Rokia Traoré performs in Paris, begins North American tour in NYC … John Adams’s Nixon in China is performed by Royal Swedish Opera … Tyondai Braxton tours Europe … Michael Daves plays Brooklyn Bluegrass Bash … Jeremy Denk performs with St. Louis Symphony … Rhiannon Giddens plays for Bill Murray's Mark Twain Prize ceremony on PBS … Richard Goode gives solo recital in Colorado … Mariza is at SFJAZZ … Chris Thile hosts A Prairie Home Companion in Saint Paul … and more …

Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau tour Australia with new duo album, Nearness … John Adams’s Scheherazade.2 is performed by Minnesota Orchestra, violinist Leila Josefowicz … Devendra Banhart plays California's Beach Goth fest … Jeremy Denk tours with Florida Orchestra … Emmylou Harris, Robert Plant close out Lampedusa tour in DC … Mariza plays sold-out Massachusetts show … Natalie Merchant gives benefit concert in upstate NY … Nico Muhly, Teitur perform Confessions in NYC … Chris Thile hosts A Prairie Home Companion in Saint Paul … and more …

Lake Street Dive, which plays the Iceland Airwaves Festival and tours the UK and Ireland in November, will return to Australia and New Zealand to tour in December and January. The band will be taking in Woodford Folk Festival, Summer of Soul, and Fremantle Arts Centre New Year's Day Concert and will headline dates in Melbourne, Auckland, Adelaide, and more. 

The Magnetic Fields announce their 2016–2017 US tour schedule. They will be performing across the country in support of their forthcoming multi-disc album, 50 Song Memoir, due spring 2017 on Nonesuch. The concerts will premiere at Mass MoCA in November 2016, then head to Brooklyn Academy of Music in December, followed by stops in Philadelphia, DC, Durham, Knoxville, Atlanta, Chicago, Minneapolis, Oakland, Portland, and Seattle in the spring of 2017 (Boston performances are still to be announced).

Chris Thile takes over as host of A Prairie Home Companion, joined by label mates Lake Street Dive … Sam Amidon plays North Carolina, joins Richard Thompson in South Carolina … Devendra Banhart gives a DJ set in LA … Jeremy Denk concludes run with SPCO in NYC … Richard Goode is in Virginia … Emmylou Harris, Robert Plant play Toronto, Boston … Mariza begins tour in Northeast … Conor Oberst performs Ruminations for NPR Music First Listen Live from NYC … Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau tour Asia … Caetano Veloso, Teresa Cristina play Chicago … and more …

Portuguese singer Mariza begins a two-week North American tour in support of her album Mundo at the Berklee Performance Center in Boston on Friday, followed by NYC and Newark, two additional shows in Massachusetts, in Amherst and New Bedford, and one night in Connecticut, and a stop in Toronto. Mariza then heads to the West Coast for a four-night residency at SFJAZZ in San Francisco and a concert in Seattle. She concludes her tour with a sold-out show in Vancouver on November 2.

Caetano Veloso and Teresa Cristina have brought their world tour to the US for four shows. The concerts, in which Cristina's opening set features music from her new album and DVD, Canta Cartola, begin with a sold-out show at The Town Hall in NYC tonight, followed by a second night there on Thursday and shows at Symphony Center in Chicago on Sunday and Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday. Veloso and Cristina will bring the music back home to Brazil in November, with newly added shows in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

Brad Mehldau brings Highway Rider to SFJAZZ … John Adams’s Nixon in China is performed by Royal Swedish Opera … Sam Amidon, Nico Muhly perform in London … Laurie Anderson honored at Hammer Museum in LA … Jeremy Denk joins Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra … Rhiannon Giddens makes Austin City Limits debut … Emmylou Harris is in Midwest … Kronos Quartet brings multimedia work to UCLA … Lake Street Dive plays Radio City … Conor Oberst plays Austin City Limits fest … Robert Plant plays David Lynch fest in LA … Caetano Veloso, Teresa Cristina tour Japan … and more …

Emmylou Harris begins Lampedusa: Concerts for Refugees with Steve Earle, Patty Griffin, Buddy Miller, and The Milk Carton Kids in Boulder tonight; Robert Plant will join starting October 12. The tour, which benefits Jesuit Refugee Service/USA's educational programs for refugees around the world, will stop in Kansas City, Lincoln, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Chicago, Toronto, Boston, NYC, Philadelphia, and DC. "After witnessing firsthand the work of JRS in Ethiopia this past June, I have never been more inspired to champion such a critical cause," said Harris. "The better angels of our nature call upon us to act with compassion and not with fear in the face of so much suffering."

The initial music line-up for the 2017 Big Ears Festival has been announced, and among the artists are Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields, performing the forthcoming Nonesuch Records album 50 Song Memoir, and Shye Ben Tzur and the Rajasthan Express, performing music of their 2015 Nonesuch album, Junun. The Big Ears Festival will return to Knoxville, Tennessee, expanding to four days, March 23–26, 2017. Among the other performers are Wilco, Glenn Kotche, Punch Brothers' Chris Eldridge, and composer/pianist Frederic Rzewski. Weekend passes are on sale now.

Conor Oberst, Emmylou Harris play free Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in San Francisco … John Adams conducts LA Phil New Music Group, Timo Andres … Sam Amidon, The Staves play Berlin festival … David Byrne headlines Roots Picnic in NYC … Kronos Quartet performs in Oregon … Lianne La Havas hits Midwest with Leon Bridges … Lake Street Dive takes US tour east … Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau are in NYC, LA … and more …

Conor Oberst will mark the release of his new album, Ruminations, by performing the record in its entirety for an audience of contest winners at NYC's Housing Works Bookstore Cafe on release day, Friday, October 14. NPR Music will webcast the show live on its site and Facebook page as part of the First Listen Live series. Ruminations will be available to stream in full beginning this Friday, September 30, as part of NPR Music's First Listen series. Conor Oberst will be the musical guest on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live! on October 24 and begins a tour of intimate solo shows this week.