Robert De Niro, Elvis Costello and Jesse Malin Rocked Carnegie Hall for Tibet House US

Elvis Costello

Robert De Niro, Elvis Costello and Jesse Malin stood out among the many notables that helped raise funds for Tibet House US with the 39th annual benefit concert at Carnegie Hall on March 3. Co-artistic directors and curators Philip Glass and Laurie Anderson curated an eclectic lineup of artists, which included Toro y Moi, Kate Pierson of the B-52’s, Allison Russell, Laurie Anderson with Saturday Night Live’s James Austin Johnson, Christian Lee Hutson, Maya Hawke, Elysian Fields, the Philip Glass Ensemble, Tenzin Choegyal, the Resistance Revival Chorus, and the Scorchio Quartet. Uma Thurman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, Arden Wohl and Jonah Freeman served as the evening’s honorary chairs.

As is the custom with the Tibet House US benefit concerts, the Tibetan Monks from the Drepung Gomang Monastery started the program with religious chants. The Philip Glass Ensemble performed “Train-Spaceship,” an excerpt from Glass’ four-part opera, Einstein on the Beach, as Philip Glass watched from the overhead box seats.

Tibetan Monks from the Dremung Gomang Monastery

The Philip Glass Ensemble

A late addition and featured early in the three-hour-program, actor Robert De Niro received a standing ovation as he prepared to read excerpts from Abraham Lincoln’s “Lyceum Address,” officially titled “The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions.” One of Lincoln’s earliest speeches, it was delivered in 1838, while Lincoln served in the Illinois legislature, long before his presidency. In it, the 28-year-old Lincoln warned against rising mob violence, urging that respect for the law and Constitution become the "political religion" of the nation. In 2022, Philip Glass used the speech as the basis, in part, for his unpublished Symphony No. 15, “Lincoln.” This past January 27, Glass initiated controversy when he canceled the symphony's premiere at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts due to his belief that the center's values conflicted with the piece's message and central meaning.

Laurie Anderson performed “Walk on Water,” then invited Saturday Night Live’s James Austin Johnson to team with her in a reading of Allen Ginsberg’s “Ballad of the Skeletons.” Anderson later joined Elysian Fields’ performance of “Lucid Dreaming.”

Robert De Niro

Laurie Anderson

Christian Lee Hutson performed an acoustic performance of his unfinished song “As You Are, So You Will Be.” He then welcomed “the inimitable, my wife, Maya Hawke” to the stage. The newlywed couple performed a duet of Hawke’s “Devil You Know.”

Tibetan artist Tenzin Choegyal opened with “White Crane,” a composition based on a poem by the 6th Dalai Lama. He followed with “Snowy Mountains – GangRi,” accompanied by Alex Gray on piano, the Scorchio Quartet on strings and the Resistance Revival Chorus on background vocals. The Resistance Revival Chorus remained on stage for a version of Reverend Robert Wesby’s “Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind Stayed on Freedom).” A member of the 20-member chorus noted that the ensemble hopes to see members of the audience out in the streets with them because the achievement of peace requires action. “There is work to be done. There are ICE agents taking our neighbors from their homes. There is war. There are people in this city who are hungry. Your neighbors need you. It’s time to be a really good neighbor.” The chorus left the stage singing.

Christian Lee Hutson

Maya Hawke

Allison Russell remarked “War, never holy. All children are our children. No exceptions.” Russell, accompanied by Kara Jackson and Hadestown cast members Morgan Dudley and Ganessa James, performed the Hadestown song “We Raise Our Cups.” Russell said that the song feels like resistance. Russell was then joined on stage by Toro y Moi for a duet performance of the Rolling Stones’ “Wild Horses.” Russell left the stage, and Toro y Moi remained to sing an original song, “Undercurrent,” and a cover of Sir Paul McCartney’s “Maybe I’m Amazed.”

Jesse Malin rolled his wheelchair to center stage and said, “This is a crazy time, so it’s good to be here with so many people whose hearts are in the right places.” For his second song, he stood from his wheelchair and asked the audience to stand with him. Elvis Costello, a late replacement for an ill Debbie Harry, began his mini-set with an abbreviated cover of Blondie’s “Picture This,” which he performed solo and acoustic. He then switched to electric guitar and had the house band join him for other songs. Kate Pierson of the B-52’s performed her band’s “Revolution Earth” backed by the Resistance Revival Choir, then had her next two scheduled songs, "Wolves" and "Roam," suddenly cut due to the 10:30 p.m. curfew. The program concluded with Pierson leading the entire company in an abruptly-abbreviated finale of Patti Smith’s “People Have the Power.” Stage security signaled for the performers to leave the stage even while still singing the song.

Tenzen Choegyal

Resistance Revival Chorus

Tony Shanahan, bassist for Patti Smith, served as music director of the evening. Shanahan led the house band that backed most of the program. His core band consisted of guitarist Andy York, keyboardist Todd Caldwell and drummer Brian Griffin.

Wishing everyone a happy lunar new year and noting that the night fell on Tibet’s day of miracles due to the full moon, Tibet House US President Bob Thurman spoke early in the program about the Tibet House US mission to protect as well as promote the Tibetan culture of kindness, love, and wisdom. Sharing his gratitude to the evening’s lineup, he remarked on how artists are the perfect people to carry this important mission as they create with open hearts.

Allison Russell

Toro y Moi

The Tibet House US benefit concerts originated in 1989, shortly after the 1987 founding of Tibet House US in New York City. Part of a worldwide network of Tibet Houses, the New York institution was established by westerners at the request of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, to help preserve Tibetan culture. Curated annually by composer Philip Glass and others, these concerts, often at Carnegie Hall, celebrate the Tibetan New Year (Losar) and raise funds and awareness for Tibet House US. This year’s concert celebrated the Year of the Fire Horse.

Over the years, performers at the annual charity concerts have included David Bowie, Patti Smith, Iggy Pop, boygenius, Alabama Shakes, Phoebe Bridgers, Carly Simon, Stephen Colbert, Lou Reed, Sharon Jones, FKA twigs, the Roots, Jim James, Vampire Weekend, St. Paul and the Broken Bones, Blood Orange, Sigur Ros, Emmylou Harris, Jon Batiste, Nathaniel Rateliff, Jason Isbell, the Flaming Lips, Keanu Reeves, Eddie Vedder, Annie Lennox, Brittany Howard, Black Pumas, Cage the Elephant, Cyndi Lauper, Trey Anastasio and many others.

Photographs by Noam Galai & Ilya Savenok for Getty Images on behalf of Tibet House US

Jesse Malin

Kate Pierson with the Resistance Revival Choir

Setlist

Tibetan Monks from the Drepung Gomang Monastery

Philip Glass Ensemble

1. Einstein on the Beach: Train/Spaceship

Laurie Anderson

1. Walk on Water

2. The Ballad of the Skeletons (Allen Ginsberg cover) (with James Austin Johnson)

Elysian Fields

1. Dream Within a Dream (with Scorchio Quartet and the house band)

2. Lucid Dreaming (with Laurie Anderson, the Scorchio Quartet and house band)

Christian Lee Hutson

1. As You Are, So You Will Be

Maya Hawke

1. Devil You Know (with Christian Lee Hutson)

Tenzin Choegyal

1. White Crane (Dalai Lama cover, with Laurie Anderson and Martha Mooke) (Variation on the poem)

2. Snowy Mountains - GangRi (with Resistance Revival Chorus, Alex Gray and the Scorchio Quartet)

Resistance Revival Chorus

1. Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind Stayed on Freedom) (Reverend Robert Wesby cover)

Allison Russell

1. Hy-Brasil (with Ganessa James, the Scorchio Quartet and the house band)

2. We Raise Our Cups (Anaïs Mitchell cover, with Kara Jackson, Ganessa James, Morgan Dudley, Jack Wolfe, and the house band)

3. Wild Horses (The Rolling Stones cover, with Toro y Moi and the house band)

Toro y Moi

1. Undercurrent (with The Scorchio Quintet and house band)

2. Maybe I'm Amazed (Paul McCartney cover, with house band)

Jesse Malin

1. Greener Pastures (with Derek Cruz, the Scorchio Quartet, and house band)

2. Meet Me at the End of the World Again (with Derek Cruz and house band)

Elvis Costello

1. Picture This (Blondie cover)

2. We Are All Cowards Now / Which Side Are You On?

3. (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding (Brinsley Schwarz cover, with Tony Shanahan & the house band)

Kate Pierson

1. Revolution Earth (The B‐52s song, with Resistance Revival Chorus)

2. People Have the Power (Patti Smith cover, with the cast)

Elysian Fields

Bob Thurman

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