The line-up for Hardly Strictly Bluegrass has been announced, and among the performers are several artists familiar to readers of the Nonesuch Journal: Emmylou Harris, Kronos Quartet, Robert Plant, Punch Brothers, Chris Thile, and Yola. The free, annual outdoor music festival returns for the nineteenth year to San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, October 4–6, 2019. You can hear songs from all these artists in a playlist here.

Congratulations to composer John Adams, whose Doctor Atomic has won the Opus Klassik Award for Best Opera Recording – 20th/21st Century. On this first recording of the piece, the composer leads the BBC Singers and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, with a cast led by Gerald Finley and Julia Bullock. Peter Sellars created the libretto, drawing from original sources to explore the final hours leading up to the first atomic bomb explosion in 1945. The Opus Klassik awards ceremony will take place in Berlin on October 13.

Devendra Banhart has confirmed eighteen European tour dates in January and February 2020 as part of a world tour in support of his forthcoming album, Ma. The European leg comprises concerts in Poland, Germany, Czech Republic, Belgium, Netherlands, UK, France, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, and Portugal, including London’s Shepherd Bush Empire on February 4.

Kronos Quartet's groundbreaking 2002 collaboration with composer Terry Riley, Sun Rings, is now available as a recording for the first time. Riley incorporates into his composition "space sounds" (plasma waves) that NASA had collected from the Voyager probes, as well as a choir that represents, in his words, "the voice of humanity in its struggle to understand the meaning of our place in this unfathomable universe." Musical America calls it "a spaceship that faces ahead into the planets but also looks back toward its starting point on Earth."

The Black Keys have released a live video version of "I Got Mine," from their 2008 album, Attack & Release. For the performance, they are joined by their touring band, Andrew Gabbard and Delicate Steve on guitar, and Zachary Gabbard on bass. The video, taped at a recent rehearsal in front of a small audience made up of members of the band's fan club, provides a behind-the-scenes look and a preview of their upcoming "Let's Rock" tour, which starts September 23. Watch it here.

Gabriel Kahane has been appointed to the newly created post of Creative Chair at the Oregon Symphony through the 2021/22 Season. In addition to writing and performing three substantial works over the next three seasons, Kahane will serve as an advisor for contemporary programming on the Classical series. He will produce two new concert series: Open Music, a composer-driven chamber series to be held in smaller Portland venues, and an as yet unnamed indie concert series in which pop artists will collaborate with dynamic composers and orchestrators. 

Vagabon (aka Lætitia Tamko) has shared "Water Me Down," the latest track from her self-titled sophomore album, due October 18. "I wrote 'Water Me Down' in a stream of consciousness way in the few minutes following a frustrating phone call with someone," says Tamko. "My intention was to create a playground in which to explore difficult feelings with confidence, triumph and foresight."

Donnacha Dennehy's The Hunger, which explores Ireland's Great Famine, is out now on Nonesuch Records. Performed by Alarm Will Sound led by Alan Pierson, soprano Katherine Manley, and sean nós singer Iarla Ó Lionáird, the libretto draws from first-hand accounts by American humanitarian Asenath Nicholson. The Hunger "bears hearing and rehearing," said the Washington Post. "It is powerful, and it makes a statement." 

Randy Newman has announced an international An Evening with Randy Newman tour for 2020, beginning with Australia and New Zealand in January and February—his first tour of Australia since 2011, and his first ever tour of New Zealand. Further dates, in Europe in spring 2020, will be announced shortly.

Robert Finley returned to America's Got Talent on NBC for the quarter finals last night to perform a brand-new song, "Starting to See." You can watch his performance, which once again wowed the audience and the judges, here.

The first recording of Donnacha Dennehy's The Hunger—performed by Alarm Will Sound led by Alan Pierson, soprano Katherine Manley, and sean nós singer Iarla Ó Lionáird—is out this Friday. Alarm Will Sound has shared a short film in which the composer and performers tell the story behind the piece. "It's not just really about the Irish Famine. It's about any kind of unfolding catastrophe that's complicated by political ideas of 'the other,'" says Dennehy. "This happens throughout the world still to this day. We don't have to look very hard for parallels, I'm afraid." You can watch the short film here.

Yola has joined The Highwomen—Amanda Shires, Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, and Maren Morris—on the just-released self-titled track to the group's eponymous upcoming album, as does Sheryl Crow. Shires and Carlile wrote the song with Jimmy Webb, who had penned the 1985 tune "Highwayman" for the supergroup by that name featuring Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, and Johnny Cash. Hear it here. Rolling Stone called The Highwomen's recent Newport Folk Festival set with Yola "a triumph" and dubbed her "the single most sought-after voice at this year’s festival."