respect the classics

Bill Murray Is Making Classical Music Now, and He’s Taking It on Tour

Bill Murray. Photo: Leigh Vogel/Getty Images

Bill Murray has found his latest charming hobby: making classical music and singing Gershwin with real classical musicians. Somewhere in Manhattan, Murray is in a studio working on New Worlds, a program the New York Times teased as “songs and literary readings paired with chamber music led by the cellist Jan Vogler.†New Worlds will have Murray singing songs from West Side Story, and reading Whitman and Hemingway (one section will have him reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as the band plays “Moon Riverâ€). Vogler, who has played with the New York Philharmonic, will accompany Murray with his trio, which is rounded out by Mira Wang on violin and Vanessa Perez at the piano. New Worlds will premiere at Festival Napa Valley in California in July, with a North American tour to follow (they’ll play Carnegie Hall in October); there’s an accompanying recording of the show planned for release in August. So if you missed Murray bartending in Brooklyn and singing many euphoric renditions of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame†while cheering on the Cubs at the World Series, you’ll soon have your chance to enjoy Murray’s many talents on a night out.

Bill Murray Is Making Classical Music Now