Lianne La Havas—pictured in the Tom Ford gown she wore as a nominee at last week's Mercury Prize ceremony—is the subject of a feature profile on NPR's Morning Edition, which examines her banner year including, not least, the release of her debut album, Is Your Love Big Enough?. As host Renee Montagne says in her introduction to the piece, titled "The Golden Girl of British Music," it "helps if you’re as talented as the young singer-songwriter we’re about to hear from." La Havas makes her debut on the Late Show with David Letterman this Thursday and plays three US shows next week.

When Lianne La Havas was in NYC last month to celebrate the release of her debut album, Is Your Love Big Enough?, she stopped by WFUV to record an episode of Words and Music, out now. La Havas talks with WFUV's Alisa Ali about her life in music and to perform three songs off the album. Watch the performances and listen to the complete episode here. Lianne La Havas is up for the Mercury Prize this week and returns to the US next week to perform on the Late Show with David Letterman and Conan and in headline shows in the Washington, DC–area, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

Lianne La Havas is the guest on today's episode of WNYC's Soundcheck. She recently stopped by the WNYC studios to perform live solo takes on three songs off her debut album, Is Your Love Big Enough?—"Age," "Forget," and "No Room for Doubt"—and talk with Soundcheck host John Schaefer about the album, her musical influences, and the inspiration behind the songs. Tune in to 93.9 FM WNYC tonight or listen to the complete episode here.

Jonny Greenwood, whose soundtrack to Paul Thomas Anderson’s new film The Master is out now, spoke with NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday, about being both the guitarist for Radiohead and a highly respected composer. Says New York magazine of The Master: "While Anderson paints with light, composer Jonny Greenwood is painting with sound." The score "is positively marvelous," says MTV. It just may be the best score you'll hear all year ... as mercurial and multilayered as The Master itself."

Lianne La Havas wowed the sold-out crowd at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC last night and is performs on WNYC's Soundcheck today before shows in Montreal and Los Angeles later this week. SPIN has premiered a video for her song "Age" shot by Yours Truly. Says SPIN: "La Havas is the embodiment of youth and beauty, and a talented songwriter whose knack runs the gamut from angular art-rock a la St. Vincent to breezy cafe numbers a la early Feist." Watch it here.

Steve Reich's complete string quartets—Different Trains, Triple Quartet, and WTC 9/11—will be performed by ACME at New York's (Le) Poisson Rouge tonight, with the composer in attendance. The program features the world premiere of the all-live version of WTC 9/11, a piece that reflects on the World Trade Center attacks of September 11, 2011. There will be a pre-concert conversation with the composer. The concert will be streaming and videocast live via NPR and Q2 Music.

Ry Cooder, recently featured in the New York Times, was the guest on PBS's Tavis Smiley show on Monday—fittingly, Labor Day—to discuss his timely new album, Election Special, the specific stories behind some of its tracks, and the broader political and social climate that compelled him to create it. Watch the episode here. Cooder and Smiley continue the conversation with Cornell West on PRI's Smiley & West, a program that inspired one of the songs on the album.

John Adams has been selected as BBC Radio 3’s Composer of the Week. All week, the program is presenting interviews with Adams along with illustrative examples of music from Nonesuch recordings throughout his career, from 1973's Christian Zeal & Activity to his 2008 String Quartet, as heard on his latest Nonesuch album. Adams also conducts his opera Nixon in China live from Royal Albert Hall on BBC Radio 3 for Prom 72 on Wednesday.

Robert Wilson and Philip Glass's famed 1976 opera Einstein on the Beach is the subject of a feature article in the Sunday New York Times that looks at the work's historical significance as a new production lands at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) September 14–23. Q2 Music launches Music of Constant Change: A Philip Glass Festival, running though September 9, surveying the composer's career through music, interviews, videos, and a live videocast of a conversation and performance featuring Glass and members of the current tour of Einstein on the Beach.

When Sara Watkins was in New York City earlier this month, she stopped by public radio station WFUV's Studio A to record an episode of Words and Music, out now. Watkins spoke with host Claudia Marshall about her life in music and performs a few songs off her new album, Sun Midnight Sun, with her brother Sean. Watch their performance of "Take Up Your Spade" and "The Foothills" and listen to the complete Words and Music episode here.

Ry Cooder is the guest on today’s episode of the BBC World Service's The Strand. He talks about his new album, Election Special, and what motivated him to speak out through its songs. "Here we are in the middle of an incredibly critical Presidential campaign ... and all these issues are brought to the front," says Cooder. "Martin Luther King used to say do something if you can, something you could do. If it was writing a speech or a book or singing or marching, do it, when the need is there. So that’s what I’m doing."

Sara Watkins is today's guest on NPR's World Café. On the show, Watkins talks with host David Dye about her new album, Sun Midnight Sun, and is joined by her brother Sean to perform three songs from the album as well as two tunes from her self-titled debut solo album. Earlier this month, Watkins appeared on WNYC's Leonard Lopate Show; listen to it here.