Icon Elvis Costello is considered to be one of the pathfinders of the new-wave movement of the seventies. With his debut album My Aim is True, with the hit ballad Alison, he made an immediate impression. He was appreciated for his gift for writing catchy songs, the social awareness of his lyrics, his cheeky and cynical attitude and his enormous ambition. Costello recorded a lot of albums – solo or with his band the Attractions – featuring acerbic words about politics, advancing fascism, the shallowness of the fashion world or more personal and private subjects as jealousy, revenge and guilt. He collaborated with the Brodsky Quartet, Burt Bacharach and the mezzo soprano Anne Sofie von Otter. On his latest, modest album North – with modern day jazz greats like Lee Konitz, Conrad Herwig and Peter Erskine – he offers his soul on a silver platter. The cooperation with the Metropole Orkest (ánd Costello’s regular pianist Steve Nieve) has been on Costello’s mind for a long time. He has been following the orchestra for some time and is looking forward to the special arrangements.
