Performance

Talking Book

3 upcoming performances in New York

Released in 1972, Stevie Wonder’s *Talking Book* sits at the opening of his widely cited “classic” run, shaped by his decisive turn toward keyboards and early synthesizer textures. At BAM, the album’s songs are re-scored in a classical idiom for ensemble, with Stevie Wonder joined by premier musicians and rotating world-renowned guests. The setting reframes familiar grooves as written lines and balanced voicings, closer to chamber discipline than star turn. In New York, where Motown-era music long fed downtown clubs and uptown concert halls, the program reads as a small piece of the city’s ongoing genre cross-traffic.