There has been a new addition to the ASCAP Music Café schedule.
Sting, with special guest J. Ralph, will perform on Saturday, Jan. 23, at 5:30 p.m., ASCAP announced Wednesday. The performance is in support of the HBO documentary “Jim: The James Foley Story.” The film makes its world premiere in the U.S. Documentary Competition of the Sundance Film Festival and includes their original song “The Empty Chair.”
Sting, the 10-time Grammy Award winning singer and songwriter for The Police, has released 14 solo albums and is an Emmy Award recipient, He also has won two Brits, a Golden Globe, and has been nominated for three Academy Awards.
He is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He and the multi-platinum-selling Police were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003.
Last year, Sting received the Kennedy Center Honors and a Tony Award nomination for his musical, “The Last Ship,” which is also the title of his most recent album. “The Last Ship” is inspired by his memories of the shipbuilding community in his childhood hometown of Wallsend, England.
J. Ralph is an Academy Award-nominated composer, producer, singer and social activist from New York City who focuses on creating awareness and change through music and film. His music has sold more than 10 million records worldwide, reaching the #1 spot on the Billboard top 100 charts in over 22 countries.
He has written and produced the music for six Oscar-winning and Oscar-nominated films including “Man on Wire” (2009), “The Cove” (2010), “Hell and Back Again” (2012), “Chasing Ice” (2013), “Finding Vivian Maier” (2015) and “Virunga” (2015). For his contribution to “Chasing Ice,” J. Ralph received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song with “Before My Time,” performed by Scarlett Johansson and Joshua Bell.
Ralph produced the 2014 Oscar-nominated song “The Moon Song,” performed by Karen O. and Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend while accompanying the duo on guitar, from the Academy Award winning film “Her,” directed by Spike Jonze. In the summer of 2015, J. Ralph was commissioned by Discovery Channel to write and produce an original symphonic work for Shark Week to raise money and awareness for species extinction and oceanic preservation.
The ASCAP Music Café, 625 Main St., will offer live music from Friday, Jan. 22, through Friday, Jan. 29 during the Sundance Film Festival. The Café is open to all Sundance Film Festival credential holders as space allows. For more information, visit www.sundance.org and www.ascap.com/sundance.