Broadway BUZZ

David Byrne is a singer, songwriter, musician, film director and producer, author, lecturer, photographer and visual artist. Born in Dumbarton, Scotland, he grew up in North America and was educated at art schools in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Since leaving the Talking Heads, the band he co-founded in the 1970s, Byrne has released nine solo studio albums, most recently American Utopia (2018). For theater and dance, Byrne has written music for Twyla Tharp’s Catherine Wheel [Broadway] (1981); In Spite of Wishing and Wanting, for Wim Vandekevbus’s Belgian dance company Ultima Vez; Robert Wilson’s Civil Wars – The Knee Plays and The Forest (1988) [BAM and elsewhere]; and, Here Lies Love (2015) and Joan of Arc: Into the Fire (2017) [both at The Public Theater]. In 2005, Playing the Building, an installation that turned buildings into playable musical instruments by connecting the structures electronically to a pipe organ debuted in Stockholm, followed by runs in London and New York. An advocate for cycling, Byrne designed a series of custom bike racks that were placed in different locations in New York City in 2008. Since 2010, David Byrne has spoken several times at TED Talks conferences. David Byrne has been honored with an Academy Award, Golden Globe and Grammy awards, along with Obie, Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel and Theatre World awards for his work in the New York theater.