Ben Folds brings his fall Lonely Avenue tour to a close at the Beacon Theatre in New York City tonight. Time Out New York includes the concert as a critics' pick, describing Folds as "a consummate professional." AOL's City's Best features the show as well. The Sing-Off, NBC's a cappella singing competition, continues in its second week this week. The Baltimore Sun suggests that Folds "should be a judge on every show ever." You can read Folds's thoughts on the show in his Sing-Off blog, On Key.

To celebrate her new album, The Party Ain’t Over, out January 25, Wanda Jackson will play two special New York City and Los Angeles shows around its release. Wanda will be accompanied by the Third Man House Band featuring Jack White, who also produced the album, on guitar. The Party Ain't Over is available for pre-order in the Nonesuch Store at 33% off; the first 250 pre-orders include an exclusive, limited-edition poster autographed by Jackson.

The Black Keys play three California festivals ... John Adams concludes San Francisco Symphony residency ... Timothy Andres premieres piano piece in NYC ... Carolina Chocolate Drops, The Low Anthem conclude joint tour ... The Low Anthem joins Emmylou Harris on Grand Ole Opry ... Shawn Colvin, Patty Griffin perform benefit in Austin ... Christina Courtin concludes tour with Aoife O'Donovan ... The Hard Nuts opens in Brooklyn ... Punch Brothers close out fall tour in Chicago ... and more ... 

John Adams concludes his residency with the San Francisco Symphony with performances of his chamber music by members of the orchestra and the St. Lawrence String Quartet on Sunday. Recent SFS performances of Adams's El Niño lead the San Francisco Chronicle to call it "one of Adams's greatest achievements" and the San Jose Mercury News to call it "extraordinary ... one of Adams's marvels." The Chronicle said of SFS performances of Harmonielehre that "this brilliant and dynamic opus emerged with all its force intact." The Mercury News called it "epic ... one of those capital-E events that music lovers are constantly craving."

The Hard Nut, Mark Morris's 1991 retelling of the classic tale of The Nutcracker by E.T.A. Hoffmann, returns to New York for the first time in eight years, with an eight-performance run at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House in Brooklyn, starting tonight. The New York Times says: "Mr. Morris creates a marvelously musical, choreographically ingenious response to Tchaikovsky’s great score that has its own magic and speaks its own truths about the nature of love." The Hard Nut DVD is now 33% off in the Nonesuch Store.

Timothy Andres's debut album, Shy and Mighty, has been named among the year's notable recordings according to The New Yorker's Alex Ross. Upon the album's release on Nonesuch in May, Ross said the album achieved "an unhurried grandeur that has rarely been felt in American music since John Adams came on the scene." Andres unveils a new piano piece, It takes a long time to become a good composer, in three concerts in New York City with the Metropolis Ensemble, starting tonight.

When the Philip Glass / Robert Wilson collaboration Einstein on the Beach premiered in 1976, it marked the international breakthrough for its creators and changed what audiences might expect from opera, theater, or performance art. New audiences and an entirely new generation will have the opportunity to see the rarely performed piece during a 2012-2013 international tour of major cities around the world. "For audiences, few of whom have experienced Einstein apart from audio recordings," says the composer, "this tour will be a chance finally to see this seminal work."

The Sing-Off, NBC's a cappella singing competition, continues tonight, with performances from the remaining eight teams and keen-as-ever insight from judge Ben Folds. He has added six new concerts in the US Midwest next month in support of Lonely Avenue, which the Aquarian Weekly says "is rich and filled with life’s great texture." The newly-added dates go on sale December 10; the Ben Folds Fan Club can access presale tickets now.

Christina Courtin launches a four-city tour with Aoife O'Donovan of the Crooked Still in Boston tonight, followed by stops in New Hampshire and Vermont, before hitting Courtin's home base of New York City with a Saturday night show at Rockwood Music Hall. Courtin's voice has been described by the New York Times as "uniquely otherworldly." Her self-titled Nonesuch debut album, which the Huffington Post called "a wonderful concoction," is now just $10.71 in the Nonesuch Store as part of the store-wide 3rd anniversary sale.

The Black Keys' album Brothers has landed at No. 2 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the Best Albums of 2010. "The duo boil it down on their best record yet: vivid tunes stripped bare and rubbed raw, with hot splashes of color and hooks popping through like compound fractures," raves Rolling Stone. "It's rock minimalism pushed to the max." The magazine also places the album track "Everlasting Light" at No. 11 on the list of the Best Singles of 2010.

Punch Brothers were recently nominated for two Grammy Awards, including Best Country Instrumental Performance for the song "New Chance Blues," a bonus track off their latest Nonesuch album, Antifogmatic. To celebrate the great news, you can now download a the Grammy-nominated track "New Chance Blues" for free here. The band has added a number of new 2011 tour dates to their schedule, as has Chris Thile, all of which are listed here.

Ben Folds and his band are set to tour Australia in May 2011 in support of Lonely Avenue, his collaborative album with Nick Hornby. Folds will play Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth in May 2011. Tickets go on sale beginning at 9 AM local time on Tuesday, December 14. The Ben Folds Fan Club will have the opportunity to purchase presale tickets beginning Wednesday, December 8, at 2 PM AEDT.