Elizabeth Blair
Elizabeth Blair is a Peabody Award-winning senior producer/reporter on the Arts Desk of NPR News.
Blair produces, edits, and reports arts and cultural segments for NPR's Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition. In this position, she has reported on a range of topics from arts funding to the MeToo movement. She has profiled renowned artists such as Yayoi Kusama and Mikhail Baryshnikov, explored how old women are represented in fairy tales, and reported the origins of the children's classic Curious George. Among her all-time favorite interviews are actors Octavia Spencer and Andy Serkis, comedians Bill Burr and Hari Kondabolu, the rapper K'Naan, and Cookie Monster (in character).
Blair has overseen several, large-scale series including The NPR 100, which explored landmark musical works of the 20th Century, and In Character, which probed the origins of iconic American fictional characters. Along with her colleagues on the Arts Desk and at NPR Music, Blair curated American Anthem, a major series exploring the origins of songs that uplift, rouse, and unite people around a common theme.
Blair's work has received several honors, including two Peabody Awards and a Gracie. She previously lived in Paris, France, where she co-produced Le Jazz Club From Paris with Dee Dee Bridgewater, and the monthly magazine Postcard From Paris.
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After weeks of trying to flee Afghanistan, 101 musicians, students and teachers with the Afghanistan National Institute of Music and Zohra Orchestra finally landed in Doha, Qatar on Sunday.
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The Afghanistan National Institute of Music was a thriving school in Kabul. But the last time the Taliban was in control of the country, all music related activities were strictly forbidden.
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The film continues writer Linda Kuehl's unfinished investigation into Holiday's life through never-before-heard interviews with jazz luminaries, and explores her experiences with institutional racism.
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The band might not have a permanent lead singer, but on the new album Into The Deep, the musicians show just how well they've learned to play with others.
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The Grand Budapest Hotel might take place in a fictional world, but Oscar-nominated composer Alexandre Desplat was there to make it feel authentic.
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The conductor, slated to perform at the opening ceremony of the Sochi Olympics, sparked controversy with his recent comments on Russia's anti-gay legislation. The head of St. Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre is a friend and ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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One of Billie Holiday's most iconic songs is "Strange Fruit," a haunting protest against the inhumanity of racism. Many people know that the man who wrote the song was inspired by a photograph of a lynching. But they might not realize that he's also tied to an iconic event in America's history.
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He wrote music for The Sting, A Chorus Line and The Way We Were, and won a Tony, Oscars, Grammys and Emmys.
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The 96-year-old guitarist was probably the last living link to Mississippi Delta blues.
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Piano-playing siblings from Utah, The 5 Browns' members were once the media darlings of classical music. They received the kind of mainstream press coverage most young classical musicians could only dream of. Now, a few years following the frenzy, the group is still building its career.