The New Yorker has just announced the schedule for the upcoming ninth run of its New Yorker Festival, and among this year's participants is Dawn Upshaw, who will speak with the magazine's classical music critic, Alex Ross, on October 4. The event is one of several high-profile engagements for Dawn this fall, including an all-Bernstein program with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony next week in San Francisco and the following week in New York for Carnegie Hall's Opening Night Gala.

"It takes a songwriter such as Sam Phillips to depart from the routine expectations set by the last 50-plus years of pop music," says the Chicago Tribune, and at the start of her fall tour this past weekend at Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music, "she detoured into German cabaret, French chansons and a waltz, as well as lightly tracing elements of American gospel and blues." As the area Sun-Times paper, Southtown Star, reports, she delivered "a masterful performance that was enchanting from beginning to end" for a "superb show."

John Adams's Son of Chamber Symphony receives its Scandinavian premiere in Finland ... Laurie Anderson's Homeland plays Sao Paolo, Brazil ... The Black Keys make two stops in Wisconsin ... Bill Frisell continues his two-week Village Vanguard run with Paul Motian, Joe Lovano ... Youssou N'Dour celebrates Toronto Film Fest screening with free concert ... Nicholas Payton joins Christian McBride, Mark Whitfield at NYC's Jazz Standard ... Sam Phillips begins two-week tour with two nights at Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music ... Punch Brothers tour the Midwest ... Steve Reich's music featured in Detroit's music marathon Strange New Music II and Klangspuren 08 festival in Schwaz, Austria ... Wilco members take time for solo projects ... and more ...

Nicholas Payton joins bassist Christian McBride and guitarist Mark Whitfield at New York's Jazz Standard for 12 sets over five nights, beginning tonight. JamBase compares the trumpeter to Miles Davis and John Coltrane, but asserts that, on his Nonesuch debut, Into the Blue, "ultimately Payton has a style and mood all his own." Jazz.com sees the album as evidence of "an ample comfort zone with a trumpet continuum spanning Armstrong to Don Cherry, at the service of a conceptual sensibility that embraces the Hot Five and Weather Report in equal measure."

Sam Phillips begins her two-week tour of the US, with songs from her new album, Don't Do Anything, at the end of this week, beginning with two nights in Chicago. To catch a glimpse of Sam on stage, go to nonesuch.com/media for a video of her performing The Magnetic Fields tune "Underwear" at L.A.'s new Largo. The album is now available in the UK, with the Sunday Times, Scottish Daily Express, and Q magazine each giving it four stars, and The Sun giving it four-and-a-half stars, calling Sam "a talent who has stayed true to herself" and her tunes "first class."

Glenn Kotche joins Kronos Quartet at the Ravinia Festival's Martin Theatre in Highland Park Wednesday night for the Chicago premiere of Anomaly, a piece he wrote for the Quartet. Also included on the program from Kronos are a number of Chicago premieres, including that of John Adams's Fellow Traveler. The Chicago Sun-Times recommends the event, calling the Kotche-Kronos pairing "a collaboration waiting to happen," given the group's ever-adventurous search for new works outside the typical string-quartet mold and the drummer's own diverse musical interests.

Bill Frisell joins drummer Paul Motian and saxophonist Joe Lovano for a rare two-week stint at New York's Village Vanguard beginning tonight. New York Times jazz critic Nate Chinen describes them as "a blue-chip trio that’s shadowy, slippery and as open-ended as a koan," and says, "There’s no better place to see them than at the Village Vanguard." You can listen to Wednesday night's set as it unfolds live, on NPR station WBGO, Jazz88 FM, for the new series Live at the Village Vanguard.

Laurie Anderson brings Homeland to South America ... The Black Keys play the Minnesota State Fair in St. Paul and Bumbershoot in Seattle ... Philip Glass discusses creativity and collaboration in Brazil ... Youssou N'Dour takes documentary to Telluride Festival ... Fernando Otero explores Tango After Piazzolla with Paquito D'Rivera in Moab ... Punch Brothers play three shows out West ... Joshua Redman joins Joy of Jazz in Johannesburg ... Laura Veirs solos at the Festival de musique émergente in Québec ... Wilco close summer tour at County Laios, Ireland's Electric Picnic ... and more ...

Wilco and The Black Keys were among the highlights of the Outside Lands Festival this past weekend, with tens of thousands of music fans flooding San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. SPIN captured two songs from The Black Keys' opening-night performance on video. The San Jose Mercury News writes of Wilco's set: "Guitarist Nels Cline is a monster, and this lineup brilliantly balances the gentle, reassuring music Jeff Tweedy could make with his eyes closed and the challenging, difficult elements that have endeared Wilco to critics and urban hipsters."

The Black Keys and Wilco play the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park ... John Adams leads Dutch premiere of his Doctor Atomic Symphony ... Philip Glass performs a benefit concert for the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur ... Cheikh Lô brings a James Brown tribute to New York City for a free Lincoln Center Out of Doors concert ... Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker's Steve Reich Evening plays Göteborg Festival ... and more ...

Cheikh Lô is in the States this week, touring the country with Still Black, Still Proud: The African Tribute to James Brown. He joins musical director and band leader Pee Wee Ellis, known as "The Man Who Invented Funk" for his work with Brown; trombonist Fred Wesley Jr., another key player in Brown's band; Vieux Farka Touré; and a host of guest artists for the event. The US tour comes to New York City tonight for a free performance as part of Lincoln Center Out of Doors series.

Jonny Greenwood's Popcorn Superhet Receiver will receive its West Coast premiere tonight at San Francisco's Herbst Theatre. The composer included excerpts from the piece in his score for the Oscar-winning film There Will Be Blood, which you can listen to here. Tonight's concert also marks the San Francisco debut of New York's Wordless Music Series (helmed by Nonesuch's own Ronen Givony), which is presenting the concert and which gave the piece's US premiere in New York earlier this year.