring people together regardless of nationality or language. The concert is the perfect complement to end an exciting evening at the races."

Sting is booked by Live Nation, the largest producer of all live concerts in the world. Producing over 22,000 concerts annually for 1,600 artists in 33 countries, they will be working together with award-winning event company M-is from the United Kingdom, to deliver a stunning and unforgettable night with Sting at Super Thursday at Meydan.

The concert is in conjunction with Dubai International Racing Carnival's Super Thursday racemeeting and is expected to commence after the last race at 11 pm. Gates to Meydan will open from 6 pm for ticket holders who are interested to also view the races.

Ticket prices start from 150 AED for free standing admissions, and 735 AED for premium seats.

Download the concert seating plan from this link.

Tickets are on sale now from Virgin, Box Office and Time Out.

For Virgin, please visit www.ticketingboxoffice.com.

For Box Office, please visit www.boxofficeme.com or call +971 4 367 6699.

For Time Out, please visit www.timeouttickets.com or call 800 4669.

For further information on the Dubai International Racing Carnival, please visit www.dubairacingclub.com.

Meydan - The world's racing capital.

Meydan Grandstand and Racecourse is the brainchild of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai. It is the culmination of his vision to create not just the ultimate venue for horseracing, but also an integrated city that is sustainable, environmentally responsible and also one that positions Dubai at the centre of the competitive global business stage.

Meydan City will feature the Meydan Free Zone and four distinct sub-districts - the Meydan Racecourse; where the Meydan Grandstand will take centre stage and be home to the 2010 Dubai World Cup, Meydan Metropolis; a series of state-of-the-art business parks, Meydan Horizons; where business towers intermingle with luxury waterfront developments and Meydan Godolphin Parks; with its distinctive Godolphin Tower created in the image of a thoroughbred and also where the shopping destination Signature Mall is located.

www.meydan.ae.

Everglades fundraising gala features Sting, McEnroe...

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 02:39:01 -0500

Everglades fundraising gala features Sting, McEnroe...

Environmentalism never looked so swank.

The Everglades Foundation once again proves it knows how to party, with its fifth annual benefit set to go off Friday night at The Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, a shindig that will be emceed by tennis great John McEnroe and feature live music by Sting.

And that's just the entertainment.

With tickets starting at $500, the guest list topped 820 as of Thursday -- beating last year's record attendance of 625.

RSVPs include Gov. Charlie Crist, novelist Carl Hiaasen, golf legend Jack Nicklaus and a variety of other boldface names, such as Steve Schwarzman, co-founder and chairman of the Blackstone Group, Ken Langone, co-founder of Home Depot, former Sony Music boss Tommy Mottola and Miami Dolphins owner Steve Ross. A bevy of state politicos will also be there, including Chief Financial Officer and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink.

The jump in ticket sales mirrored a surge in donations, organizers said. From 2008 to 2009, donations rose from $3.9 million to $4.7 million as the list of donors grew from 497 to 1,194, according to foundation CEO Kirk Fordham.

Fordham said all of it reflects the foundation's growing reach and influence and the extra attention being paid to (and money being lavished on) the Everglades from the Obama and Crist Administrations.

"I think people realize that we're at a critical turning point with the leadership that exists in both Washington and Tallahassee right now," Fordham said.

Behind it all: foundation co-founder and chairman Paul Tudor Jones, legendary hedge fund manager, who ranked No. 224 on Forbes' 2009 World's Billionaires list. A part-time resident of Islamorada, Jones amassed much of his fortune when he predicted the 1987 stock market crash, returning 125 percent to investors that year.

© Palm Beach Post by Paul Quinlan

Sting to Perform and Tennis Star John McEnroe to Host Event to Benefit America's Everglades Restoration - Everglades Foundation announces 2010 Foreverglades Benefit Entertainment...

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 10:00:01 -0500

Composer, singer, actor, author and environmentalist, Sting, will be the musical guest at the Everglades Foundation's Fifth Annual ForEverglades Benefit on Friday, February 12, at The Breakers in Palm Beach, Fla. Tennis superstar John McEnroe will serve as master of ceremonies for this year's star-studded benefit, which will include cocktails, dinner and a live auction.

Jack Nicklaus will serve as Honorary Chair. Cindi and Nick Bollettieri, Sonia and Paul Tudor Jones II, Elaine and Ken Langone, Polly and David Ober and Lia Reed serve as event co-chairs.

"Advocates of Everglades restoration understand how important it is to sustain the momentum we experienced over the last year," said Kirk Fordham, CEO, Everglades Foundation. "How can we top this year's benefit? We can convince those who love this environment to come and enjoy great entertainment in support of a cause that has generated significant success over the last year with key Everglades restoration projects breaking ground. We now have a showcase event that really raises the bar in support of the science, advocacy and outreach needed to save America's Everglades. The annual ForEverglades Benefit brings together supporters from all across the country who understand the importance of restoring this one-of-a-kind ecosystem. It has become one of the hottest tickets of the season."

Sting rose to universal acclaim as the lead singer and bassist for the rock band The Police in the late 1970s and early 1980s, scoring several No. 1 hits, including 'Roxanne', 'Every Breath You Take', and 'Message in a Bottle'. The group earned five Grammy Awards, two Brits and an induction into the The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Sting's successful solo career produced an additional 11 Grammys; two Brits; a Golden Globe; an Emmy; three Oscar nominations; Billboard Magazine's Century Award; and MusiCares 2004 Person of the Year. His latest album, 'If On a Winter's Night...' features a collection of carols, lullabies and hymns spanning five centuries and was released in October 2009 on Deutsche Grammaphon.

A committed global activist, Sting's support for human rights organizations including Amnesty International and Live Aid, mirrors his art in its universal outreach. He founded the Rainforest Foundation in 1989 with his wife, Trudie Styler, to support protection of the world's rain forests.

John McEnroe has won seven Grand Slam tennis singles titles, nine Grand Slam men's doubles titles, one Grand Slam mixed-doubles title and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1999. After a 12-year absence from the professional tour, McEnroe returned to top-level doubles competition in 2006 and became the oldest male player to win an ATP title in 30 years when he won the SAP Open at San Jose. As well as being a distinguished athlete, McEnroe's commitment to and passion for the environment and conservation has been unwavering, evidenced by his tenure as a Riverkeeper board member.

The Everglades Foundation Benefit has attracted many prominent supporters since its inception. Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine performed last year, and South Florida writer and journalist Carl Hiaasen was honored. Past ForEverglades performers and attendees have included Jimmy Buffett; Thalia and Tommy Mottola; Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross; Daryl Hall and John Oates; Diana Ross; John Mellencamp; Chris Evert; Christine and Steve Schwarzman; Audrey and Martin Gruss; and Lydia and Robert Forbes.

"This has been an extremely positive year for America's Everglades restoration," added Fordham. "A string of key projects are breaking ground, renewing hope for the millions of Floridians who enjoy the recreational opportunities and economic benefits of the Everglades."

Individual event tickets are available from $1,000 and include preferred seating and donor recognition in the event program. Table sponsorships are from $10,000 to $100,000. The Foundation's board funds all of the organization's fundraising and administrative expenses - ensuring that 100 percent of each donation goes directly to Everglades restoration science and outreach programs.

For more information, contact Melissa Ray at (305) 251-0001, ext. 222; Debbie Fife at (212) 245-6570, ext. 20; or send an e-mail to everglades@eventassociatesinc.com or visit www.evergladesbenefit.org.

About Florida's Relationship with the Everglades

More than seven million people live in the Everglades watershed and depend on its natural systems for their livelihood, food and drinking water. Florida's boating, tourism, real estate, recreational and commercial fishing industries all depend on a healthy Everglades ecosystem, supporting tens of thousands of jobs and contributing billions to our economy. Its waters flow through the Everglades National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve, Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge, Biscayne National Park and John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. Together, these parks draw several million visitors each year contributing hundreds of millions of dollars to Florida's tourism economy.

About the Everglades Foundation Mission

The Everglades Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit, charitable organization dedicated to protecting and restoring one of the world's unique natural ecosystems that provides economic, recreational and life-sustaining benefits to the millions of people who depend on its future health. Since 1993, the Everglades Foundation has played a leadership role in advancing Everglades restoration through the advancement of scientifically sound and achievable solutions. The Foundation seeks to reverse the damage inflicted on the ecosystem and provide policymakers and the public with an honest and credible resource to help guide decision-making on complex restoration issues. For more information, please visit www.evergladesfoundation.org.

Dominic Miller set to release 'November' in March - 'November' sees a break from his previous acoustic albums with a more electric and rock orientated feel...

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 07:49:55 -0500

Many Sting fans will be pleased to hear that long time guitarist Dominic Miller has a new album out on March 6 entitled 'November'. To coincide with the new album his website has a fresh new look and you can currently hear the title track from the new album on his home page.

'November' is also available to pre-order direct from Q-rious in both CD and double vinyl formats. The strictly limited double vinyl release - which will not be reprinted - comes with the three bonus tracks. The track listing for 'November' is: Solent / w3 / Still / Gut Feeling / Ripped Nylon / Racine / Sharp Object / Chanson I / Marignane / Chanson II / November / *November (Reprise) / *Bachiana No 5 / * Chanson (Reprise) * Vinyl Release only.

There's a surprise in store for all those who have been Dominic Miller's fans from early on. Whereas up to now he has been mostly admired and hailed for his exquisite acoustic sounds produced with a nylon guitar, the artist now baffles both the audience and experts with the first electronic album of his solo career. His latest release, 'November', offers plenty of space for the electric guitar. Some of the tracks show the more rock-oriented side of Miller, with an at times astonishingly powerful sound. Living proof are tracks like the literal slammer 'Rippled Nylon' or 'W3', steeped in fuzz.

There is a good reason for this change of heart. In the autumn of 2008, Miller, who has made London his home, had taken some time to listen more closely to all of the CDs produced so far and had then realised that most of them were more focused on a dense sound rather than being compositionally dense. Only one of his solo albums was an exception: his debut album, 'First Touch'. Miller reminisces: 'That album represented all the influences I had absorbed up until 1995 when I was 35 years old. I created it after coming home from the 'Ten Summoner's Tales' tour with Sting. It was kind of a musical autobiography. I wanted to recreate the space I was fortunate to be in when I recorded 'First Touch'. All I remember about that process was a feeling of freedom. I felt like the album wrote itself, as if it were being dictated to me. In other words, I just joined the dots. I wouldn't be so bold as to say it was a "gift from God", but that's how it felt at the time.'

To Dominic Miller, 'November' is 'like a re-written autobiography which goes beyond 'First Touch'.' To capture these ''memories put to music,' he started from scratch, as if he had never been inside a studio before: 'I cleaned house and went back to zero again by putting those four albums behind me.' Before starting with the actual production, the gifted guitarist took his time in order to be really sure about the direction he was going to be taking. He analysed the various approaches, only to finally decide that it was high time for a course correction. The result was a band lineup without a vocalist. However, such an instrumental formation also had its inherent dangers and restrictions: 'One runs the risk of sounding like a second rate fusion or jazz-rock band. God forbid! I won't mention any names but I have received some such records from some very well-known instrumentalists. After one listen, their only uses have been scraping the frost off the windscreen of my Peugeot 206 in the winter months. Many of these records are mostly, if not all, about the playing, not the composition. Their authors are like great actors with average scripts. I was determined that composition needed to be king.'

To reach this goal, Miller briefed all the colleagues involved: 'Don't give me any personality and let the tunes play themselves!' It was not at all easy to find musicians willing and able to go along with these wishes. But finally Miller found session partners in drummer Ian Thomas (Eric Clapton, Seal, Paul McCartney, Tom Jones), bass player Mark King (Level 42; uncontested master of the slap bass) and keyboarder Mike Lindup (equally known through Level 42), who agreed to put their egos last. To this core of musicians he added Israel-born pinaist Yaron Herman, who now lives in France, as well as keyboarder Jason Rebello (Sting), flutist Dave Heath (a renowned composer of flute, violin and oboe concerts) and sax player Stan Sulzmann (Kenny Wheeler, Michael Brecker, NDR Big Band) - all of them well-versed top professionals who put their distinctive musical personalities on the back burner and devoted their skills uniquely to Miller's compositions.

With these devoted sidemen to back him up, Miller created an instrumental album that presents all kinds of unexpected turns, stylistic variations and distinctly innovative sound combinations. Rock ('W3', 'Ripped Nylon'), New-Age meditations ('Still'), lounge music ('Solent'), soundscapes ('Gut Feeling'), funk ('Sharp Object'), references to classical music ('Chanson II') and jazz moments ('Marignane') are moulded into an indiosyncratic style of contemporary instrumental music.

The album was produced by Dominic Miller and Hugh Padgham, who have been virtually inseparable ever since working on Phil Collins' million seller 'But Seriously' (1989). In the past twenty years, they have cooperated on many a project, and they trust each other blindly. 'Hugh understood what I was after so he was the obvious choice of producer,' explains Miller. 'He gets a killer sound.'

When it comes to the actual production process, 'November' turned out to be the 'quickest' album Dominic Miller ever made - all previous albums took longer. The writing took a mere three weeks, the recording and mixing were even done within a mere fortnight. Almost 90 per cent of the performances on the album are first takes. 'I wanted to get away from the pro-tools perfection way which allows one to manipulate anything and everything,' Miller explains the fast working method and his decision to allow more spontaneity into the studio. 'Therefore, there are some imperfections with timing, tuning and articulation. Normally I would fix these but this time I let the performances live the way they were.'

'November' adds another highlight to Dominic Miller's impressive artistic biography. Born in Buenos Aires to an American father and an Irish mother, he studied guitar at the renowned Berklee College, Boston, as well as the Guildhall School Of Music in London. Miller released several solo albums ('First Touch', 'Second Nature', 'Third World', 'Fourth Wall') and since the late 1980s has also been a much coveted session musician. The list of his collaborations is sheer endless - to name but a few: The Chieftains ('Long Black Veil'), Eddi Reader ('Mirmama'), Manu Dibango ('Wakafrika'), Paul Young, Bryan Adams, Luciano Pavarotti, Peter Gabriel, Pat Metheny, Tina Turner ('Wildest Dreams'), The Pretenders, Boyzone and The Backstreet Boys. Ever since 'The Soul Cages' from 1991, Miller has been involved in every album by Sting; he has played more than a thousand concerts with the former member of The Police and was involved in the composition of hit songs such as 'Shape Of My Heart'.

With 'November', Miller yet again proves that he is a top-notch guitarist. The exceptional musician plays with an ease and somnambulistic confidence that words simply cannot express appropriately. His willingness to move beyond his artistic skills is what distinguishes him from other virtuoso contemporaries - Dominic Miller has moved on from the level of 'mere' skillful performance and perfected craft. These days, he is more focused on expression, on the beauty of a certain sound and the truth of the moment. His transcendence of the physical is a trait that singles him out as one of the chosen few.

© 2010 Christophe Deghelt Productions

For more information visit his site at www.dominicmiller.com and check out his facebook site at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dominic-Miller/.

''Perfectly orchestrated waltz of the dollars...'' reports the Philadelphia Inquirer of last night's gala concert headlined by Sting...

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 06:55:27 -0500

Perfectly orchestrated waltz of the dollars...

In a gala concert that packed together Sting, the meteoric Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez, and several ardent love notes to a 153-year-old opera house, last night's Academy of Music Anniversary Concert might have threatened to swallow up the ensemble at the heart of it all: the Philadelphia Orchestra.

But Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos was on the podium, and the orchestra's exactitude and firepower stole the show, even in some of Sting's own songs.

In a tough economy, this year's Academy of Music Concert and Ball hit some high notes. The event grossed $2.9 million and attracted an additional $1.1 million in donations to the restoration fund, a spokeswoman said.

Nearly 2,800 tickets were sold for the concert, with 2,100 attending the ball that followed at the Park Hyatt Philadelphia at the Bellevue.

Among the grandees attending: Gov. Rendell and Judge Marjorie O. Rendell; Mayor Nutter and his wife, Lisa; and a multitude of socialites, cultural leaders, and philanthropists, such as H.F. "Gerry" and Marguerite Lenfest and Jeffrey and Marsha Perelman.

This year's Academy of Music fete was without the landmark's patron saint, Leonore Annenberg, who died in March - "a philanthropist of global acclaim," in the words of Britain's Prince Charles. She and husband Walter Annenberg donated more than $100 million to the Academy and the orchestra.

But making a spectacle of itself even before visitors entered the building last night was one of her final strokes of munificence. The newly restored Academy Ballroom, thanks to $5.6 million from her and funding from others, now closely resembles its appearance just after the opening in 1857. The five large windows on the facade, long blocked, are clear glass again. The inside of the second-floor ballroom was a glowing volume from snowy Broad Street, its new, stained-glass windows and diaphanous French chandeliers giving the building a street presence it has lacked for decades.

The ball and concert were something of a coming-out, too, for Allison Vulgamore, the former Atlanta Symphony Orchestra executive who arrived two weeks ago to take over as the orchestra's president and chief executive officer. She sat in the box with the mayor and governor.

The gig was no classical hit-and-run for the English-born Sting, 58, née Gordon Matthew Sumner. He appeared in a film about Robert and Clara Schumann, once took the part of the soldier in Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale, and has recorded works of Renaissance lutenist John Dowland.

Last night he performed "Message in a Bottle," "Roxanne," "Moon Over Bourbon Street," "Every Breath You Take," and other songs, some orchestrated especially for the concert.

Following Rod Stewart, James Taylor, and Billy Joel, who have also headlined the event, Sting was helped considerably in his eight songs by the orchestra he hailed as one of the most "august and celebrated in the world."

Especially so in "Russians," which pitted the singer's high, urgent voice against a hulking orchestration by Vince Mendoza embedded with nods to Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet and Lieutenant Kijé.

The orchestra somehow managed to miss Flórez when he was a student at the Curtis Institute of Music in the mid-1990s, but now he and his huge career were welcomed back to town for his debut with the Philadelphians.

His voice is a wondrous blend of silvery overtones and bel canto ease, and, though it's slightly churlish to say, it was hard not to notice that for pure talent, his was the star voice.

© Philadelphia Inquirer by Peter Dobrin