Following in the tradition of the 2005 Nonesuch album The McGarrigle Christmas Hour, Anna McGarrigle, Rufus Wainwright, and Martha Wainwright lead A Not So Silent Night, holiday concerts at the Théâtre St-Denis in Montreal and The Town Hall in New York City, featuring special guests like Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, Teddy Thompson, and Loudon Wainwright III. The concerts are a tribute to the late Kate McGarrigle; proceeds benefit the Kate McGarrigle Sarcoma Research Fund.

There's still more than a month to go before 2011 comes to a close, but already the music magazines have begun to weigh in on the year's best music. American Songwriter, Paste, Uncut, Q, and Mojo have all published their lists of the Top 50 Albums of the Year, and included among them are a number of Nonesuch releases: the latest albums from Björk, Ry Cooder, Jessica Lea Mayfield, and The Low Anthem, as well as the soon-to-be-released album from The Black Keys, due out next week.

The nominees for the 2011 fRoots Critics Poll have just been announced, and included among them are Ry Cooder's new album, Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down, which has been nominated for Album of the Year, and Kate & Anna McGarrigle's three-CD collection Tell My Sister, released this spring on Nonesuch, which was nominated for Reissue/Compilation Album of the Year. Nominees are chosen by experts in the UK and worldwide; winners will be announced by BBC Radio 3 in a special edition of World On 3 on December 2.

Kate and Anna McGarrigle are featured on a new stamp released by the Canada Post today. The stamp is the latest in a series honoring outstanding Canadian singer-songwriters and performers who have won accolades in Canada and abroad. American Songwriter gives the three-disc McGarrigle set Tell My Sister four stars. SPIN rates it a nine out of ten, citing the sisters' "eccentric genius." Uncut credits their "sublime voices, combined in the effortless harmonies that only siblings seem able to provide."

Tell My Sister, the three-disc set of newly remastered editions of Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Dancer with Bruised Knees, and a third disc of demos, receives four stars in the Irish Times, which says of the self-titled debut: "Its timeless melodies, shimmering voices, songs of honest pain, vulnerability and simple joy and its unabashed pride in roots parlour-room music make it a desert-island disc." Anna McGarrigle talks with the Montreal Gazette about the new collection and hearing her late sister's voice on the demos. “She sounds so fierce in it ... The energy that woman had was so amazing.”

The celebration of Kate McGarrigle's music continued for a second night at New York's Town Hall on Friday. The New York Times says her "extended musical family and a quietly magnificent catalog" were both featured. She "wrote 20th-century parlor songs: folksy-sounding, latter-day descendants of Stephen Foster tunes, hymns, waltzes and popular arias ... bold and sophisticated, musically and emotionally." Rolling Stone calls the concert "an extraordinarily moving night of music." Entertainment Weekly says: "In spite of the sobering loss, the audience received firsthand evidence that the loving wit Kate personified still lives on through her family."

Kate McGarrigle's family and friends gathered on stage at New York's Town Hall last night for the first of two concerts celebrating the life and music of the late singer-songwriter. The evening was a beautiful and emotional tribute featuring scores of unforgettable performances, with proceeds going to the Kate McGarrigle Sarcoma Research Fund. "Their voices flew as high as birds and resonated with a closeness only siblings can create," says the Daily News of Kate and her sister. "Kate and Anna McGarrigle sang some of the most distinct and shimmering harmonies in the modern folk era."

Kate McGarrigle, who died of sarcoma last year, will be celebrated in a two-night tribute at New York’s Town Hall tonight and tomorrow, with performances by her children Martha and Rufus Wainwright, her sister Anna, Emmylou Harris, Antony Hegarty, Norah Jones, Teddy Thompson, and others. Tell My Sister, a three-disc set comprising Kate & Anna McGarrigle's first two albums plus previously unreleased songs, is out now. The Philadelphia Inquirer says it "captures the McGarrigles in their prime, when they made their own brand of frisky, tough-minded, and sexy folk music."

Anna McGarrigle will appear on NPR's Fresh Air today to discuss her relationship with her late sister Kate and the music they made together. Tell My Sister, a three-disc set comprising remastered versions of their first two albums and a collection of previously unreleased songs, is out now. The Financial Times gives the set a perfect five stars. Kate McGarrigle, who died of sarcoma last year, will be celebrated in a two-night tribute at New York’s Town Hall starting this week, with performances by Anna, Kate's children Martha and Rufus Wainwright, Emmylou Harris, and others.

Today marks the release of Tell My Sister, a three-disc set comprising remastered versions of Kate and Anna McGarrigle's beloved 1976 self-titled debut; its equally praised 1977 follow-up, Dancer with Bruised Knees; and a collection of previously unreleased songs and demos. Rolling Stone gives the new release four-and-a-half stars, calling the debut album "idiosyncratically perfect." The Boston Globe describes it as "a dizzying but exhilarating ride," the demo disc a "real revelation," and the sisters' music "too enchanted, too singular to ever be forgotten." The Philadelphia Daily News gives Tell My Sister an A.

Nonesuch Records releases Tell My Sister, a special three-disc set comprising remastered versions of Kate and Anna McGarrigle’s beloved 1976 self-titled debut; its equally praised 1977 follow-up, Dancer with Bruised Knees; and a collection of previously unreleased songs, including solo and duo demos, on May 3, 2011. Joe Boyd, who produced the McGarrigles’ first two albums, assembled the material for the third disc in addition to serving as producer for the whole set. Tell My Sister is now available for pre-order in the Nonesuch Store, along with an exclusive, limited-edition commemorative poster.

Two shows will be held in honor of the late Kate McGarrigle at New York's Town Hall on May 12 and 13, featuring performances by Martha and Rufus Wainwright, Anna McGarrigle, Emmylou Harris, and others. Kate McGarrigle lost her battle with a rare form of cancer known as sarcoma in January of 2010, age 63. All profits from the concerts will go toward the creation of the Kate McGarrigle Sarcoma Research Fund.