Kronos Quartet celebrates its 40th anniversary and launches a fifth decade with an array of projects and special events during its 2013–14 season. The milestone will be marked by a weeklong residency at Lincoln Center, coast-to-coast birthday concerts, a host of premieres, a Nonesuch CD boxed set, and performances around the globe. The Quartet will unveil more than a dozen commissioned works, plus two film scores and a volume of commissioned works published by Boosey & Hawkes. The anniversary season opens with a free outdoor concert this Saturday in New Haven that introduces the group's new cellist, Sunny Yang.

Nonesuch Records releases an album of three Bach works recorded by mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile on August 6, 2013. Bach: Sonatas and Partitas, Vol. 1, produced by Edgar Meyer, comprises three works written for solo violin: Sonata No. 1 in G minor, BWV 1001; Partita No. 1 in B minor, BWV 1002; and Sonata No. 2 in A minor, BWV 1003. Nonesuch Store pre-orders include an instant download of the G minor sonata Fuga: Allegro; the first 500 pre-orders include an autographed print. “This record to me is not about this iconic violin music played on the mandolin," says Thile. "It's about Bach being one of the greatest musicians of all time, the solo violin music being some of his best work, and the mandolin having the potential to cast it in a new and hopefully interesting light."

Iron and Wine has added a number of new tour dates to the previously announced fall tour of the US and Canada featuring music from its Nonesuch debut album, Ghost on Ghost. This new leg of the tour, which begins October 31 at the Orpheum in LA, includes stops in Oakland, Portland, Vancouver, Seattle, Missoula, Salt Lake City, Denver, and Kansas City, with still more to be announced. Fan pre-sale begins today; general on-sale begins on Friday, June 21. Iron and Wine performs on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC this Monday, June 24.

Rokia Traoré, who is currently touring Europe, recently performed an intimate solo version of "Ka Moun Kè" off her new album, Beautiful Africa, for the Guardian. In the exclusive live session, part of the Guardian's How I wrote ... series, she discusses the origins of this love song, the title of which translates as "Darling, What Can I Do For You?" The performance is a preview of Traoré's upcoming tour stop at the Glastonbury Festival. Watch the video here. Songlines has listed Rokia Traoré's 2009 album, Tchamantché, at No. 4 among the Top 25 Mali albums.

Laurie Anderson began a week of special performances when she was joined by artist and activist Ai Weiwei, via Skype from Beijing, for the premiere of Greetings to the Motherland at Toronto's Luminato Festival last night; watch it in full here. Anderson leads two free concerts in New York City this week for the annual River to River Festival, featuring stories from United States Parts 1-4 with special guests Steve Buscemi and Young Jean Lee on Tuesday and a night of improvisation with longtime musical collaborators on Wednesday.

Fatoumata Diawara returns to North America for a summer-long tour of the US and Canada. This leg of her tour begins in New Hampshire tonight, then heads to Bonnaroo on Friday. The two-month tour takes Diawara and her band to cities throughout California, into Canada, the US Midwest, and the East Coast, including headline shows, summer festivals sets, and a concert in New York's Central Park for SummerStage. 

Bombino, who is currently touring the US with his "electrifying" show (A.V. Club), has made NPR Music's list of its 25 Favorite Albums of the Year (So Far) for his Nonesuch debut album, Nomad. "Full of undeniably hypnotic trance-guitar music, and produced by The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach, Nomad rocks like no other record this year," writes NPR Music's Bob Boilen. "Hearing Bombino in any American nightclub, the reaction is ecstasy and complete connection ... It's blues, it's trance and it's psychedelic in its repetition. Oh, and did I mention it rocks?" Bombino tells New York magazine: "There are two kinds of music in the desert. If it makes you want to listen to it, it’s the blues. If it makes you want to move, it’s rock.”

Amadou & Mariam release the digital EP Mali Meets Latin America in the US today as the Malian duo prepares to kick off a North American summer tour at Bonnaroo this weekend. The EP features remixes of four tracks from their 2012 album Folila by artists from Buenos Aires (Frikstailers and King Coya, aka Gaby Kerpel) and Bogotá (Bomba Estéreo and Sidestepper) and was inspired by the couple’s first visit to perform in Mexico, Colombia, Chile, and Argentina in 2012, when they met several of the producers featured on this collection.

Sara Watkins, who is set to hit the road again as special guest of Jackson Browne next week, recently stopped by Yahoo! Music's Ram Country for a performance of the song "You and Me" off her latest album, Sun Midnight Sun, and to talk about the album and more. Watch the performance and interview here. Watkins's summer tour includes several dates with Browne; festivals sets at Telluride, Winnipeg, and Vancouver; and the Radio Romance Tour with Garrison Keillor and A Prairie Home Companion.

Joshua Redman performed songs from his new album, Walking Shadows, at New York's Town Hall on Tuesday with the album's core ensemble—Brad Mehldau, Larry Grenadier, Brian Blade—and the chamber orchestra The Knights. The New York Times' Nate Chinen says the event "was, objectively speaking, a special night," exclaiming: "Mr. Redman has always been a fluid technician, but the inner glow in his tone throughout the night, along with the grace and clarity of his ideas, suggested new levels of prowess." 

Nonesuch releases Timo Andres's new album, Home Stretch, on July 30, 2013. On the album, Andres pairs the newly composed title work with two reinventions of works by musical heroes Mozart and Brian Eno: Mozart "Coronation” Concerto Re-Composition, conceived as a companion piece to Mozart's Piano Concerto, No. 12, K. 414, and Paraphrase on Themes of Brian Eno. Metropolis Ensemble performs, with the composer on piano. Nonesuch Store pre-orders include an exclusive print of the first page of the Home Stretch score, autographed by the composer.

Dan Auerbach is the guest on the latest episode of Noisey's Guitar Moves. The series, hosted by musician Matt Sweeney, presents intimate conversations about guitars, music, life, and craft. During the season, Sweeney and his guests play through licks, riffs, and solos that inform their style, influence their playing, and define their sound. In this episode, he sits down with The Black Keys' guitarist to learn the secrets of slide guitar. Watch the episode here.