Sun Midnight Sun, the second solo album from acclaimed singer, songwriter, and fiddle player Sara Watkins, will be released May 8 on Nonesuch Records. Produced by guitarist, singer, and songwriter Blake Mills, co-founder of the band Simon Dawes, the album features special guest appearances by Fiona Apple, Jackson Browne, Taylor Goldsmith (Dawes), Benmont Tench, and Sean Watkins. The album is available to pre-order on in the Nonesuch Store with an exclusive print signed by Watkins. In celebration of the album's release, Watkins will embark on a nationwide tour this spring and summer, including a series of special tour dates with Dawes.

Chris Thile joined the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra for the New York premiere of his Mandolin Concerto at Carnegie Hall on Saturday. The New York Times wonders if the mandolin is "about to have its moment as a classical solo instrument" and calls Thile "the instrument’s brightest star at the moment." Thile "knows how to surprise," says the Times' Allan Kozinn. "As fresh as the music sounded, it also had an appealing naturalness." The mandolin's solo line "is built on Mr. Thile’s more subtle brand of virtuosity—a blend of fluid melody, dazzling speed and a command of timbre ..."

Timothy Andres's music was featured on a number of concert programs in Los Angeles this weekend, including a piece from his debut album, Shy and Mighty, at Beyond Baroque, and Andres himself joining the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra on piano for the world premiere of his Old Keys and the West Coast premiere of his re-composition of Mozart's "Coronation" Concerto. "What is most original about Andres’ music so far is its extraordinary pianistic character," says the Los Angeles Times review. "He is a superb pianist with a highly evolved rhythmic sense and a quirky sense of humor."

Mac Rebennack, a.k.a Dr. John, whose new album, Locked Down, is due out next week, was the guest on today's episode of WNYC's Soundcheck. He performs a live solo piano version of "Big Shot," a song off the new album, and talks about working with producer Dan Auerbach on the album. He also gives preview of his three-week residency at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), which launches this week with a tribute to Louis Armstrong, followed by the premiere of new music from Locked Down with Auerbach (April 5–7), and a celebration of New Orleans music (April 12–15). Listen to the show here.

Nonesuch releases the label debut from acclaimed pianist Jeremy Denk, Ligeti/Beethoven, on May 15, 2012. The solo recording features Ligeti’s Piano Études, Books One and Two, and Beethoven’s Sonata No. 32 in C Minor. "One curious connection between the works on this album is the way both Ligeti and Beethoven relate themselves to jazz (and to syncopation, rhythmic dislocation generally)," says Denk. "But the most significant connection for me is between Beethoven’s vast timeless canvas and Ligeti’s bite-sized bits of infinity." Pre-order now. Tune in to Q2 Music all this week to hear Denk guest host Hammered!, and again tonight for a live videocast performance/conversation with Denk, John Adams, Michael Tilson Thomas, and the St. Lawrence String Quartet.

In 2004, Caetano Veloso curated a week of special concerts at Carnegie Hall and invited his longtime friend and collaborator David Byrne to join him for the show captured on the new album Caetano Veloso & David Byrne: Live at Carnegie Hall. "Respected songwriters who for the last four decades have in similar ways chronicled their respective cultures, the pair trade stripped-down renditions of some of their classics on this live document and in doing so offer borderless bliss," says the Los Angeles Times. Citing Veloso's take on Byrne's "(Nothing but) Flowers," the Times concludes: "Such joy is evident throughout Live at Carnegie Hall.” MOJO gives the album four stars.

Amadou & Mariam's new album, Folila, is due out in the US on April 10. The album's opening track, "Dougou Badia," featuring Santigold, premiered on Pitchfork earlier this year. Today, Pitchfork has premiered the video for another album track, "Wily Kataso," featuring another stellar collaboration, this time with TV on the Radio's Kyp Malone and Tunde Adebimpe. Watch the video, directed by Jennifer DeLia, here.

Following yesterday's video featuring the title track to Dr. John's forthcoming album, Locked Down, comes a second teaser video with a clip from the track "Revolution" and more footage from inside producer Dan Auerbach's Nashville studio. Watch it here. A third album track, "Big Shot," has been named NPR's Song of the Day. "Auerbach makes 71-year-old Mac Rebennack sound fresh and intimate by connecting him to his vital musical past," says NPR. Dr. John "proves that now, as always, he's the ruler of American roots music."

Laurie Anderson will unveil a new sound piece at a unique venue this weekend. The performance is part of the Sounds from a Room series, which will take place in A Room for London, a one-bedroom riverboat situated on the roof of the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. Anderson's performance will be screened live at the St. Paul's Pavilion in London's Royal Festival Hall Sunday evening at 5 PM GMT and webcast live at aroomforlondon.co.uk. Amadou & Mariam will participate in the series in May, and David Byrne has released a new soundwork he recorded while in residence at A Room for London.

Release day for Dr. John's new album, Locked Down, is less than two weeks away, April 3. Now you can catch a look inside the studio as Dr. John and producer Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys laid down the album's title track in a new video here. Then head to the Brooklyn Academy of Music's website, bam.org, where the track is streaming in full. Dr. John and Auerbach will premiere music from the album at BAM as part of a three-weekend residency there titled Dr. John: Insides Out, which starts next week.

The new album featuring works by Krzysztof Penderecki and those they inspired by Jonny Greenwood itself stemmed from a concert in Poland last fall that paired the composers' works. Tonight, the AUKSO Chamber Orchestra, which performed in the original concert and on the album, will perform the album's music at London's Barbican Hall. "Penderecki's Threnody still has the power to shock," says The Observer, "while Greenwood's Popcorn Superhet Receiver is already a modern classic." Consequence of Sound gives the new album four stars, calling it "one of the most ambitious albums of the year so far"; Greenwood's pieces "fit exquisitely next to the old master’s."

David Byrne, whose album with Caetano Veloso Live at Carnegie Hall was released last week, has unveiled Get It Away, a new soundwork he created while living in A Room for London, a one-bedroom riverboat installation atop the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, last month. "I brought along some field recording gear to use while I was staying in the lovely pod/room/boat," Byrne explains. "I went out during the day and recorded sounds that I thought might be useful and evocative." Watch Get It Away here.