Dan Rather will be the moderator for "An Evening with Sting & J. Ralph" on Sept. 8 at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History, an event honoring the composers and celebrating "the important connections between music, philanthropy and American culture."
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J. Ralph and Sting co-wrote "The Empty Chair" for the documentary Jim: The James Foley Story, about the director's childhood friend, a conflict journalist murdered in Syria on a widely seen video.
The song's poignant American folk feel seems centuries old while completely in the moment, narrating the view from the deceased's perspective. Sting gave a moving performance of "The Empty Chair" at the 89th Academy Awards.
J. Ralph's latest symphonic composition will have its world premiere at the event, after the discussion and Sting's performance. With music featured on the soundtracks for the films Dude, Where's My Car? and Lucky Number Slevin, J. Ralph has focused more on documentaries since, notably The Cove, Man On Wire and Virunga.
Sting has won 16 GRAMMY Awards and has been nominated 44 times, and his interests and pursuits continue to reveal more to an admiring public. The two composers shared their Oscar nomination earlier this year — J. Ralph's third, a unique success in the Best Original Song category for music from documentary films.
