Names and faces
■ Country star Miranda Lambert turned her “Wildcard” into an ace as the leading nominee at the 2020 Country Music Association Awards, including her first entertainer of the year nomination in five years. On Tuesday, the CMAs announced that the Grammy winner, with seven nominations, was pushed by the success of songs like “Bluebird,” her first country airplay No. 1 in years, as well as positive reviews of her smart and sassy “Wildcard” album. Lambert — who has won 13 CMAs throughout her career — makes history this year, breaking the record for most nominations by a female artist with 55 overall nods. She’s followed by Luke Combs, who continues his streak of success as one of country music’s biggest streaming artists with six nominations, including his first for entertainer of the year. Combs earned his first all-genre No. 1 album last year with “What You See Is What You Get,” which had the largest streaming week ever for a country album with 74 million on-demand streams. “It’s pretty crazy. It’s been shocking to say the least,” Combs said of his entertainer of the year nod, which comes two years after he was named new artist of the year. “You’re kind of up in the big leagues.” Carrie Underwood joins Combs and Lambert in the entertainer of the year category, along with Keith Urban and Eric Church. Garth Brooks, who won last year, recently announced he no longer wanted to be nominated for entertainer of the year because it was time for others to win. The CMA Awards will be held Nov. 11 in Nashville, Tenn.
■ The Boston Symphony Orchestra asked the music world to help it celebrate former conductor Seiji Ozawa’s 85th birthday Tuesday, encouraging fans to honor Ozawa on social media with the hashtag #happybirthdayseiji. As part of the celebration, Mayor Marty Walsh issued a proclamation declaring Tuesday “Seiji Ozawa Day in the City of Boston.” Ozawa is the longest-serving conductor in Boston Symphony history, holding the title of music director for 29 years from 1973 until 2002. Ozawa, who now lives in Tokyo with his family, said in a written statement, “For me, Boston is like my second home. I love and miss all my colleagues and friends at the Boston Symphony Orchestra.” Orchestra President and CEO Mark Volpe said in a statement that Ozawa holds a special place in the hearts and minds of colleagues worldwide, “Those of us fortunate to know him and to have been present for the fantastic music-making he elicits from an orchestra have been dazzled by his conducting, often described as balletic and always without a score,” Volpe said. Ozawa announced in 2010 that he had esophageal cancer, but the Boston Symphony said his health currently is “stable.”