Brad Mehldau launches a ten-day, seven-city European tour with fellow pianist and longtime friend Kevin Hays, featuring music from Modern Music, their 2011 collaborative album with composer Patrick Zimmerli, in Manchester, England, tonight. The tour includes stops in Vienna, Zagreb, Zurich, Birmingham, Paris, and Porto. In March, Mehldau is joined by drummer Mark Guiliana for a month-long tour of their duo project, Mehliana, then returns to the US for a run of duo dates with Chris Thile in April. 

The Black Keys, nominated for five Grammy Awards, and Dr. John, up for Best Blues Album, perform on the Grammy telecast Sunday night; theirs are among the 14 nominations for Nonesuch artists ... Emmylou Harris honors MusicCares Person of the Year Bruce Springsteen, duets with Rodney Crowell in LA ... Carolina Chocolate Drops welcome Vusi Mahlasela to North Carolina ... Jeremy Denk performs, leads master class at Westminster Choir College ... Punch Brothers play DC, NPR's Mountain Stage ... Joshua Redman Trio leads DC residency ... Allen Toussaint is in Oakland ... and more ...

Fatoumata Diawara has announced a month-long US tour starting at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley, California, on March 30. The 12-city tour, featuring music from her critically acclaimed debut album, Fatou, includes a two-night run in Seattle; shows in Chicago, Minneapolis, Albuquerque, El Paso, New Orleans; and sets at the Houston and Louisiana International Festivals. Diawara has become an outspoken advocate for peace in her home country of Mali; she has gathered over 40 of Mali’s most renowned musicians to record a song and video, "Mali-ko (Peace / La Paix)," calling for peace.

Composer/lyricist Adam Guettel will return to the New York stage for a five-night, seven-set residency at 54 Below, starting Tuesday, February 19. The program will include both new songs and favorites from throughout Guettel's career. He will be joined by band leader Kim Grigsby and singers Steven Pasquale and Whitney Bashor. Guettel has released three recordings on Nonesuch Records: The Light in the Piazza, Myths and Hymns, and Floyd Collins. 

Sara Watkins, who closes out her tour of the UK and Ireland this week, has announced a three-week US tour for March. The 15-city tour starts in Duluth, Georgia, and includes stops in Louisville, Cincinnati, Ann Arbor, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and more. Additionally, Watkins will join her brother Sean and special guests for the latest installment of the Watkins Family Hour at Largo in Los Angeles on February 28. 

Nataly Dawn continues her western US tour, opening for Clint Black in Napa, California, and Ben Folds Five in Reno, Nevada ... Laurie Anderson, Kronos Quartet premiere a new piece in Maryland ... Shawn Colvin plays outside Chicago and in NYC ... Jeremy Denk joins Steven Isserlis for a family concert of Saint-Saëns in NYC ... Dr. John and his new band play four-show run in Seattle ... Punch Brothers set sail from Miami with Mountain Song at Sea ... Steve Reich is celebrated in Winnipeg ... Sara Watkins tours Ireland and teaches the Guardian to fiddle ... and more ...

Kronos Quartet and Laurie Anderson come together for the world premiere of Scenes From My New Novel, a new work composed by Anderson, at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center in College Park, Maryland, this weekend. “These are stories with tempos,” says Anderson. "Much of the music is generated from software we designed for the viola. It creates harmonies and delays that are then interpreted and expanded by Kronos." Additional performances are scheduled for the coming months in Australia, California, New Jersey, and London.

Carnegie Hall has announced its 2013–14 season, and featured among the performers taking the esteemed hall's stages are a number of artists familiar to readers of the Nonesuch Journal, including Chris Thile, Bombino, Kronos Quartet, Natalie Merchant, and Richard Goode, as well as performances of works by John Adams, Steve Reich, Laurie Anderson, and more.

Steve Reich is the Distinguished Guest Composer at the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra's 2013 New Music Festival, which gets under way today and runs to this Saturday, February 2. Reich will be in attendance for the festival, which showcases his work over several concerts, discussions, and a dance performance this week, including Vermont Counterpoint, Clapping Music, Different Trains, New York Counterpoint, Double Sextet, Tehillim, and The Desert Music.

John Adams conducts the St. Lawrence String Quartet and the London Symphony Orchestra in the UK premiere of his Absolute Jest at Barbican Hall, the last in a series of concerts with LSO ... Shawn Colvin concludes residency at Yoshi's in San Francisco, streaming online ... Devendra Banhart is on BBC Radio 4's Loose Ends ... Nataly Dawn tours California with Ben Folds Five ... Jeremy Denk, Richard Goode play Northeast ... Lianne La Havas closes out Australia tour in Melbourne ... Punch Brothers head from St. Louis to Dallas ... Sara Watkins continues UK tour, plays Celtic Connections ... and more ...

Punch Brothers launch their winter 2013 US tour at Turner Hall in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, tonight. The month-long tour makes stops in Missouri, Texas, Kentucky, Virginia, DC, Ohio, New York, Massachusetts, and Maine. (See the tour poster at left.)  Just in time for the start of the tour, CMT has premiered the video for Punch Brothers' “Movement and Location,” directed by Danny Clinch. Watch it here. Tickets are also on sale for Chris Thile's April duo dates with fellow Nonesuch artist Brad Mehldau.

Nataly Dawn kicks off a tour of the western US tonight in support of her forthcoming solo album, How I Knew Her, due out February 12. The two-week tour includes a nine-city run with Ben Folds Five, starting in Denver tonight and including shows in Nevada, California, Washington, and Oregon. In addition, Dawn makes stops at the Sundance Film Festival and in Salt Lake City and opens for Clint Black in Napa on February 1. Her song "Please Don't Scream," off How I Knew Her, is this week's Starbucks Pick of the Week and can be downloaded for free at Starbucks stores and on the Starbucks mobile app.