Chris Thile will curate The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' American Strings: A Tradition of Innovation, a festival of performances, workshops, jam sessions, and panel discussions exploring the idea that tradition is innovation that lasts. American Strings will guide audiences from the origins fueling new traditions in American string music to the artistry and diverse styles in today’s creative landscape. The week-long survey, held June 20–26, 2016, in Washington, DC, will culminate in a star-studded performance with Chris Thile and the National Symphony Orchestra.

Conor Oberst kicks off a tour of Australia and New Zealand, featuring music from his 2014 Nonesuch Records debut album, Upside Down Mountain, with a performance at The Triffid in Brisbane Wednesday night. The tour includes multiple shows in Melbourne and Sydney, a stop in Auckland, and a culminating set at the Golden Plains Festival. The Felice Brothers join as special guests. In June, Oberst will play The Governors Ball in New York City.

Punch Brothers kick off a North American tour featuring music from their new album, The Phosphorescent Blues, with three nights at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC, starting tonight (Chris Thile's birthday). The tour includes stops in Nashville, Chicago, New York, Boston, and Vancouver; four dates in California; three in Texas; and more, with supporting sets from Gaby Moreno, Michael Daves, and Gabriel Kahane along the way. The vinyl edition of The Phosphorescent Blues is due out Tuesday.

Devendra Banhart and longtime friend, musical collaborator, and fellow singer-songwriter Andy Cabic (Vetiver)—who together formed the vanguard of an experimental and folk-influenced aesthetic that emerged in the Bay Area around the turn of the millennium—will tour Spain and Portugal in May, performing both individually and together in a casual mix of older and newer material, including Banhart's 2013 Nonesuch Records debut album, Mala.

This long weekend, Olivia Chaney continues her US tour with shows in Minneapolis, Seattle, Los Angeles ...Chris Thile guests hosts A Prairie Home Companion with musical guest Rhiannon Giddens ...Richard Linklater, Patricia Arquette talk Boyhood with James Corden in LA ... Jeremy Denk plays Bartók in North Carolina ... Tigran Hamasyan kicks off US tour in Chicago ... Emmylou Harris is on Austin City Limits ... Steve Reich celebrated in London ... and more ...

Tickets are on sale now for Rhiannon Giddens' spring solo tour, featuring music from her debut solo album Tomorrow Is My Turn. The shows begin at the Big Ears Festival in March and continue through June, with stops in cities and at festivals along the way, including NYC, Chicago, LA, and the Bonnaroo Music Festival. Giddens’ bandmates from Carolina Chocolate Drops are part of her touring band. They perform on A Prairie Home Companion this weekend.

Tigran Hamasyan, whose Nonesuch Records debut album, Mockroot, is due out on Tuesday, kicks off a tour of the US with a performance at the University of Chicago's Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts—his Chicago debut—on Friday. The tour continues through the month, with stops in Oakland, Santa Cruz, Los Angeles, and Cambridge, two nights in New York City, and two sets in College Park, Maryland.

David Byrne will curate 2015’s Meltdown Festival at Southbank Centre in London, August 17–28. Previous directors include Laurie Anderson, Patti Smith, David Bowie, Yoko Ono, Ray Davies, and Ornette Coleman. "This is going to be exciting," says Byrne. "I plan to invite performers I've seen—and I do get out—and others I've missed or have dreamed of seeing." The line-up will be announced in the coming months. 

This Grammy weekend, Chris Thile, whose work is up for five awards, guests hosts A Prairie Home Companion with special musical guests Punch Brothers ... Alarm Will Sound joins Medeski, Martin & Wood in Boulder ... Timo Andres piece for Orpheus gets Carnegie Hall premiere ... Olivia Chaney kicks US tour in Cambridge ... Kronos Quartet is in Iowa ... Audra McDonald tours North Carolina ... Brad Mehldau tours France ... Sara Watkins, Rodney Crowell join Patty Griffin in London ... and more ...

Rhiannon Giddens has announced her first solo tour for the spring. The shows begin March 28 at the Big Ears Festival and continue through June, with stops in cities and at festivals along the way, including NYC, Chicago, LA, and the Bonnaroo Music Festival. Giddens makes her solo television debut performing “Waterboy” from her new album, Tomorrow Is My Turn, on CBS’s Late Show with David Letterman on the album's release day, February 10.

Steve Reich, Stephen Sondheim take part in an evening of conversation and performance for Lincoln Center's American Songbook ... The Black Keys are on PBS's Austin City Limits ... Jeremy Denk takes a winter trip from Goldberg Variations in Florida to Winterreise in NYC ... Richard Goode joins LA Phil for Mozart ... Gidon Kremer, Kremerata Baltica play La Folle Journée in France ... Audra McDonald makes her Spanish debut at Madrid's Teatro Real ... Brad Mehldau tours France ... Conor Oberst plays Mexico City ... Sara Watkins, Rodney Crowell join Patty Griffin for Celtic Connections' Transatlantic Sessions in Glasgow ...

Punch Brothers take their new album, The Phosphorescent Blues, to the UK, with shows in Glasgow and London ... Olivia Chaney performs in London too ... Rhiannon Giddens is on BBC Radio 4's Loose Ends ... Richard Goode plays Mozart with Milwaukee Symphony ... Gidon Kremer closes out US tour at Carnegie Hall ... Audra McDonald joins Naples Philharmonic in Florida ... Brad Mehldau plays solo in Lisbon ... Conor Oberst plays Todos Santos Music Festival in Mexico ... Joshua Redman tours Germany with WDR Big Band ...