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.

Kronos Quartet, Punch Brothers, Chris Thile, Sam Amidon play Cincinnati's MusicNOW Festival … Seattle Symphony performs John Adams's Scheherazade.2 … Laurie Anderson brings new piece to Minnesota … Timo Andres is in Albany … Jon Brion performs Punch-Drunk Love at Brooklyn screening … Jeremy Denk plays Seattle, San Francisco … Rhiannon Giddens is in Australia … Lake Street Dive plays Philadelphia, Richmond … Clint Mansell performs his film scores in LA … Natalie Merchant tours Europe … Robert Plant concludes tour in Texas … Joshua Redman Trio, Rokia Traoré tour Europe too … and more …

Lake Street Dive, currently performing sold-out shows on its Side Pony tour, has announced several new dates in June. The band has also unveiled the music video for the title track to the new album. The video, directed by Greg Kaplan, was filmed live at the famed Electric Lady Studios in New York City. You can watch it and see all of the currently announced shows here.

Shye Ben Tzur, Jonny Greenwood, and the Rajasthan Express perform Junun live at the Barbican in London … Jeremy Denk joins Chicago Symphony Orchestra … Kronos Quartet performs in its hometown of San Francisco … Lake Street Dive takes world tour to Chicago for two sold-out shows … Audra McDonald's Lady Day debuts on HBO ... Brad Mehldau concludes European solo tour … Natalie Merchant plays sold-out show in NYC … Pat Metheny celebrates Roy Haynes' birthday at the Blue Note … Robert Plant continues to tour the American South … Joshua Redman is in Switzerland … Steve Reich gives a master class in London … Rokia Traoré concludes French leg of Né So tour … and more …

St Germain (Ludovic Navarre), in support of his recently released self-titled album, has embarked on a world tour, which comes to North America this spring. Today, St Germain debuts a live long-form video clip from his performance at The Bataclan in Paris on November 12, 2015. Filmed by Charlotte Vasseneix, who directed the video for his song "Real Blues," it highlights St Germain's first Parisian show in over a decade. You can watch the video, which premiered via Thump, here. A digital EP of four remixes of tracks from the new album this Friday.

Natalie Merchant kicks off an international tour featuring music her recently released album Paradise Is There: The New Tigerlily Recordings with a performance at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco tonight. The tour continues with shows at the Orpheum in LA and the Beacon Theatre in NYC, then heads to Europe for shows in London, Berlin, Utrecht, Brussels, Manchester, and Dublin. Merchant closes out the tour with a second show at the Beacon at the end of the month. The majority of concerts are sold out; select tickets are currently still available in LA, London, and Brussels.

Michael Daves celebrates Orchids and Violence release live in Brooklyn … John Adams's Scheherazade.2 gets Australia premiere in Sydney … Laurie Anderson talks JFK at The Kennedy Center in DC … Jon Brion joins Punch-Drunk Love live score/screening premiere in LA ...Randy Newman is in Austin … Robert Plant kicks off tour in Florida … Rokia Traoré continues to tour France … and more …

The English trio The Staves have announced plans for a 16-city North American tour beginning June 3. Stops include Minneapolis, Washington, Nashville, and New York, among others, along with previously announced sets at the Firefly and Eaux Claires festivals. A fan pre-sale for the newly announced dates begins this Wednesday, March 2, via thestaves.com; general on-sale begins on Friday, March 4.