André 3000 will no longer be performing at the inaugural AIR Festival due to unforeseen personal circumstances. Aspen Art Museum and The Wheeler Opera House wish him all the best at this time and we look forward to sharing updates with you all about future AIR programming.
New Blue Sun
André 3000
André 3000 brings to AIR a live performance of his Grammy-nominated album New Blue Sun. Joined on the Wheeler Opera House stage by multi-instrumentalists Carlos Niño and Nate Mercereau, keyboardist Surya Botofasina, and percussionist Deantoni Parks, André 3000 performs a myriad of flutes from around the world in a set featuring both acoustic and electronic instrumentation. Like the formation of the album itself, New Blue Sun LIVE is largely free-form, drawing inspiration from the present moment and the surroundings of each performance to create immersive, exploratory sonic experiences.
André Benjamin—best known as André 3000—is one of the most revered, celebrated artists of the last three decades, an auteur whose work in music, film, fine arts, fashion, and more continues to influence the cultural landscape on a global scale. His work as one half of the iconic hip-hop duo Outkast, with Anton “Big Boi” Patton, established a brand new voice and style within rap that had never been experienced before. The nine-time Grammy-winning artist released his first solo album in 20 years this past November—New Blue Sun, a wind focused, instrumental album that represents the next step in André’s creative evolution. Released to widespread critical acclaim, New Blue Sun became the first instrumental album to land on the Billboard Top 200 Chart, and the opening track “I Swear, I Really Wanted to Make a ‘Rap’ Album But This Is Literally the Way the Wind Blew Me This Time,” broke the record for longest song to debut on the Billboard Hot 100. It was nominated for 3 Grammy Awards in 2025, including “Album of the Year.”
New Blue Sun is curated by Eliza Ryan, Curator at Large.
New Blue Sun is co-presented by Aspen Art Museum and the City of Aspen’s Wheeler Opera House.
New Blue Sun is made possible through a generous gift from Steve Tisch and Jamie Tisch.
