Neil Sedaka at home in Manhattan before a concert on May 4, 2004, with an Andy Warhol painting of him. (Ruby Washington/The New York Times) By PETER APPLEBOME Neil Sedaka, who went from classical music prodigy to precocious songwriter to teenage idol to pop music fixture in a celebrated career that spanned seven decades, died Friday in Los Angeles. He was 86. His son, Marc, said Sedaka, who lived in West Hollywood, had been taken to a hospital earlier Friday and died there. H

Soprano Laura Miah Ramos (Facebook via lauramiah) “Parents on porches: rock and rock. From damp strings morning glories hang their ancient faces.” – “Knoxville: Summer of 1915” by James Agee By PEGGY ANN BLISS Special to The STAR This Saturday’s Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra (PRSO) concert may feel a bit like deja vu. After all, the long-planned classical concert with the cryptic title of “Paulus” just might have a few music lovers scratching their heads. Who is Paulus to ha

LP cover for “Cosa Nuestra” by Willie Colón (1969) (Wikipedia) By SANDRA E. GARCÍA (An Appraisal) Every genre has its bad guy, villain, heel. In the world of salsa, that dark genius was Willie Colón, who died Saturday at the age of 75. His predilection for playing the antagonist came across in a variety of ways. The titles of his music albums: 1967’s “El Malo,” which translates to “The Bad Guy”; 1973’s “Lo Mato — Si No Compra Este LP,” or “I’ll Kill Him — If You Don’t Buy Thi

By GLENN KENNY At one point in this film about protean musician Billy Preston, drummer and producer Bill Maxwell says, “Billy didn’t just have perfect pitch, he had perfect anticipation.” Meaning Preston could play a tune through with the other musicians after hearing only a few chords. And “Billy Preston: That’s the Way God Planned It,” a sometimes mind-blowing documentary directed by Paris Barclay, doesn’t ask you to take Maxwell’s word for it. The movie has abundant archi

“One Battle After Another” which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, won the best film honors at this year’s EE British Academy Film Awards. By ALEX MARSHALL “One Battle After Another” won the best film honors at this year’s EE British Academy Film Awards on Sunday at the Royal Festival Hall in London. The movie, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Teyana Taylor, took home six awards at Britain’s equivalent of the Oscars, commonly known as the BAFTAs. Its awards included best director,

Photo credits, counterclockwise from upper right: Wikipedia, Discogs, Wikipedia/Fania Records By ED MORALES The music that the world now knows as salsa would probably not exist if not for the vision of Willie Colón. While Eddie Palmieri’s La Perfecta had been plying the two-trombone sound for years, Colón made the instrument central to his band, and the instrument’s ornery, sarcastic, yet often uplifting sound defined not only salsa’s break from the Cuban tradition, but the N

Willie Colón plays a tribute concert to Ismael Miranda, in New York on June 8, 2009. Colón, a trombonist, singer and bandleader whose driving energy and mischievous bad-boy image helped make him a luminary of New York City music, and whose 1978 collaboration with Rubén Blades, “Siembra,” was one of the top-selling salsa albums of all time, died on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. He was 75. (Chad Batka/The New York Times) By DERRICK BRYSON TAYLOR and ADAM BERNSTEIN Willie Colón, a tr

Composer Alberto Guidobaldi (Facebook via Coralia [Coro de Concierto de la Universidad de Puerto Rico]) By PEGGY ANN BLISS Special to The STAR Sunday afternoon at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music will keep the competitive juices flowing along with the Academy Awards and other measures of excellence. Student awards for the Miramar institution’s “2025 Interdepartmental Competition” will be presented along with an entertaining program, according to information provided by R

Hungarian composer Bela Bartok in 1927 (Wikipedia) By PEGGY ANN BLISS Special to The STAR In a striking potpourri of precedent-breaking modern music, the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra (PRSO) will unveil three unique pieces this Saturday, with the help of Costa Rican guest conductor Norman Gamboa and Coral Lirica de Puerto Rico directed by native islander Jo-Anne Herrero. Gamboa, who has directed several orchestras in the Southwest United States, is considered one of the outs

Matt Groening, creator of “The Simpsons,” at his production office in Santa Monica, Calif., June 26, 2018. (David Banks/The New York Times) By DARRYN KING A few years ago at the airport, Matt Groening was steered into the Transportation Security Administration’s secondary screening line and told to remove the contents of his luggage. Then he heard a child’s laugh ring out, in the unmistakable taunting tones of “Simpsons” bully Nelson Muntz: “Ha-ha.” “I don’t know if it was j