Devendra Banhart, who has just been signed to Nonesuch Records, releases his label debut, Mala, in the spring of 2013. The singer/songwriter co-produced the record with his longtime bandmate, guitarist Noah Georgeson. Further details about the album and its release will be announced shortly, as will upcoming festival and tour dates.

Nataly Dawn will open for Ben Folds Five on the band's US tour in late January and early February 2013. She announced the news in her latest vlog post, which also notes that her forthcoming solo album, How I Knew Her, which had been slated for release on Nonesuch on January 22, 2013, is now due out on February 12. In the meantime, Dawn is offering five free downloads via her new Tumblr page, natalydawn.tumblr.com, including the album's opening track, "Araceli," and will release a number of new videos from the album in the coming months. Watch her latest vlog post here.

There's still more than a month to go before 2012 comes to a close, but already the music magazines have begun to weigh in on the year's best music. Uncut, Mojo, and Paste have all published their lists of the Best Albums of the Year, and included among them are a number of Nonesuch releases: the latest from The Black Keys, Ry Cooder, Dr. John, Jonny Greenwood, Punch Brothers, Carolina Chocolate Drops, and much more.

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts has announced that Audra McDonald has signed on as the official host of the landmark PBS series Live From Lincoln Center. McDonald will host seven broadcasts from December 2012 through spring 2013 including “The Richard Tucker Opera Gala” on Thursday, December 13, and the New York Philharmonic’s New Year’s Eve Gala, “One Singular Sensation: Celebrating Marvin Hamlisch,” on Monday, December 31. She will also perform in the New Year’s Eve live telecast.

Happy Cyber Monday! The savings continue as the Nonesuch Store fifth anniversary sale, which began last week, rolls into Cyber Monday and beyond, with all currently available CDs, LPs, and DVDs here at nonesuch.com (pre-orders excluded) 34% off the standard retail price. That's an extra savings of about 20% off the everyday low prices listed on the site; the sale discount will be show at checkout. As always, almost every album includes high-quality MP3s at checkout.

In December 2007, the Nonesuch Store opened at nonesuch.com with just a couple of new releases. Now, five years later, the store has grown to include hundreds of new and classic Nonesuch albums. To celebrate this fifth anniversary, all currently available CDs, LPs, and DVDs on the site (pre-orders excluded) are now 34% off the standard retail price. That's an extra savings of about 20% off the everyday prices listed on hundreds of CDs, dozens of recordings on vinyl, and some unforgettable DVDs.

The Metropolitan Opera’s performance of John Adams’ Nixon in China, with the composer conducting, is now available on Blu-ray and DVD together in one package from Nonesuch Records. The Met’s production, staged by Adams’ longtime collaborator Peter Sellars, stars James Maddalena as Richard Nixon. Nixon in China was recorded and broadcast live in movie theaters around the world as a part of The Met: Live in HD on February 12, 2011—10 days after the opera received its Met premiere.The San Jose Mercury News features the Blu-ray/DVD in its holiday Gift Guide, calling Adams' score "multigeared and multicolored, transforming like a kaleidoscopic engine."

Tuareg guitarist and singer Omara “Bombino” Moctar—whose Dan Auerbach-produced Nonesuch debut album is due out in early 2013—is raising money via Indiegogo to furnish a community rehearsal and performance studio in his hometown of Niamey, Niger, where fully equipped rehearsal spaces are virtually non-existent or inaccessible to most musicians. This will be a free, public rehearsal space for young musicians to develop their craft and Niamey's professional musicians to hone theirs. Thank-you gifts include an autographed copy of Bombino's forthcoming album, concert tickets, and more.

Lianne La Havas closed out her US tour with sold-out shows in LA and San Francisco this weekend. Friday's concert at LA's Roxy Theatre was "a pitch-perfect performance," raves the Los Angeles Times. She "delivered on the promise of her soulful, mature debut album, Is Your Love Big Enough?," says the Times. "She was, to put it simply, fantastic ... a natural talent with boundless potential whose charisma is matched only by her musical prowess." La Havas performed on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic Friday morning; watch her KCRW take on the album track "Forget" here.

Lianne La Havas brings her brief US tour to a close this weekend with sold-out shows at the Roxy in LA and Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco. La Havas stops by KCRW in LA today for an appearance on Morning Becomes Eclectic, which calls her "a stunning newcomer with a soulful voice and incredible depth and range." The Los Angeles Times says her debut album, Is Your Love Big Enough?, is "brimming with understated production, poetic lyrics and La Havas’ guitar-driven blend of soul, folk and jazz." Watch her performance on Conan from earlier this week here.

The Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (HCMF), the UK's largest contemporary music festival, gets under way today, and Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy's Grá Agus Bás will be the culminating piece in tonight's Opening Night concert. The all-Dennehy program will be performed by Crash Ensemble, with Alan Pierson conducting and featuring vocalist Iarla Ó Lionáird, all of whom performed Grá Agus Bás on Dennehy's Nonesuch debut album of of the same name. Crash, an ensemble in residence at HCMF, will also bring Grá Agus Bás to the US in 2013 for performances with Dawn Upshaw at The Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall.