Björk is the latest artist to be chosen for NPR's 50 Great Voices, the weekly series featuring "awe-inspiring voices from around the world and across time." In the segment, titled "Björk: A Celestial Voice," host Guy Raz says of that voice: "There is something celestial about it, as if it comes from another world, a fantastic and colorful and utopian world." The New Yorker's Alex Ross tells NPR: "I cannot think of another voice like it in pop music, in classical music."

Punch Brothers recently visited the MTV studios in New York to take part in the network's new online series, "Live at MTV." The band played songs from their latest album, Antifogmatic, as well as a cover of the White Stripes song "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground." MTV's Buzzworthy Blog features four videos from the performance, including "You Are," "Alex," "Rye Whiskey," and the White Stripes tune.

Natalie Merchant, Carolina Chocolate Drops, and Rokia Traoré performed recently at the 45th annual Cambridge Folk Festival in Cambridge, England. BBC Radio 2's festival highlights program features interviews and live performances by all three both artists. Press coverage of the festival included praise for the performances.

Bernadatte Peters recently took over the role of Desirée Armfeldt in Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music from actress Catherine Zeta Jones, who is featured on Nonesuch's recording of the work. Peters' rendition of the famous "Send in the Clowns," perhaps the composer's best-known song, was recently praised by New York Times writer Charles Isherwood, leading the Los Angeles Times arts blog, Culture Monster, to take a look, via YouTube, at other famous versions of this popular song.

The Black Keys played the Bank of America Pavilion in Boston over the weekend, and the Boston Globe called the show "a searingly superb 85-minute set." In his review, Jonathan Perry describes the band's style as a "sizzling fusion of hill-country blues and indie-rock attitude." The Boston Herald, too, complimented the show: "In the best of ways, The Black Keys can make a multimillion-dollar venue sound like a dive-bar stage." The video for "Tighten Up" has been nominated for Best Breakthrough Video at MTV's Video Music Awards.

The Low Anthem and Punch Brothers are set to play the famed Newport Folk Festival this weekend. NPR will provide complete coverage of the weekend's events online at NPR.org. Newport Now describes The Low Anthem's live set as “a mix of ecstatic and contemplative energies.” Punch Brothers are also due to be featured on NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday.

Stephen Sondheim celebrated his 80th birthday in March in a Lincoln Center concert that will be broadcast on PBS this fall. The festivities continue this weekend as Sondheim is the focus of two concerts on the same day, nearly 4,000 miles apart: at the Ravinia Festival Pavilion outside Chicago and at London's Royal Albert Hall for BBC Proms Saturday night. Sondheim is the BBC Radio 3 Composer of the Week.

Nonesuch Records is set to release violinist Gidon Kremer’s De Profundis, featuring the Kremerata Baltica chamber orchestra, on September 14. The album’s 12 pieces, selected from Kremer’s performing repertoire, span nearly two centuries, from Schubert to Schnittke—artists who sought to "sustain humans by appealing to their profoundest emotions," says Kremer. De Profundis is available for pre-order in the Nonesuch Store.

Natalie Merchant's tour resumes in the US next week following a stop in the UK for the Cambridge Folk Festival this weekend. Fans on both sides of the Atlantic can now pick up an iTunes Session from Merchant with reimagined original music and cover songs. The Grand Rapids Press gives 3.5 of 4 stars to a recent show, full of "compelling songs, tight musicianship and Merchant's strong vocals."

There's one month to go before the August 31 Nonesuch release of Philip Selway's solo debut album, Familial, now available for pre-order. Selway spoke with Pitchfork about the new project, which it describes as "10 hushed folk songs in the shadowy tradition of Nick Drake. The album is quiet, but there's an unnerving sense of dread that connects the material to his main gig; it's music for a foreboding twilight."

With Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music back on Broadway, and the legendary Elaine Stritch having joined the cast as Madame Armfeldt, the New York Times looks at the women to have taken on the iconic role; the Times also profiles the small London theater where this revival began. The San Jose Mercury News calls the cast album "extra-clear and intimate." The BBC Proms celebrates Sondheim's music this Saturday; The Times of London calls him "the man who has revolutionised the musical ... sardonic, jaded—and touched with genius."

Christina Courtin recently performed a number of songs off her Nonesuch debut album for a Daytrotter Session, now available online. The session features the songs "Green Jay," "Foreign Country," "Jackson," "Bundah," and "Hedonistic Paradise." Says Daytrotter: "There's sadness in her pretty voice, but there's also this kind of big-eyed wonder in it."