The Arcs kick off their North American spring tour at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver tonight. The "West Coast Caravan" leg of the tour also includes stops in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, LA, and more, plus two appearances at the Coachella festival. The band then heads eastward for shows in Denver, St. Louis, Austin, New Orleans, and more, making a final stop at the Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis on May 1. The band will perform at several North American festivals in July, including the just-announced Newport Folk Festival.

HBO's The Wire is the subject of two-day Columbia University conference, including a panel on its music ... Timo Andres, Gabriel Kahane close out tour at UNC Chapel Hill ... Ry Cooder, Sharon White, Ricky Skaggs are in Delaware ... Jeremy Denk plays solo in Wisconsin ... Rhiannon Giddens takes tour south to Savannah, Charlotte ... Lake Street Dive kicks off Europe tour in Antwerp, Amsterdam ... St Germain plays Detroit, Chicago ... Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil kick off US tour in LA ... and more ...

Lake Street Dive kicks off the European leg of its Side Pony tour at the Trix Club in Antwerp, Belgium, on Friday. From there, the band brings music from the new album to the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, France, the UK—including a sold-out show at Scala in London—and Ireland. The US tour resumes in May, and the group has just added several new shows in August, including dates in Louisville, St. Louis, Kansas City, Santa Fe, Missoula, and more. Tickets for the new dates go on sale on Friday.

Rhiannon Giddens, having just completed a successful tour of Australia, kicked off the next leg of her US tour with a free show at the Philips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire last night. The tour, which features songs from her solo debut album, Tomorrow Is My Turn, continues through the month of April with concerts in Maryland, Georgia, and Virginia; multiple shows in her home state of North Carolina; and a set at the New Orleans Jazz Fest. The tour culminates in a taping of Austin City Limits on April 25. Giddens's recent concert at Infinity Hall in Connecticut will air on the series Infinity Hall Live starting this Friday, April 8.

St Germain kicks off a North American tour featuring music from his new, self-titled album with a performance at Webster Hall in New York City on Saturday. The tour continues for the next three weeks with shows in Boston, Montreal, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Vancouver, and more; KCRW calls him "a must see at this year's Coachella" festival.

Kronos Quartet joins NYC David Bowie tribute at Radio City, premieres new pieces at Carnegie Hall ... Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass, Sam Amidon, Nico Muhly are at Big Ears Festival in Knoxville… Timo Andres debuts new music in Denver … Ry Cooder heads south to Florida, Georgia … Jeremy Denk performs solo in Boston … Joshua Redman concludes European tour in Spain … St Germain launches North American tour in NYC ... and more ...

The line-up for American Acoustic with Chris Thile, a four-day festival curated by Thile at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, June 22–25, 2016, has been announced. The event features collaborations between Thile and performers including Punch Brothers, Michael Daves, Edgar Meyer, Gabriel Kahane, Béla Fleck, Julian Lage, Merrill Garbus, and I'm With Her (Sara Watkins, Aoife O'Donovan, Sarah Jarosz). Tickets go on sale to Kennedy Center Members on Monday, April 4, and to the general public on Thursday, April 7.

The 2016 Big Ears Festival gets under way in Knoxville, Tennessee, today, and featured among the performers are several artists familiar to readers of the Nonesuch Journal: Laurie Anderson and Philip Glass, Olivia Chaney, Sam Amidon, Nico Muhly, and Bombino. Big Ears will be held at venues throughout downtown Knoxville through Saturday.

Lake Street Dive winter tour culminates with sold-out shows at Beacon Theatre in NYC, State Theatre in Maine … Louis Andriessen's De Materie North American stage premiere continues in NYC … Rhiannon Giddens concludes Australia tour at Byron Bay Bluesfest … Joshua Redman is in Luxembourg … Chris Thile plays solo set at Largo in LA … Rokia Traoré brings Né So to US … and more …

Rhiannon Giddens brings a successful tour of Australia to a close at Byron Bay Bluesfest on Friday. While on tour, Giddens visited Warner Music Australia to perform "Up Above My Head," off her album Tomorrow Is My Turn. You can watch it here. She also stopped by ABC Radio National's The Music Show to discuss the album and perform "Water Boy." The Sydney Morning Herald gives four stars each to her Sydney and Melbourne concerts, describing the show as "brilliant American music without borders." Giddens kicks off the next leg of her US tour in early April.

Punch Brothers have announced several shows in Japan and Australia for this August, starting with a three-night residency at Blue Note Tokyo August 3–5, followed by a tour of Australia: in Brisbane, Adelaide, Sydney, and Melbourne. Tickets are on sale now. The new dates follow the band's US spring tour, which begins in a double bill with Dave Rawlings Machine in Charleston on April 29 and includes sets at the New Orleans Jazz Festival, Telluride Bluegrass Festival, and much more.

Louis Andriessen's monumental work De Materie receives its North American stage premiere with performances at the Park Avenue Armory in NYC tonight through March 30. The production, directed by Heiner Goebbels, is performed by International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), led by conductor Peter Rundel, along with ChorWerk Ruhr. The Los Angeles Times has called De Materie "the Dutch opera that the world at large had long been waiting for." The Park Avenue Armory presents a number of related events this week, including a set for two pianos with Andriessen and Jason Moran on Wednesday and an Artist Talk with the creators on Saturday.