The legendary Brazilian singers, songwriters, and guitarists Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil will perform at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro at the Maracanã Stadium this Friday, August 5. The ceremony will be broadcast around the world and can be seen in the US on NBC starting at 7:30 PM ET. Nonesuch released a live two-disc recording from Veloso and Gil—Dois Amigos, Um Século de Música: Multishow Live—earlier this year, celebrating a lifelong friendship over the half-century careers of two artists who hold key roles in developing and keeping Brazilian popular music vibrant and alive around the world.

This past winter, Conor Oberst found himself hibernating in his hometown of Omaha after living in New York City for more than a decade. He emerged with the unexpectedly raw, unadorned solo album Ruminations, available October 14, 2016, on Nonesuch. He went to ARC, the studio he built with his Bright Eyes bandmate and friend Mike Mogis, and, with the help of engineer Ben Brodin, recorded all the songs within 48 hours. The results are almost sketch-like in their sparseness: Oberst alone with his guitar, piano, and harmonica. Oberst will perform songs from the album at special solo shows this fall at venues including Carnegie Hall and the Ryman Auditorium.

Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields will lead a two-week residency at MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA, that culminates in the world premiere of a staged performance of the forthcoming Nonesuch Records album 50 Song Memoir, an album celebrating Merritt's first half-century on the planet, November 18 and 19. Following the premiere, the Magnetic Fields perform at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in December, Royce Hall in LA in April, and Moore Theatre in Seattle in May.

Lake Street Dive resumes its North American tour in Louisville on Wednesday. The extensive tour includes stops in St. Louis, Boulder, Salt Lake City, Milwaukee, Buffalo, Northampton, and more, leading into September for three nights at the Gorge Amphitheatre in Washington state with Dave Matthews Band. The tour continues with headline shows in Nashville, Toronto, Montreal, Chicago, Madison, Birmingham, Knoxville, and others, concluding in October with shows at the Wang Theatre in Boston and Radio City Music Hall in NYC, and two nights at Union Transfer in Philadelphia.

Punch Brothers launch an eight-date tour of Japan and Australia on Wednesday. The tour begins with a three-night, multi-set residency at Blue Note Tokyo, followed by a full five-city run in Australia, including stops at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, Queensland Performing Arts Center in Brisbane, Adelaide International Guitar Festival, City Recital Hall in Sydney, and Melbourne Recital Centre.

Laurie Anderson has been named to a jury of the 73rd Venice International Film Festival, August 31–September 10, 2016. She will join the jury for the Venezia 73 competition presided over by director Sam Mendes. Also on the jury are actresses Gemma Arterton, Nina Hoss, Chiara Mastroianni, and Zhao Wei; directors Joshua Oppenheimer and Lorenzo Vigas; and writer Giancarlo De Cataldo. Anderson's film Heart of a Dog screened in competition in Venice in 2015; the film will be shown in Italian cinemas in September.

Congratulations to Punch Brothers, who have been nominated for a 2016 International Bluegrass Music Award for Instrumental Group of the Year. Nominees also include individual nods to band members Noam Pikelny ("Pickles"), up for Banjo Player of the Year (he won the award in 2014), and Chris Eldridge ("Critter"), up for Guitar Player of the Year. Winners will be announced at the International Bluegrass Music Awards on September 29 at the Duke Energy Performing Arts Center in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Nonesuch Records releases a four-LP, vinyl-only, limited-edition The Randy Newman Songbook box set on September 23, 2016. Nonesuch's Randy Newman Songbook series—solo recordings of songs from throughout Newman's five-decade career—previously included two volumes, released on CD in 2003 and 2011; the box set marks their first release on vinyl. Sixteen additional songs from a newly released third volume, along with five bonus tracks, join those first two volumes in a new, thematic sequencing, to create this new complete Songbook box set. Pre-orders for The Randy Newman Songbook box set are available in the Nonesuch Store with an instant download of the album track "Guilty" and an exclusive, limited-edition print autographed by Newman. The Randy Newman Songbook, Vol. 3 also is available on September 23 as a stand-alone CD and digital album. 

The Arcs launch a summer tour at the Orange Peel in Asheville, North Carolina, tonight. The tour, with special guests Mariachi Flor de Toloache, makes stops throughout the eastern United States, Midwest, and Canada, including festival sets (Forecastle, Newport, Wayhome, Osheaga, Lollapalooza, and more) and shows at The National in Richmond, CMAC in upstate New York, St. Andrew's Hall in Detroit, among others, as well as an official Lollapalooza aftershow at Park West in Chicago.

Among the 80th birthday celebrations for Steve Reich will be a week of concerts by the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) and Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) highlighting the composer's works at Davies Symphony Hall, September 7–11, 2016, starting with the Orchestra's Opening Night Gala and culminating in an all-Reich concert featuring Kronos Quartet. The pieces to be performed during the week are Three Movements, Double Sextet, Six Marimbas, Electric Counterpoint, and WTC 9/11.

Congratulations to Audra McDonald, who has been nominated for an Emmy Award for Lead Actress in a Limited Series/TV Movie for her role as Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill on HBO. McDonald made history and became Broadway's most decorated performer when she won her sixth Tony Award for Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill in 2014. The Emmy Awards will air live on ABC on Sunday, September 18.

Conor Oberst has announced several intimate solo performances in the fall, beginning at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on November 6 and including a show at Massey Hall in Toronto and two nights at Chicago's Thalia Hall. Oberst will also make stops in New York at Carnegie Hall on November 23 and in Los Angeles at The Cathedral Sanctuary at Immanuel Presbyterian Church on December 10.