Rhiannon Giddens has announced an extensive US tour this spring, including several new shows that go on sale this Friday, the day her new album, Freedom Highway, will be released. Following several intimate performances in the Northeast in March with Dirk Powell, with whom she co-produced the album, and a performance in a multi-artist tribute to Aretha Franklin at Carnegie Hall, Giddens heads to Europe and Australia to tour. She returns to the US in April to tour, starting at the Stagecoach festival in California on April 28. The tour includes headline shows throughout the country and festival sets at New Orleans Jazz Fest, Newport Folk, Newport Jazz, Spoleto, ROMP, and more.

This President’s Day weekend, The Staves tour West Coast … San Francisco Symphony performs John Adams … Devendra Banhart heads south … Jeremy Denk joins Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra … Emmylou Harris is aboard Cayamo cruise … Kronos Quartet is in Geneva … Lake Street Dive tours Northeast … Brad Mehldau Trio tours Europe … Chris Thile hosts A Prairie Home Companion in St. Paul, holds artist talk in Atlanta … and more …

Shye Ben Tzur and the Rajasthan Express will perform music from their album Junun as the opening act for Radiohead in select cities on the band's sold-out European tour: at the Spektrum in Oslo on June 6 and 7, Ericsson Globe in Stockholm on June 9, 3 Arena in Dublin on June 20, and Manchester Arena on July 4 and 5. Ben Tzur and the Rajasthan Express will also perform at the Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona on June 3 and Best Kept Secret in the Netherlands on June 18. The Times of London calls Junun "intriguing, sinuous, and essential listening."

Emmylou Harris will join John Mellencamp as very special guest on his US tour this spring and summer. Their first stop is at Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre in Denver, followed by shows across the country, in Idaho, Washington, California, Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York, culminating at the Forest Hill Stadium in Queens on July 11. Tickets for most shows go on sale starting next Friday, February 24.

The Staves, who kick off a four-week tour of North America next week, release the double A side "Tired As Fuck," a previously unreleased tune, and "Train Tracks," a re-mastered version of a bonus track from their 2015 album If I Was. The former was "written in the midst of a relationship breaking down," says the trio. "Lamenting the lack of some sort of guidance, but also accepting and resigning yourself to fact that you have to soldier on. Keep going. There is no helping hand. 'Train Tracks' is the beginning of something new and how confusing and difficult that can be when you're really just as clueless as anyone! The two tracks bookend each other in that respect." You can watch a video for "Tired As Fuck" here.

Chris Thile welcomes Brad Mehldau to A Prairie Home Companion, meets up with Michael Daves in Miami … John Adams hosts concerts with San Francisco Symphony members … Sam Amidon is in Sydney with ACO … Laurie Anderson joins Phillip Glass at UNC … Devendra Banhart is in New Mexico … Richard Goode, Budapest Festival Orchestra conclude Beethoven tour … Kronos Quartet plays Carnegie Hall … Audra McDonald joins New World Symphony gala in Miami … and more …

Lake Street Dive, performing at the Avett Brothers' festival in Mexico this week, returns to the US for a two-month tour starting at the group's alma mater, the New England Conservatory, in Boston, February 16. The tour includes sold-out shows throughout the Northeast, South, Midwest, and West Coast, culminating in a concert in Los Angeles on the first day of spring. Several spring and summer festival dates are confirmed as well.

Kronos Quartet hosts third-annual hometown festival at SFJAZZ … Sam Amidon tours Australia with ACO … Timo Andres joins Phillip Glass in Virginia, North Carolina … Devendra Banhart is in Colorado … Tyondai Braxton plays solo set in Helsinki … Jeremy Denk joins San Antonio Symphony … Richard Goode, Budapest Festival Orchestra launch Beethoven tour … Audra McDonald is at Vassar … Natalie Merchant plays Winter Hoot in upstate New York … Pat Metheny rounds out tour in Florida … Conor Oberst concludes European tour … Chris Thile hosts A Prairie Home Companion in Nashville … and more ...

Audra McDonald will finally bring her Tony Award–winning portrayal of Billie Holiday in Lanie Robertson's Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill to London's West End with a fourteen-week run at Wyndham's Theatre starting June 17, 2017. The performances were postponed due to the happy arrival of McDonald's newborn daughter last year. Written by Robertson and directed by Lonny Price, the musical play opened on Broadway in 2014 to great acclaim, earning McDonald a record sixth Tony Award, an Outer Circle Critics Award, and a Drama Desk Award.

Richard Goode, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, and conductor Iván Fischer tour the US with music from their Nonesuch recording of the complete Beethoven piano concertos for the first time. The all-Beethoven program, which varies from night to night, pairs either concerto No. 2 or 4 with two symphonies per night, from among No. 1, 5, 8, and 9. The concerts begin at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark this Saturday, followed by Lincoln Center in New York City, Chicago Symphony Center, Ann Arbor's Hill Auditorium, and Boston Symphony Hall.

Tigran Hamasyan will begin a world tour ahead of the March 31 release of his new album, An Ancient Observer, starting with three nights at the Blue Whale in Los Angeles, February 25–27. The US leg of the tour continues with shows in Seattle, Portland, Oakland, Boston, and NYC. The European tour begins in Italy on March 17, with stops in Switzerland, France, Belgium, UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Finland, Germany, Norway, Estonia, Switzerland, and Hamasyan's home country of Armenia. He heads to Japan in May and to Australia in June.

The line-up for the 2017 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, aka Jazz Fest, has been announced, and among this year's artists are Rhiannon Giddens and Lake Street Dive, both performing on Friday, May 5. Jazz Fest runs over seven days across two weekends, April 28–30 and May 4–7. Also among the performers at this year's Jazz Fest are Wilco, Dr. John, and several contributors to the 2005 benefit album Our New Orleans.