Randy Newman has announced that he will tour Europe in April and May 2010 to support the release of his acclaimed, best-selling album Harps and Angels, his first album of new material in nine years and the first record of his 40-year career ever to chart in the UK. The tour includes dates in Finland, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Ireland, UK, and Holland, and follows a February performance at UCLA in February.

John Adams leads El Niño with Dawn Upshaw at Carnegie Hall ... Amadou & Mariam play the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo ... the Assads stop by A Prairie Home Companion live in NY ... Christina Courtin plays NY's Rockwood Music Hall ... Philip Glass is solo in Istanbul ... Emmylou Harris supports Epilepsy Foundation in Nashville ... Kronos reunites with Joan Jeanrenaud in Berkeley ... Brad Mehldau joins Haden, Konitz, Motian at Birdland ... Joshua Redman plays with James Farm in Philly ... Sara Watkins joins Grant Lee Phillips in LA ... and more ...

Kronos Quartet's latest Nonesuch release, Floodplain, has been named one of the Ten Best Albums of 2009 by Songlines. "There are few musicians on earth that encompass a range of music like Kronos," says Songlines, praising its "mastery of classical string playing" and "engagement with traditional sounds and contemporary geo-politics." The group reunites with its former cellist, Joan Jeanrenaud, in concert at UC Berkeley this Sunday.

Pat Metheny once again explores new territory with his forthcoming project, Orchestrion, a “solo” recording that pairs the composer-guitarist with a phalanx of remarkable, custom-made instruments played via solenoid switches and pneumatics. Following the album’s January 26 Nonesuch release, Metheny will embark on an extensive solo tour. A limited-edition, signed 9"x12" print of the cover image is available now with CD or LP pre-orders, exclusively in the Nonesuch Store, to the first 500 customers.

Brad Mehldau begins a five-night residency at New York's Birdland tonight with a quartet the New York Times calls an "all-star package"—Lee Konitz, Paul Motian, and Charlie Haden—to celebrate the venue's 60th anniversary. In January, Brad returns to New York to perform two solo sets at the Highline Ballroom to benefit JazzReach, a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion, performance, creation, and teaching of jazz.

Steve Reich unveils Mallet Quartet in Budapest ... John Adams-curated LA Phil fest continues with Kronos, Brian Wilson ... Christina Courtin plays two shows in Brooklyn ... Richard Goode performs Beethoven with Iván Fischer, Cleveland Orchestra ... Low Anthem closes Josh Ritter mini-tour ... Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau National Christmas Tree Lighting set airs on PBS ... Punch Brothers play Prairie Home Companion ... Sara Watkins joins Tom Brosseau at Largo ... and more ...

The Low Anthem has won the Boston Music Awards' Album of the Year for its Nonesuch debut, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin. "After getting the nominations right this year," says the Boston Herald, "the Boston Music Awards followed through by nailing the winners." He describes the winning album as "a haunting, rootsy romp that rates as one of the best of the year in any state." The band closes its short tour with Josh Ritter tonight.

John Adams and Kronos Quartet return to Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles tonight for another concert in West Coast, Left Coast, the Los Angeles Philharmonic's music festival curated by Adams. Tonight, they'll join the LA Phil for the world premiere of Thomas Newman's new piece, It Got Dark. An encore performance will be given at the Hall tomorrow night.

The Magnetic Fields will head off to Europe for a short string of shows in March following their previously announced US dates. The European tour begins in the UK and makes its way through Sweden, Norway, and Germany, before coming to a close in the Netherlands. Meanwhile, tickets for many of the US and Canada shows—including two shows at New York City's Town Hall—are still on sale.

Joshua Redman and Brad Mehldau will perform together at the official National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony in Washington, DC, this evening starting at 5 PM EST, joining fellow performers Sheryl Crow, Common, Jordan Sparks, and Ray LaMontagne, as well as President Obama and his family. The whole ceremony will be streamed live online and will be broadcast on PBS stations across the country tomorrow night.

Ry Cooder's monthlong tour with Nick Lowe through Japan, New Zealand, and Australia came to a close last night in Perth. The Age, in its review of the Melbourne show, describes Cooder as "the slide-guitar messiah." The Sydney Morning Herald reports from the Sydney set that his "guitar playing was of subtle beauty and effortlessness. Elegance and class all round on stage, actually." Cooder performs next as a guest of The Chieftans at Glasgow's Celtic Connections festival in January.

West Coast, Left Coast, the Los Angeles Philharmonic's festival curated by John Adams, continues tonight with the composer and Kronos Quartet performing California-inspired music at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Adams will lead the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group in performances of Ingram Marshall's Fog Tropes and selections from Frank Zappa's Yellow Shark; Kronos performs Harry Partch's U.S. Highball.