Emmylou Harris’s groundbreaking album Wrecking Ball will be reissued on Tuesday, April 8. In celebration, Harris and producer Daniel Lanois, along with Jim Wilson on guitar and Steven Nistor on drums, kick off an international tour at The Wiltern in LA tonight. The Los Angeles Times says: "Wrecking Ball provided an ambitious and richly textured template for the coalescing Americana music movement before it took on that name." The tour continues with stops in San Francisco, Detroit, Chicago, DC, Brooklyn, Boston, and Toronto, followed by European shows in the Netherlands, Belgium, and UK.

The Pat Metheny Unity Group—Chris Potter, Antonio Sanchez, Ben Williams, and Giulio Carmassi—concluded the North American leg of its world tour, performing music from the debut album, Kin (←→), and much more at New York's Town Hall on Friday. "Metheny is one of the most industrious creative engines in jazz, and his relentless breadth has become a calling card, if not a selling point, among his fans," says the New York Times. "New York was his final stop on a grueling North American tour, which meant that the structure and pace of the production had been nailed down tight." The Group begins a months-long European tour at the end of April. 

Steve Reich is Artist-in-Residence at Knoxville's Big Ears Festival, where Jonny Greenwood performs as well ... Darren Aronofsky’s film Noah opens in theaters and IMAX ... Carolina Chocolate Drops are in the Northeast ... Shawn Colvin, Steve Earle round out first leg of tour ... Jeremy Denk, Richard Goode perform Janáček’s on opposite coasts ... Iron and Wine is in Alaska ... Kronos Quartet celebrates its 40th at Carnegie Hall ... Pat Metheny Unity Group tour culminates in NYC ... Punch Brothers close out tour in Northeast ... Rokia Traoré performs in France ... and more ...

Kronos Quartet, now celebrating its 40th anniversary, was the subject of a feature profile on NPR's Morning Edition today titled "Kronos Quartet: Still Daring After All These Years." Kronos will perform in Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium this Friday, March 28, featuring collaborations with many close colleagues and longtime artistic partners. On the program is the world premiere of Terry Riley’s The Serquent Risadome, as well as works by Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, Clint Mansell, and more. Special guests include Bryce Dessner, Wu Man, Jherek Bischoff, four young string quartets from Face The Music, and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. Q2 rebroadcasts its recent 24-hour marathon stream of Kronos music on Saturday.

Kronos Quartet is the subject of a feature in the Sunday New York Times looking back in the group's 40th anniversary season and ahead as it continues to innovate and inspire. Kronos performs a program in Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium this Friday featuring collaborations with many of its close colleagues and longtime artistic partners. Q2 Music launches KRONOS AT 40, a 24-hour, Kronos marathon stream on Monday. Nonesuch releases Kronos Quartet's A Thousand Thoughts and the five-disc Kronos Explorer Series box set April 8, and the soundtrack to the new film Noah, on which Kronos performs, Tuesday.

Punch Brothers play Southern festival sets at Savannah Music Festival and Suwannee Springfest ... Timo Andres makes Twin Cities debut with Work Songs ... Shawn Colvin, Steve Earle share the stage in Indianapolis and Atlanta ... Emmylou Harris plays benefit in Montana ... Kronos Quartet is in residence at Duke University ... Natalie Merchant joins New Jersey Symphony Chamber Orchestra ... Pat Metheny Unity Group tours mid-Altantic ... Joshua Redman Quartet closes out European tour ... Sara Watkins takes Watkins Family Hour to Santa Barbara ... and more ...

Devendra Banhart and Rokia Traoré kick off Explorations: The Sound of Nonesuch Records, the Barbican's month-long celebration of Nonesuch Records' 50th anniversary, sharing an "unplugged" evening featuring recent and past material, at the Barbican Hall in London on Friday, May 2, 2014. Tickets are on sale now. Explorations: The Sound of Nonesuch Records includes a marathon weekend of concerts, May 17-18, and additional satellite events throughout the month of May.

Timo Andres is the subject of the latest episode of Q2 Music's Q2 Spaces, which looks inside the homes and studios of composers and performers in the new-music world. Andres welcomes viewers into his Brooklyn home for a conversation about Beethoven, Ingram Marhsall, Edward Gorey, and much more. Watch it here. He gives the world premiere of a new piece, Work Songs, in New York City this Wednesday as part of the Ecstatic Music Festival. Andres wrote the piece especially for fellow composers and multi-instrumentalists Gabriel Kahane, Ted Hearne, Becca Stevens, and Nathan Koci, who will perform it in the concert. The concert will be hosted by WNYC’s John Schaefer and webcast live on Q2 Music.

Kronos Quartet's 40th anniversary celebrations continue with two nights at Royce Hall in LA, joined by Laurie Anderson for the area premiere of Landfall ... John Adams’s joins Gustavo Dudamel for NYC TimesTalk; his The Death of Klinghoffer receives Southern California premiere ... Olivia Chaney celebrates fRoots' 35th anniversary in London ... Richard Goode performs in Miami ... Brad Mehldau Trio tours France and Spain ... Pat Metheny Unity Group rounds out Midwest tour ... Randy Newman concludes Colorado tour ... Joshua Redman Quartet is in France ... and more ...

Natalie Merchant will be joined by The School of Life Founder and philosopher Alain de Botton for an evening of conversation and music at Shoreditch Town Hall in London on Thursday, May 15. The two will discuss the inspirations for the songs on her new, self-titled album, due May 5 on Nonesuch Records, and Merchant will offer a selection of live musical illustrations. Merchant will perform two sold-out concerts in London in May and join fellow Nonesuch artists for a sold-out concert there later that month.

Randy Newman will lead a one-night-only performance of his famed 1995 musical Faust in concert at New York City Center on July 1, 2014, as part of the Encores! Off-Center series. The performance, directed by Thomas Kail (In the Heights), will feature Newman starring as the Devil, with additional casting still to be announced. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Monday, March 17.

Pat Metheny Unity Group takes Kin (←→) to his home state of Missouri ... John Adams leads Canadian premiere of his Absolute Jest ... Carolina Chocolate Drops round out Southern leg of US tour ... Richard Goode plays to poetry at Princeton ... Americana Music Honors & Awards show airs with performances by Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell, Dr. John ... Gidon Kremer plays hometown of Riga ... Kronos Quartet gives family concert in San Francisco ... Audra McDonald joins Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for benefit gala ... Brad Mehldau Trio tours France ... Natalie Merchant joins Virginia Symphony Orchestra ... Punch Brothers kick off tour at Oberlin ... Joshua Redman Quartet is in Germany ... Rokia Traoré plays the Netherlands ...