Kronos Quartet begins its residency at the Luminato Festival in Toronto today. The residency features four concerts reflecting the Quartet's global musical journey. Kronos is "one of the world's finest—and definitely most adventurous—chamber ensembles," says the Toronto Star. "Every one of their nearly four-dozen albums—which have earned every industry award imaginable—have introduced their growing legion of fans and audiences to a new piece of a global musical puzzle."

Dawn Upshaw helps kick off the 2011 Ojai Music Festival tonight. She is the music director of this year's festival, which runs through Sunday, June 12, and marks the soprano's fourth appearance at the Southern California festival. Festival highlights include Upshaw's performance of Crumb’s The Winds of Destiny and the world premiere of Maria Schneider's Winter Morning Walks. The Los Angeles Times says "her voice is like a ray of light in a forest. Its luminous tone is proof that some things in the world can never be manufactured."

The 10th Annual Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival gets under way in Manchester, Tennessee, tomorrow and runs through the weekend, with performances from a number of artists familiar to readers of the Nonesuch Journal: Jessica Lea Mayfield, The Low Anthem, Wanda Jackson, Sara Watkins, The Black Keys, Dan Auerbach, and Allen Toussaint. In addition, Nonesuch has teamed up with Relix magazine and the Bonnaroo Beacon, the official daily newspaper of the festival, to offer two very special contests to Bonnaroo attendees.

Chris Thile and Michael Daves have announced a short run of tour dates in the Midwest in September, stopping in Ann Arbor, Urbana, and Chicago. These follow summer festival sets at Telluride, Grey Fox, and Newport and a headline set in Brooklyn. Relix calls their debut album, Sleep with One Eye Open, a "boisterous tribute to their bluegrass roots," one that "literally crackles with youthful energy." The review concludes: "If bluegrass ever needs another revival, this future classic is more than enough to keep the flame lit."

Emmylou Harris concludes her spring European tour at Admiralspalast in Berlin tonight. She heads back to the States and launches the US leg of her tour at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Telluride, Colorado, on June 17. Harris recently spoke with Rolling Stone about her new album, Hard Bargain, and moments from throughout her career, like her friendship with Gram Parsons, about whom she wrote "The Road" off Hard Bargain, and working with Bob Dylan.

k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang brought their UK tour to a close with a performance at Clyde Auditorium in Glasgow, Scotland, last night. The tour included two shows at London's Royal Festival Hall, to which the Guardian gives four stars. "lang is a beaming and ebullient figure tonight," says the Guardian. "k.d. lang's mojo has clearly been firmly relocated." The Evening Standard says "she's discovered how to have a ball, without sacrificing the passion that underpins her work ... How could anyone not fall a little in love?"

Ben Folds continues his Lonely Avenue tour of Asia in Japan ... Amadou & Mariam are in NYC ... Laurie Anderson performs Delusion in Spain and Portugal ... Shawn Colvin plays in Virginia and Pennsylvania ... Emmylou Harris's European tour heads to Amsterdam ... k.d. lang continues UK tour in London, Nottingham ... Kronos Quartet performs A Chinese Home close to home in San Francisco ... The Low Anthem launches US tour ... Jessica Lea Mayfield concludes her European tour in Amsterdam ... Pat Metheny talks music and science in NYC ... Allen Toussaint plays in Oregon ... and more ...

Chris Thile and Michael Daves have just been added to the line-up of the 2011 Newport Folk Festival, taking place July 30 and 31 at Fort Adams State Park in Newport, Rhode Island. They join three fellow Nonesuch artists on the lineup, all performing on Sunday: Emmylou Harris, Carolina Chocolate Drops, and Wanda Jackson. In addition, The Low Anthem co-hosts a backstage hootenanny Saturday night to benefit the Newport Festivals Foundation.

k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang kicked off their UK tour with a performance in Birmingham to which the Times of London gives four stars, describing "lang's gorgeous voice" as "a versatile weapon of mass seduction." The tour hits London tonight for the first of two nights at the Royal Festival Hall. The North American tour begins in two weeks. lang recently spoke with the Huffington Post about her new album, Sing it Loud, to which Canada's StarPhoenix gives five stars, calling it "a winning amalgam of lang's many, many musical influences."

The Fourth Annual World Science Fair gets under way in New York City today. Pat Metheny will join the proceedings Saturday night for Music and the Spark of Spontaneity, a performance and panel discussion, moderated by WNYC's John Schaefer, examining what goes on inside the brain as music is being created. The event offers a live tour of Metheny's masterful musical mind at work as he performs and engages in discussion with leading scientist/musicians.

This Memorial Day weekend, Jessica Lea Mayfield kicks off a week-long European tour ... Laurie Anderson brings Delusion to Germany ... James Farm continues its European tour in France, Netherlands ... Ben Folds launches Japan tour ... Emmylou Harris plays Ireland, UK ... Wanda Jackson is in Knoxville ... Gidon Kremer, Kremerata Baltica are in Germany ... Natalie Merchant celebrates Levon Helm's 71st birthday in NY ... Randy Newman performs in Phoenix ... Punch Brothers play two festival sets ... and more ...