Steve Reich has been named the Artist in Residence at the 2014 Big Ears Festival, which will be held in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, March 28–30, 2014. The composer will be in attendance, as Ensemble Signal will perform his groundbreaking 1976 piece Music for 18 Musicians, along with his new Radio Rewrite, inspired by two songs from Radiohead. Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood will perform Reich’s Electric Counterpoint, and So Percussion will perform his 1971 classic Drumming. Weekend passes go on sale this Friday, December 6, at noon.

Nonesuch Records wishes everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving in the US and a fruitful Black Friday. (Not to mention a Happy Birthday to Randy Newman!) Remember: CDs, LPs, and DVDs in the Nonesuch Store (excluding pre-orders) are 34% off the standard retail price as part of the store's anniversary sale. There are also some noteworthy performances in the coming days: the conclusion of Devendra Banhart's Latin American tour in Bogotá; the continuation of Bombino's North American tour; Jeremy Denk's trio of concerts with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra;  the close of Brad Mehldau and Mark Guiliana's fall Mehliana tour in Europe; and two Canadian concerts to conclude Rokia Traoré's North American tour.

Rokia Traoré rounds out the Californian leg of her North American tour … Alarm Will Sound performs Adams at Cresc Biennale in Germany … Sam Amidon concludes European tour in Copenhagen … Devendra Banhart plays Primavera Fauna Festival … Bombino tours Midwest … Olivia Chaney is in London ... Jeremy Denk joins Westchester Philharmonic … Richard Goode performs in Massachusetts … Emmylou Harris celebrates Americana on PBS … Brad Mehldau, Mark Guiliana bring Mehliana to Germany … Audra McDonald sings on the East Coast … Joshua Redman plays Chicago & Pittsburgh … Allen Toussaint is outside Philly … and more …

Bombino kicks off a 14-city North American tour, featuring music from his new album, Nomad, with a performance at the University of North Carolina in Asheville tonight. The tour includes stops in Nashville, Louisville, Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Toronto, Montreal, Cambridge, Providence, Philadelphia, and DC, culminating with a concert in Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall in NYC on December 6. Bombino then makes his way to the other end of the planet for a two-week tour of Australia; he returns to the States in the spring to perform at the Savannah Music Festival on a double bill with Fatoumata Diawara.

Although Punch Brothers' three-night New Year's Eve run at NYC's Bowery Ballroom is sold out, the band has now added several tour dates in March, including stops along the East Coast, a few in the Midwest, and a pair of festivals: Savannah Music Festival and Suwannee Springfest. Pre-sale begins tomorrow, November 20; general on-sale begins Friday. Chris Thile will be keeping himself warm before then with solo shows in Australia, the Southwest US, and more, plus duo shows with Mike Marshall and Brad Mehldau.

David Byrne and the original cast of Here Lies Love will perform a one-time only special benefit concert in support of the people of the Philippines in the wake of Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan). The special show will take place at Terminal 5 in NYC on November 25. All proceeds will go to support Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) relief efforts in the Philippines. “The show is about the resiliency of the Philippine people—it couldn’t be more timely,” says Byrne. “Upon hearing about this tragedy the cast contacted me about doing a show to raise money for relief efforts. Most of our cast is Filipino, and all of us feel the same way. It’s personal for all of us."

Bombino closes out European tour in France ... Sam Amidon is in Germany ... Laurie Anderson talks with Neil Gaiman in NYC ... Devendra Banhart tours Brazil ... Shawn Colvin concludes NYC residency ... Jeremy Denk closes out SF Symphony tour ... Richard Goode plays Schubert in Connecticut ... Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell play epilepsy benefit in Nashville ... Kronos Quartet turns 40 in Seattle ... Audra McDonald sings at education benefits in Missouri ... Brad Mehldau, Mark Guiliana take Mehliana to France ... Natalie Merchant joins Tulsa Symphony ... Joshua Redman plays hometown of Berkeley ... Steve Reich, Alarm Will Sound perform at the Met Museum ... Rokia Traoré kicks off North American tour in NYC ...

Rokia Traoré kicks off a two-week North American tour at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater in New York City tonight, as part of the White Light Festival. The nine-city tour includes stops in Vancouver, Seattle, Santa Cruz, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Toronto, and Montreal. The New York Times' Ben Ratliff calls her new album, Beautiful Africa, "excellent," noting that it "balances rough and smooth, soft and loud, ngoni and chiming electric guitar, lilt and funk," and describes Traoré as "a self-possessed, intense performer." 

Steve Reich's new ensemble work, Radio Rewrite, which draws inspiration from songs by Radiohead, will receive its New York premiere in a concert by Alarm Will Sound at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Saturday. The all-Reich program also features City Life, New York Counterpoint, and new takes on Six Pianos, Four Genesis Settings from The Cave, and Clapping Music, with the composer joining in. The performance will stream live on Q2Music.

Brad Mehldau kicks off a two-week, 12-city European tour in the new electric duo with drummer Mark Guiliana, Mehliana, in which Mehldau performs on Fender Rhodes and an arsenal of vintage synthesizers while Guiliana accompanies on drums and effects. The Mehliana tour begins with five concerts in France, followed by a set at Barbican Hall in London for the EFG London Jazz Festival and stops in Germany, Italy, Monaco, and Switzerland. You can listen to "Hungry Ghost," off the forthcoming Mehliana album, due in early 2014, here.

The Grammy Award–winning Carolina Chocolate Drops bid farewell to founding member Dom Flemons who is starting a solo career after a special December US tour to commemorate his time with the band. Led by co-founder Rhiannon Giddens, the band will tour throughout 2014 with Hubby Jenkins and two new musicians, cellist Malcolm Parson and mulit-instrumentalist Rowan Corbett, who will join the group in the New Year.

Jeremy Denk, who has written an essay on Bach for the Guardian, continues his residency with the San Francisco Symphony ... Audra McDonald joins Louisville Orchestra ... Sam Amidon tours Spain ... Devendra Banhart kicks off Latin American tour ... Bombino tours France ... Shawn Colvin, Mary Chapin Carpenter conclude duo tour ... Richard Goode gives free concerts at Colgate ... Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell tour Canada ... Iron and Wine heads South ... Kronos Quartet tours Northeast ... Brad Mehldau concludes solo tour in Madrid ... Joshua Redman is in Boston & Philadelphia ... Steve Reich joins all-Reich concert in London ... Chris Thile plays sold-out London show ... Rokia Traoré tours UK ... and more ...