The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra has announced that it will be joined by EGOT-winning, critically acclaimed, multi-platinum musician John Legend at Riverbend Music Center for John Legend: A Night of Songs And Stories With The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra on September 10, 2024 at 7:30 pm.

John Legend: A Night of Songs And Stories With The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra will feature intimate reimaginings of Legend's greatest hits ("All of Me," "Ordinary People," "Tonight"), unexpected stories from his life and career, and selections from his most recent release LEGEND ("Nervous," "Wonder Woman"). This concert is Legend's first-ever performance with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra.

JOHN LEGEND

John Legend is an EGOT-winning, critically acclaimed, multiplatinum musician who has garnered 12 Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Tony Award and three Emmy Awards, among others.

Legend is one of only nineteen people in the prestigious EGOT club. Legend has released nine celebrated albums over the course of his career, including Get Lifted (2004), Once Again (2006), Evolver (2008), Love in the Future (2013), Darkness and Light (2016), A Legendary Christmas Deluxe (2019), Bigger Love (2020), LEGEND (2022), and most recently, LEGEND (Solo Piano Version) (2023). In 2022, John’s critically acclaimed Las Vegas Residency, “Love In Las Vegas,” took place at Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino.

Legend starred as Jesus in NBC’s JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR LIVE IN CONCERT in April 2018. That year, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for “Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie” and won an Emmy as a producer in the “Outstanding Variety Special (Live)” category for the show. Legend joined THE VOICE as a coach for Season 16 (2019) and has returned for a number of seasons, most recently Season 25 (2024).

Beyond his music career, Legend, along with partners Mike Jackson and Ty Stiklorius, is a principal of Get Lifted Film Co., a production company which has developed projects with major networks including ABC, NBC, FOX, HBO, Showtime, Netflix, and FX. Get Lifted’s latest projects include the MAX documentary STAND UP AND SHOUT, Emmy Award-winning HBO documentary 1000% ME: GROWING UP MIXED, Paramount+ documentary LOUDMOUTH, PBS documentary RACIST TREES and the Netflix hip-hop competition series "RHYTHM & FLOW." Their upcoming projects include NBC/Peacock’s BEFORE I LET GO, based on the New York Times Best Selling Author Kennedy Ryan's book, and REVERB with Renée Elise Goldsberry attached to star; the film THE WAR & TREATY, inspired by real-life husband-and-wife Black country music stars Michael and Tanya Trotter; the TV adaptation of S.A. Cosby’s novel BLACKTOP WASTELAND; and the forthcoming Broadway-bound musical SOUL TRAIN.

In 2021, Get Lifted and Erik Feig’s PICTURESTART formed Picture LIFT, a joint venture focused on developing, producing and financing multiple films in the $10M range, featuring diverse filmmakers and inclusive casts. Get Lifted and Universal Studio Group’s UCP inked a first-look deal for unscripted series and an exclusive multi-year overall deal for scripted content. Additionally, Get Lifted recently renewed their first look feature documentary deal with HBO.

Aside from film, TV and theater, Get Lifted has partnered with Zando to form Get Lifted Books, which builds upon Get Lifted Film Co.’s mission of spotlighting stories from dynamic creatives. Their most recent acquisition, “Wild Life,” a memoir by National Geographic Explorer and ecologist Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant, published in April. Previous titles include “Rosewater,” by Liv Little, and “Black Love Letters,” which features a foreword by Legend.

Legend’s skincare line, Loved01, launched in 2023 and is available online and through CVS and Walmart. Loved01 is an effective and affordable unisex skincare brand formulated to treat the needs of melanin-rich skin.

As an activist, Legend launched FREEAMERICA in 2015 to change the conversation surrounding criminal justice policies and to end mass incarceration. Legend serves on the Board of Directors of Harlem Village Academies and Management Leadership for Tomorrow, and on the Advisory Boards for The Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and Teach for All.

CINCINNATI POPS ORCHESTRA

Since 1977, the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra has entertained audiences in Cincinnati and around the globe with its trademark “Cincinnati Sound,” presenting a diverse array of musical genres that has garnered national and international acclaim for the ensemble. The alter ego of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Pops was founded in 1977 by the late Erich Kunzel and is currently led by Conductor John Morris Russell with Damon Gupton serving as Principal Guest Conductor. Notable collaborations with artists have included Dave Brubeck, Kristin Chenoweth, Ella Fitzgerald, Ben Folds, Aretha Franklin, Rhiannon Gidden, Audra McDonald, Smokey Robinson, and Lea Salonga.

Committed to sharing music with the world, the Cincinnati Pops has a long legacy of domestic and international tours and was the first Pops orchestra from the United States to perform in China. Recent tours have included Shanghai and Taiwan in March 2017 and Florida in December 2014. Previously, the Pops traveled to Beijing as part of the Opening Festivities of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, and in 2005, the Pops completed a historic tour to China and Singapore, performing in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. The Cincinnati Pops has also appeared before audiences in New York’s Carnegie Hall, Washington D.C., and Japan.

Digital performances and recordings have long been hallmarks of the Cincinnati Pops. National telecasts of the Cincinnati Pops on PBS have been viewed by an estimated 30 million people, and American Soundscapes, an online video series produced in partnership with CET Public Television, has surpassed one million views on YouTube since its inception in 2016. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Cincinnati Pops performances were livestreamed for free to viewers from around the world; select performances continue to be livestreamed each season for accessibility. The Cincinnati Pops discography is expansive and tens of millions of recordings have been sold worldwide through the decades. In 2012, the Pops released Home for the Holidays, the first recording on the Orchestra’s own Fanfare Cincinnati label, and in 2015, the Pops released American Originals, which received widespread acclaim for its reimagining of the Stephen Foster songbook, followed by the release of American Originals: 1918, which received a Grammy nomination for “Best Classical Compendium.”