Pitchfork

Antony has always been pretty theatrical, but he's about to take it to the next level. According to NME.com, Mr. Hegarty, along with Natalie Merchant, Gavin Friday, and former Cocteau Twin Liz Fraser, has composed music for a two-part project themed around Shakespeare's sonnets.

Antony's creation will be performed by an eight-piece chamber orchestra from Opera North as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company's Complete Works Festival.

According to the festival's website, the show is scheduled to run in Stratford-upon-Avon, England on February 24 and 25. NME says that it will then tour Nottingham, Manchester, Gateshead, and Leeds, England in March.

Also on Antony's live horizon is a March 9 appearance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music with accompaniment from the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra.

In addition, Live Ghosts, a book from animator Adam Shecter, was recently co-published by Printed Matter Inc. in New York and Imschoot Uitvegers in Belgium. In it, readers will find images from those cool videos for Antony's "Hope There's Someone", "The Lake", and "Mysteries of Love", as well as a variety of other material.

As previously reported, Antony and bosom buddy Lou Reed will join forces for the live production of the latter's solo album, Berlin. This event is slated for St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn from December 14-17, and Sydney this January.

And according to Rufus Wainwright, Antony will precede his St. Ann's shenanigans with a stint at Carnegie Hall, where he'll lend a hand in "The Wainwright Family & Friends Christmas". Other guests include Marta Wainwright, David Byrne, Jimmy Fallon, Laurie Anderson, Linda Thompson, Teddy Thompson, and, of course, Lou Reed.

Finally, we'd like to remind you that Antony will contribute to Yoko Ono's forthcoming record, the star-studded Yes, I'm a Witch. Other participants include the Flaming Lips, Cat Power, Le Tigre, Spiritualized's Jason Pierce, Peaches, and the Polyphonic Spree. The LP will land on Astralwerks in February.