Nonesuch Records releases Caetano Veloso’s album Abraçaço in North America next Tuesday, March 25. But you don't need to wait till then to hear it: the album is streaming in full via WNYC's Soundcheck. "Abraçaço, (which means “big hug”) is not some subdued, late-career exercise in nostalgia or retrospection," asserts Soundcheck host John Schaefer. KCRW, also streaming the album, calls it Veloso "at his best." You can download two album tracks, "A Bossa Nova É Foda" and "Um Abraçaço," when you pre-order the album in the Nonesuch Store.

Timo Andres is the subject of the latest episode of Q2 Music's Q2 Spaces, which looks inside the homes and studios of composers and performers in the new-music world. Andres welcomes viewers into his Brooklyn home for a conversation about Beethoven, Ingram Marhsall, Edward Gorey, and much more. Watch it here. He gives the world premiere of a new piece, Work Songs, in New York City this Wednesday as part of the Ecstatic Music Festival. Andres wrote the piece especially for fellow composers and multi-instrumentalists Gabriel Kahane, Ted Hearne, Becca Stevens, and Nathan Koci, who will perform it in the concert. The concert will be hosted by WNYC’s John Schaefer and webcast live on Q2 Music.

Nonesuch releases composer Clint Mansell’s score to visionary filmmaker Darren Aronofsky’s film Noah on March 25, 2014. Directed by Aronofsky, the film will be released on March 28. Russell Crowe stars as Noah in the film inspired by the epic story of courage, sacrifice, and hope. The cast stars Jennifer Connelly, Ray Winstone, Emma Watson, Logan Lerman, and Anthony Hopkins. The score is performed by Kronos Quartet, joined by Patti Smith for her song "Mercy Is." An orchestra and choir are led by Matt Dunkley, who was also the principal orchestrator and arranger. The album was produced by Clint Mansell and Geoff Foster and is available to pre-order in the Nonesuch Store.

Natalie Merchant will be joined by The School of Life Founder and philosopher Alain de Botton for an evening of conversation and music at Shoreditch Town Hall in London on Thursday, May 15. The two will discuss the inspirations for the songs on her new, self-titled album, due May 5 on Nonesuch Records, and Merchant will offer a selection of live musical illustrations. Merchant will perform two sold-out concerts in London in May and join fellow Nonesuch artists for a sold-out concert there later that month.

Audra McDonald was a special guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on NBC last night. The five-time Tony Award winner stopped by the studio to help Fallon out on a Suggestion Box request to give voice to some sage Yahoo! Answers in her own inimitable way. Watch the segment here. McDonald returns to Broadway this spring to take on the role of legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill. Tickets are on sale now.

Nonesuch celebrates Kronos Quartet, long known as interpreters of music from around the world, in its 40th anniversary year with two releases: Kronos Explorer Series, a box set of five classic albums from five different parts of the world, and A Thousand Thoughts, a new album that looks at Kronos’s geographically wide-ranging sources, featuring music from 14 different countries. Both will be available on April 8, 2014 (international release April 21), and are available to pre-order in the Nonesuch Store; pre-orders of A Thousand Thoughts include an instant download of Sim Shalom, which you can hear here. Kronos continues its anniversary celebration with UCLA concerts on March 14 and 15, and a Carnegie Hall concert on March 28.

Nonesuch releases composer Jacob Cooper’s label debut, Silver Threads, on April 29, 2014. The album comprises a six-song cycle performed by soprano Mellissa Hughes. Cooper wrote the title track for Hughes in 2011, setting a haiku attributed to Japanese poet Matsuo Bashō for voice and electronic track. To expand it into a full cycle (for voice and track), he enlisted five other poets to write text inspired by the haiku. Nonesuch Store preorders include an instant download of the title track. Hughes performs selections from Silver Threads in NYC as part of her March 20 Lincoln Center American Songbook concert. 

Inside Llewyn Davis, the new film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and starring Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, John Goodman, Garrett Hedlund, and Justin Timberlake, is out now on Blu-ray and DVD from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Both formats include "Inside Inside Llewyn Davis," a 40-minute making-of documentary offering insights from the filmmakers, cast, crew, and musicians, and are available now in the Nonesuch Store.

Now available in The Black Keys' online store is the official West Akron Baseball League jersey designed by The Black Keys creative director Michael Carney. All profits from this t-shirt will be donated to the W.A.B.L., in which both Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney played as kids. "It was a really positive hobby that kept us from sitting around watching TV," Patrick Carney tells MTV. "We are proud to be sponsoring W.A.B.L to hopefully offset some of the league's expenses and get more kids outside having fun."

Randy Newman will lead a one-night-only performance of his famed 1995 musical Faust in concert at New York City Center on July 1, 2014, as part of the Encores! Off-Center series. The performance, directed by Thomas Kail (In the Heights), will feature Newman starring as the Devil, with additional casting still to be announced. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Monday, March 17.

Punch Brothers kick off a three-week US tour at Oberlin College this Sunday, part of the group's three-part residency on the campus this academic year. The tour, with support from singer/songwriter Aoife O'Donovan, continues through the end of the month with shows in Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, West Virginia, Indiana, Wisconsin, Connecticut, and upstate New York, as well as festival sets at Suwannee Springfest in Florida and Savannah Music Festival in Georgia. Punch Brothers will also perform at the High Sierra and Sasquatch! festivals in the Pacific Northwest in July.

The 2013 Americana Music Honors & Awards ceremony, at which Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell took home the Duo of the Year and Album of the Year awards for their album Old Yellow Moon last September, will be broadcast in full on AXS TV this Sunday, March 9, at 8 PM ET. Dr. John was also presented the Lifetime Achievement Award for Performance by The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach, and Ry Cooder presented an award. Watch a preview here.