Five-time Tony Award-winner Audra McDonald returns to Broadway this spring to take on the role of legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday in the Broadway premiere of Lanie Robertson’s Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, which recounts Holiday’s life story through the songs that made her famous. Directed by Lonny Price (110 in the Shade, A Class Act), the musical begins previews March 25, 2014, at the Circle in the Square Theatre for a limited ten-week engagement with only 70 performances; opening night is set for April 13. Tickets go on sale to the general public March 6.

The Kate McGarrigle Foundation—a non-profit organization dedicated to raising money in the fight against sarcoma, a rare form of cancer from which Canadian singer/songwriter Kate McGarrigle died in 2010, and to preserving her artistic legacy—has been presented with an initial contribution of $50,000 from sales of the album Sing Me the Songs: Celebrating the Works of Kate McGarrigle. Released in 2013 on Nonesuch Records, Sing Me the Songs features highlights from three concerts held in honor of McGarrigle led by her children—the acclaimed musicians Rufus and Martha Wainwright—and her sister and musical partner Anna McGarrigle in London, Toronto, and New York.

Rhiannon Giddens, co-founding member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, receives the 2014 Sam Ragan Fine Arts Award from St. Andrews University in Laurinburg, NC, today. The Sam Ragan Fine Arts Award is presented annually to recognize outstanding contributions to the Fine Arts of North Carolina. "Honorees are persons who have, over a long period, been outstanding practitioners of their art," says Ron Bayes, distinguished professor of creative writing Emeritus, "and who have selflessly shared their talent with other creators, working in their primary genre and beyond."

Emmylou Harris and Shawn Colvin will join fellow Grammy Award-winning and/or -nominated women in music for Grammy Festival at Sea: Women Who Rock, a four-day cruise aboard the Norwegian Pearl, departing from Miami and headed to the Bahamas, November 4-8, 2014. Harris and Colvin join Heart, Indigo Girls, Estelle, Skylar Grey, and others for performances, Q&As, and other activities hosted by the performers. There also will be one-of-a-kind opportunities to interact with the artists on board.

To coincide with the release of her new self-titled album, Natalie Merchant will perform two concerts at Milton Court Concert Hall in London on May 10 & 11, showcasing new songs as well as material drawn from her catalogue as a solo artist and with 10,000 Maniacs. These two concerts are part of a wider celebration at the Barbican to mark Nonesuch Records’ 50th anniversary, including a marathon weekend entitled Explorations: The Sound of Nonesuch Records (May 17-18), during which Merchant will join fellow Nonesuch artists Kronos Quartet, Rhiannon Giddens, Sam Amidon, and Olivia Chaney, and others for a unique concert of traditional and contemporary music collaborations. Tickets are on sale now.

Composer John Adams kicks off an extensive residency with the Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España in Madrid. The residency, titled Carta Blanca a John Adams, features performances of his Absolute Jest, Harmonielehre, American Berserk, China Gates, Phrygian Gates, Shaker Loops, John’s Book of Alleged Dances, String Quartet, Slonimsky’s Earbox, and Doctor Atomic Symphony; talks with the composer; a guest appearance by Jeremy Denk; film screenings of The Death of Klinghoffer and I Am Love; and a collaborative session with area students.

Nickel Creek—Chris Thile (mandolin/vocals), Sara Watkins (fiddle/vocals), and Sean Watkins (guitar/vocals)—officially reunites for the first time since its 2007 self-described “indefinite hiatus” with a new album, A Dotted Line, on April 1, 2014, with vinyl to follow on April 29. Nonesuch Store preorders include an instant download of the album tracks “Destination” and “Love of Mine,” which you can stream here. The band tours the US this spring and summer; for all newly added dates, presales begin Wednesday, February 19, at 10 AM local time.

Kin (←→), the debut album from Pat Metheny Unity Group—Chris Potter, Antonio Sanchez, Ben Williams, and Giulio Carmassi—has premiered in the top spot on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Albums chart. "There’s a sprightliness and a captivating agility present throughout this album, even in its more reflective and graceful moments," says MusicOMH in a four-star review. "This suggests a new ensemble taking complete joy in the art of making creative music and taking new risks."

Nonesuch Records will release Natalie Merchant’s new self-titled album on May 6, 2014. The recording is the multi-platinum singer’s sixth solo collection, and her first of entirely original songs in 13 years; she describes the new release as informed "by experience and keen observation," dealing with issues of "love gained and lost, regret, denial, surrender, greed, destructiveness, defeat, and occasional triumph." Natalie Merchant is available for pre-order in the Nonesuch Store. International tour dates will be announced shortly.

John Adams's 1991 opera The Death of Klinghoffer will receive its Metropolitan Opera premiere on October 20, 2014, the first of eight performances during the Met's 2014–15 season. This is the third Adams work to be staged at the Met, following Doctor Atomic and Nixon in China. The production is directed by Tom Morris (War Horse), with David Robertson conducting and baritone Paulo Szot in the leading role.

In celebration of the April reissue of Emmylou Harris’s groundbreaking album Wrecking Ball on Nonesuch Records, Harris and producer Daniel Lanois, along with Jim Wilson on guitar and Steven Nistor on drums, will embark on an international tour this spring, including, in addition to the previously announced North American dates in April, newly announced European shows in the Netherlands, Belgium, and UK in May. 

Singer-songwriter Conor Oberst has signed to Nonesuch Records, which releases his new solo album Upside Down Mountain on May 19, 2014. Pre-order details to come. Prior to the album release, a limited-edition seven-inch single will be released exclusively for Record Store Day (Saturday, April 19), with the album track “Hundreds of Ways,” which you can hear here, and album outtake “Fast Friends” on the B-side. Oberst kicks off the first leg of a world tour May 8 in North Carolina with Dawes as special guests. Tickets go on this Friday, February 14.