CCM stars share stage with Lady Gaga at the Grammys
Brian Newman, Steve Kortyka and Alex Smith perform with Gaga in her tribute to Tony Bennett
You might have noticed an enthusiastic trumpet player in a white tuxedo performing next to Lady Gaga at the Grammy Awards last weekend. CCM alumnus Brian Newman (Jazz Studies, att. ’99-’03) is a longtime collaborator with the pop star-turned-belter, and joined her on stage in her tribute to Tony Bennett during the 64th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony on April 3, 2022.
Newman was pictured performing with Gaga on stage in Variety magazine's coverage of the Grammy Awards. Watch the performance on Lady Gaga's Facebook page.
Brian Newman, Lady Gaga, Michael Beardon, Donald Barrett, Daniel Foose, Alex Smith and Steve Kortyka at the Grammy Awards.
Lady Gaga has worked on a number of duet projects with Tony Bennett, who has Alzheimer's and was unable to attend the awards ceremony. The duo's recent album Love for Sale, which won two Grammy Awards, was Bennett's final recording project. Newman worked with Lady Gaga and Bennet on the award-winning album and on their first collaboration, Cheek to Cheek — he was the band leader, trumpet player and an arranger on both recordings.
Newman wasn't the only CCM alumnus on stage at the Grammy Awards though. His long-time bandmates Alex Smith (BM Jazz Studies, '01), piano; and Steve Kortyka (BM Jazz, '04), saxophone, joined Newman and Gaga for the performance and on the red carpet, along with bassist Daniel Foose, musician Donald Barrett and maestro Michael Beardon.
Newman is also the band leader and arranger for Lady Gaga's Jazz and Piano show during her Las Vegas residency and has his own late-night Vegas residency at the Nomad Library called "Brian Newman: After Dark."
In June 2021, Newman was a guest on CCM’s “School, Stage & Screen” podcast, where he discussed his work with Lady Gaga (including an injury from her famed disco ball), life as a performer in Vegas and the time he spends away from his trumpet.
Featured image at the top: Lady Gaga and Brian Newman performing on stage at the Grammy Awards. Photo/Christopher Polk for Variety.
Additional Contacts
Curt Whitacre | Director of Marketing/Communications | UC College-Conservatory of Music
whitaccp@ucmail.uc.edu | 513-556-2683
Related Stories
UC biologist talks about 'pearmageddon'
March 16, 2026
WLWT talks to UC biologist and Department Head Theresa Culley about invasive, nonnative Callery pear trees that are spreading across Ohio forests after they were introduced by landscapers more than 50 years ago.
Local media highlight completion of Blood Cancer Healing Center fourth and fifth floors
March 16, 2026
Local media including WLWT and the Cincinnati Business Courier highlighted the opening of research laboratories and the UC Osher Wellness Suite and Learning Kitchen at the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center’s Blood Cancer Healing Center.
Trial results support weekly buprenorphine treatment of opioid use disorder during pregnancy
March 16, 2026
Supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), researchers led by the University of Cincinnati's John Winhusen published clinical trial results in JAMA Internal Medicine that found administering weekly injectable extended-release buprenorphine for treatment of opioid use disorder during pregnancy led to higher rates of abstinence from illicit opioids than buprenorphine given daily under the tongue, one of the standard methods of treatment.