John Adams is "this summer's hottest composer," says Q2, with recent stagings of two of his operas and, this week, a Lincoln Center Festival series in which the Cleveland Orchestra pairs his orchestral works with Bruckner symphonies. Watch Adams and Cleveland Music Director Franz Welser-Möst discuss the creative process in a video here. Tune in to Q2's The New Canon for a live chat about Adams with soprano Jessica Rivera (A Flowering Tree) and flautist Eric Lamb (Son of Chamber Symphony).

Christina Courtin recently performed at (Le) Poisson Rouge in NYC, with longtime and frequent collaborators Brooklyn Rider opening. The show was broadcast on Q2's Cued Up. "While taking cues from their classical training," says Q2, "these artists have broken down the conventional walls of a music conservatory and are comfortable playing anything from Philip Glass's string quartets to playing backup on Nashville-inspired tunes." Listen to Courtin's set here.

James Farm and their self-titled debut album are featured on NPR's All Things Considered today. "New bands don't come along every day in jazz," says NPR's Tom Moon. "But listen to these unusual compositions, and to the lively exchanges that erupt inside of them. Even though these players can only make a partial commitment of time to James Farm, they're fully committed musically." The Los Angeles Times says: "While the term 'supergroup' may be a loaded concept, it's hard not to consider James Farm one ... The new ground covered by [Joshua] Redman and cohorts casts a spell of its own."

Randy Newman is the guest on Words and Music from Studio A from New York's NPR member station WFUV tonight. Newman performs songs from his new album, Songbook Vol. 2, and talks with host Claudia Marshall about the project, which takes a fresh look at both classic and more recent work in new solo takes on 16 of his celebrated songs. Newman is the subject of a week-long series of articles from Filter, which says of the Songbook albums: "These stripped-down versions expose the complexity of Newman’s piano phrasing and put his lyrics at the forefront."

Jessica Lea Mayfield is the guest on today's episode of NPR's World Cafe. She and her band perform four songs off her new album, Tell Me, and Mayfield talks with the show's host, David Dye, about the album, which was produced by The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach. Mayfield is currently on a cross-country tour of the United States. Starting this coming Sunday, Mayfield joins up with The Avett Brothers for more than a week's worth of tour dates out West.

Wanda Jackson's performance on NPR's Mountain Stage will be broadcast on public radio stations across the US this weekend. Jackson's set includes several songs from her Jack White-produced album The Party Ain't Over. Also featured on the program are Jimmie Dale Gilmore & the Wronglers, Joe Ely, the New Rope String Band, and Carolyn Wonderland. Catch a preview of Jackson's set and go backstage for an interview with the Queen of Rockabilly in a video posted here.

Chris Thile and Michael Daves will be the guests on WNYC's Soundcheck on Wednesday, July 20, performing before a live audience at WNYC's Greene Space in downtown Manhattan. Later that night, the duo head out to Brooklyn to perform at the Bell House. Rolling Stone calls the debut album from "mandolin God Chris Thile" and "hot-shit Brooklyn guitarist Michael Daves" a "ridiculously blazing set ... The uptempo jams are wild-picking shred fests, and the ballads cut deep."

James Farm kicked off its four-night residency at New York's Jazz Standard last night with two stellar sets featuring songs from their self-titled debut album. The band stopped by WNYC's Soundcheck earlier this week to discuss and perform songs off the new record. You can listen to the segment and watch the band perform "Polliwog" in a video from the show here. You can also listen to a bonus web exclusive performance from the session of "Bijoux."

James Farm, featuring Joshua Redman, Aaron Parks, Matt Penman, and Eric Harland, is today's guest on WNYC's Soundcheck. The quartet sets up shop at the NY's Jazz Standard this week for a four-night residency. The New York Times says the band members "share a fondness for sleek convolution and introspective groove. As on their impressive new debut, self-titled and on the Nonesuch label, they’ll reach here for a cohesive and conscientiously eclectic sound."

Kronos Quartet will be the featured guests on CBC radio arts program Q Wednesday morning. Kronos will be joined on the program by pipa virtuoso Wu Man, who also joins the group in the fourth and final concert of its residency at the Luminato Festival in Toronto Wednesday night. The concert features the Canadian premiere of the multimedia piece A Chinese Home. The Toronto Star says of Sunday's free outdoor concert from Kronos: "This is what makes Luminato special."

Randy Newman is the guest on American Public Media's Dinner Party Download this weekend, the show's 100th episode. The Christian Science Monitor says of Newman's latest album, Songbook Vol. 2: "As a gift to us and the world at large, Newman has recorded his sardonic, hilarious, and often moving repertoire in the studio, solo at the keys ... the next best thing to seeing this unique artist and American treasure live."

Composers Steve Reich, Louis Andriessen, and Philip Glass, and Nonesuch Records President Robert Hurwitz have all contributed to the BBC Radio 3 documentary 50 Years of Minimalism in Music, which aired this past Saturday night. They and a number of other music pioneers spoke with American conductor Richard Bernas in this look back at five decades of Minimalism, "the musical language of our time." The program is available online at bbc.co.uk.