Audra McDonald launches her extensive 2014–15 concert season with a performance at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA tonight. The season includes shows in more than 30 cities in 18 different states across the US, among them five cities in California and five in Florida; three each in New Jersey and upstate New York; dates in Indianapolis, Charlotte, Boston, Chapel Hill, and Tucson; and a return to Carnegie Hall. McDonald won a record-breaking sixth Tony Award for her portrayal of Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill earlier this year and released her latest solo album, Go Back Home, in 2013.

Nonesuch Records wishes everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving in the US and a fruitful Black Friday. (Not to mention a Happy Birthday to Randy Newman on said Friday.) Remember: everything out now on the site (excluding preorders) is 15% off our everyday low prices for the store's anniversary sale. There are also some noteworthy performances in the coming days: John Adams’s The Gospel According to the Other Mary is at the ENO in London, his Saxophone Concerto with the Liverpool Philharmonic and Timothy McAllister; Sam Amidon concludes his European tour in Paris; Jeremy Denk joins San Francisco Symphony for Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 3; Tigran Hamasyan tours France; Pat Metheny Unity Group is in Mexico; and Robert Plant closes out his sold-out UK tour.

Rhiannon Giddens and her fellow New Basement Tapes members are featured on Showtime's Lost Songs: The Basement Tapes Continued ... John Adams’s The Gospel According to the Other Mary receives stage premiere in London ... Robert Plant, Ry Cooder are on Austin City Limits' Americana awards special ... Sam Amidon tours Germany ... Olivia Chaney is in London ... Dr. John, Allen Toussaint are featured on HBO's Foo Fighters Sonic Highways ... Tigran Hamasyan tours France ... Kronos Quartet performs Reich at Janáček Brno Festival ... Pat Metheny Unity Group tours East Coast ... Randy Newman concludes US tour ... Robert Plant tours UK ... Joshua Redman Trio plays Chicago ... 

Conor Oberst and Alison Krauss are the latest performers announced as part of the lineup of artists taking part in The Life & Songs of Emmylou Harris: An All-Star Concert Celebration at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC, on January 10, 2015. In addition to the newly announced performers, the lineup includes Harris, Rodney Crowell, Iron & Wine, Shawn Colvin, Sara Watkins, Kris Kristofferson, Joan Baez, Sheryl Crow, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Mavis Staples, Martina McBride, John Hiatt, Lucinda Williams, Trampled By Turtles, Steve Earle, Patty Griffin, Shovels & Rope, and The Milk Carton Kids. 

Punch Brothers announce a late winter/spring tour of North America in anticipation of their upcoming T Bone Burnett–produced album due early 2015, with stops in DC, Nashville, Chicago, New York, Boston, and Vancouver, as well as three dates each in California and Texas. The 23-city tour kicks off February 20 and continues through mid-April. A limited ticket pre-sale begins on Tuesday, November 18; general on-sale starts Friday. The concert ticket prices include a digital download of the new album. Hear the album track “I Blew It Off” here. Additional tour dates and more information about the forthcoming album will be announced shortly.

Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters, who are currently in the midst of a sold-out tour of UK and Ireland, will perform at the 2015 Lollapalooza Chile (March 14 & 15), Argentina (March 21 & 22), and Brazil (March 28 & 29) alongside fellow headliners Jack White, Calvin Harris, The Smashing Pumpkins, Foster the People, and more. The Telegraph gives four stars to Robert Plant and the band's sold-out show at the Roundhouse in London last week, saying Plant had "gathered together a brilliant musical gang to make old and new songs shine."

Sam Amidon kicks off European tour in Dublin, joins Bill Frisell at Barbican for London Jazz Festival ... John Adams’s The Death of Klinghoffer concludes at The Met ... The Black Keys tour Texas ... Jeremy Denk gives a solo recital in NYC ... Richard Goode performs in Toronto ... Tigran Hamasyan tours Europe ... Kronos Quartet performs in Brussels ... Natalie Merchant joins Kansas City Symphony ... Pat Metheny Unity Group plays Quebec, tours US Northeast ... Randy Newman is in Austin ... Robert Plant continues sold-out UK tour ... Joshua Redman joins Trondheim Jazz Orchestra in Iberian Penninsula ... Stephen Sondheim’s Saturday Night is in NYC ... and more ...

Robert Plant was a guest on BBC Radio 6 Music’s Radcliffe and Maconie this afternoon. He and his hosts discuss his new album, lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar, his “amazing education in music” growing up, the songwriting process, the formation of The Sensational Space Shifters, and more. Listen to the conversation here. Plant and the band perform a sold-out show at the Roundhouse in London tonight, as part of their 13-city sold-out tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The initial line-up for the 2015 Big Ears Festival has been announced, and featured among the performers are several Nonesuch Records artists: Laurie Anderson, Rhiannon Giddens, Sam Amidon, and Kronos Quartet, the festival's artists-in-residence for 2015. Big Ears will be held in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, March 27–29, 2015, at the historic Tennessee and Bijou Theatres, the intimate Square Room, the Knoxville Museum of Art and more. Weekend passes go on sale Friday, November 14, at 12pm ET.

Pat Metheny Unity Group closes out a year-long, worldwide tour with a month-long North American tour featuring music from their debut album, Kin (←→). Metheny and the band kick off the final leg of the tour in Canada at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre in Ontario, followed by stops in Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec; head to the States for shows in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland; make a quick trip to Mexico for the Riviera Maya Jazz Festival in Mexico; then return to the States for a culminating, week-long residency at the Blue Note in New York City.

Robert Plant kicks off a sold-out tour of UK & Ireland ... John Adams’s The Death of Klinghoffer continues at The Met ... The Black Keys tour out West ... Olivia Chaney sings in London ... Jeremy Denk performs in Princeton and Toronto ... Richard Goode is in Georgia ... Tigran Hamasyan tours Europe ... Emmylou Harris is in Miami ... Kronos Quartet performs at Netherland's November Music Fest ... Randy Newman begins US tour in Florida ... Joshua Redman Trio plays four-night run in St. Louis ... Stephen Sondheim’s Saturday Night returns to NYC ... Chris Thile, Brad Mehldau conclude European duo tour ... and more ...

Randy Newman kicks off a two-week US tour with two performances in Florida—at the Flagler College Auditorium in St. Augustine and the Capitol Theatre in Clearwater—followed by stops in Mississippi, Texas, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Indiana. "With songs that run the gamut from heartbreaking to satirical and a host of unforgettable film scores," says Tampa Bay Newspapers, "Randy Newman has used his many talents to create musical masterpieces widely recognized by generations of audiences."