Spectacle: Elvis Costello with… Announces Guest Line-up For September

From a media release:

The final set of guests to appear on Spectacle: Elvis Costello with… was announced today. The new talk/performance series is set to premiere later this year on CTV in Canada, Sundance Channel in the U.S. and Channel 4 in the U.K., with FremantleMedia Enterprises launching the series for international sale at MIPCOM in Cannes, France, in October 2008.

Confirmed guests for episodes taping over the next two weeks at Harlem’s world famous Apollo Theater in New York City are: iconic American singer-songwriter James Taylor; jazz legend, and winner of this year’s Grammy Award for Album of the Year, Herbie Hancock; one of the most acclaimed new artists of the past decade, Canadian Rufus Wainwright; the brilliant singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash; actor/singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson; jazz superstar Diana Krall; recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee John Mellencamp; singer-songwriter Jakob Dylan; indie duo She & Him, comprised of actress Zooey Deschanel and musician M. Ward; international sensation Norah Jones; singer-songwriter Jenny Lewis; and from the world of opera, the renowned American soprano Renée Fleming.

As previously announced, the Canada/United Kingdom co-production also features The Police, former president Bill Clinton, Tony Bennett, Lou Reed, Smokey Robinson and Sir Elton John, who is also one of the program’s Executive Producers.

Fusing the best of talk and music television, the 13, one-hour episodes feature everything from intimate one-on-one interviews with legendary performers and notable newcomers to unprecedented, once-in-a-lifetime musical performances and collaborations.

“Rarely are TV viewers given such a delicate collision of artistic genius,” said Susanne Boyce, President, Creative, Content and Channels, CTV Inc. “With Elvis at the helm and an eclectic, star-studded line-up of guests, each episode promises to decode the magic of a musician’s creative process.”

Consistent with Sir Elton John’s long-standing commitment to philanthropy and music, the series producers have struck an exciting association with the (Product) RED (www.joinred.com) campaign created to raise awareness and money for the Global Fund (www.theglobalfund.org) to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Africa. Select program excerpts and performances will be distributed in a variety of new media and conventional platforms, with a portion of the profits directed to the Global Fund.