Chris Thile's first Mandolin Concerto, Ad astra per alas porci, receives its official world premiere this week in three performances with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra under Jeffrey Kahane, following a test run of the piece at Interlochen this summer. "I feel like I've done a lot of examining of the mandolin's possibilities," Thile tells violin.com, "but this is the culmination of my efforts in that direction thus far." In an extensive interview with Sequenza 21, he says, "As long as I have something to play, something to sing, something to write, I'll be happy."

Christina Courtin's California concert schedule continues this week with performances in San Francisco and LA. Pop Matters describes the singer as "fearless, profound, and musically fascinating" and her "impressive" new album as "unlike anything else I have heard this year ... Lyrically precocious, and musically varied, Courtin presents herself as a chameleon, shifting through varied terrain from jazz to folk to country to pop and back again."

Adams's On the Transmigration of Souls, a musical memorial for September 11, will air on WNYC and be performed in concert by the Phoenix Symphony ... Carolina Chocolate Drops celebrate Chapel Hill library's 50th ... Bill Frisell performs music of Disfarmer ... Kronos begins its season at Poland's Wratislava festival ... Low Anthem plays UK's End of the Road fest ... Brad Mehldau solos in São Paolo ... Nicholas Payton plays NY's Iridium  ... Guggenheim presents dances to Reich's Double Sextet ... Allen Toussaint plays Texas, Maryland, NYC ... and more

Kronos Quartet announces the tour dates for its 2009/10 concert season, a season that will bring the group all over the United States and to seven countries around the globe. Highlights include a Carnegie Hall Perspectives; collaborations with artists like Wu Man, Tanya Tagaq, and Alim Qasimov; the John Adams–curated West Coast, Left Coast festival with the Los Angeles Philharmonic; and several world and New York premieres.

Audra McDonald was recently honored with the 2009 NAACP Theatre Award's Trailblazer Award. Next month, Audra will participate in The Actors Fund's fall 2009 benefit concert titled Chance and Chemistry: A Centennial Celebration of Frank Loesser, to be held on Monday, October 26, at the Minskoff Theater in New York.

Carolina Chocolate Drops keep it close to home in the Carolinas bringing their "palpable energy" to the Boone Hall BBQ & Bluegrass Fest ... Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed play Paris ... Bill Frisell closes out two-week residency at NYC's Village Vanguard with Paul Motian, Joe Lovano ... The Low Anthem's European tour gets under way in Ireland and UK ... Brad Mehldau tours South America solo ... Sara Watkins is out West ...

Christina Courtin begins a weekly series of gigs in California this month, at The Little Room at Largo in Los Angeles tonight. A second Little Room date follows next week, and then a third Largo event, at the Coronet Theater, on the 17th, with Grant Lee Phillips. In between the latter two events, she'll head up north to play San Francisco's Café du Nord.

When Joshua Redman's MoodSwing was originally released, back in 1994, it was Redman's first to feature both his own band—pianist Brad Mehldau, bassist Christian McBride, and drummer Brian Blade—and all original tunes. Now, as those collaborations continue to flourish, MoodSwing returns in a new Nonesuch vinyl reissue. "Redman finds ingenious ways of creating a mode of acoustic jazz that is both entertaining and enlightening," Entertainment Weekly wrote upon the album's initial release. "MoodSwing plays like an artistic journey."

Wilco wrapped up its summer tour in Dublin last week, with the US tour picking up again at the University of Iowa October 1. Just three days later, the band will perform at the annual Farm Aid benefit concert, which, DIRECTV has just announced, will be broadcast live and in HD exclusively on its The 101 Network. DIRECTV will also match donations from its customers up to $50,000 to support Farm Aid in its efforts to support family farms.

The Low Anthem's Plymouth Waterfront concert was canceled due to weather, but Sunday's WXPN Artist to Watch concert is on in PA ... Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed play Helsinki Fest ... Carolina Chocolate Drops celebrate North Carolina's musical heritage ... Bill Frisell continues at the Vanguard with Paul Motian, Joe Lovano ... Youssou N'Dour is in Brazil for Back2Black ... Allen Toussaint plays NYC ... Dawn Upshaw premieres Golijov in London ... Wilco closes out Europe summer in Dublin ... and more ...

Youssou N'Dour is in Brazil this weekend for the Back2Black Festival, a three-day international event celebrating Africa through political discussions and cultural events, with events taking place in the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia. In Rio, he'll perform in a concert with Marisa Monte tonight and participate in a conference on culture and development tomorrow; on Sunday, he'll be in Brazilia for the festival's closing concert.

Dawn Upshaw joins the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, led by David Zinman, at Edinburgh's Usher Hall tonight as part of the Edinburgh International Festival. In 1991, Upshaw and Zinman came together for the the now-famous Nonesuch recording of Górecki's Third Symphony. Scotland's Herald takes a look at this "global smash" as part of a closer look at the career of the singer who helped make it such a success.