As part of their 2011-12 Centennial Season, Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony launch a month-long American Mavericks Festival of music by pioneers of the American sound. The Festival begins at San Francisco's Davies Symphony Hall tonight, with performances there through March 18, followed by a national tour to Chicago's Orchestra Hall, Ann Arbor's Hill Auditorium, and Carnegie Hall in New York through March 30. The American Mavericks Festival explores the music of path-breaking composers like Steve Reich and builds on their visionary spirit with world-premieres, including John Adams's "Absolute Jest." Watch Adams discuss the piece here.

Carolina Chocolate Drops are on tour in North America, performing music from their new album, Leaving Eden, in New England this week. During a recent tour stop in NYC, the band performed three songs off the album live on WNYC's Soundcheck and spoke with host John Schaefer about the new album. Listen to the show and watch the performance of "Boodle-De-Bum-Bum" here. Glide gives the album four stars: "On Leaving Eden, Carolina Chocolate Drops move music forward, paying homage to the past while remaining rooted in the present. The result is a thoroughly enjoyable work that challenges our definition of string band music."

Punch Brothers are currently on tour in North America, performing in the Pacific Northwest this week. Prior to heading out on tour, the band spent some time with The New Yorker’s Alec Wilkinson for a "Talk of the Town" piece published in this week’s magazine. Punch Brothers was recently in Minneapolis and stopped by MPR's The Current to perform a few songs and discuss their new album, which PopMatters calls "an essential document and a mesmerizing step forward." Listen to the show and watch their performance of "Movement and Location" in The Current studios here.

The new album pairing works by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki and the works they inspired by composer/guitarist Jonny Greenwood, due out on March 13, is featured on NPR's All Songs Considered. Producer Robin Hilton exclaims of Greenwood's 48 Responses to Polymporphia: "You hear that, and I think: everything created by a synthesizer is just so irrelevant and boring now. You hear something that real and organic and knowing that it could be performed live with these string instruments, I mean, that's amazing to me." The Guardian's Tom Service spoke with both composers about the project and says of that piece: "48 Responses isn't just a good piece for a composer who is more used to the studio, it is a dazzlingly imaginative, gripping and novel work, full stop."

Björk played the last of her NY Hall of Science shows of her NYC Biophilia residency last weekend and plays the first of five nights at Roseland Ballroom tomorrow. NPR's All Songs Considered spoke with app developer Max Weisel, who plays the project's custom-made instruments onstage, including musical Tesla coils. Weisel gives Bob Boilen, host of All Songs Considered, a tour of the stage set-up and a demonstration of how it works. Watch it here. In this week's issue of The New Yorker, Björk talks with Alex Ross about the educational component of the project for public school students.

The Black Keys visited the BBC's Maida Vale studios earlier this week for a special episode of BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe show, which included a 40-minute set for a live studio audience that was webcast live. You can watch their performance of "Lonely Boy" here. This Sunday, CBC Television in Canada will be airing a feature-length interview The Black Keys gave CBC Radio Q; watch a preview here.

Kronos Quartet's latest album, Music of Vladimir Martynov, has been named the Album of the Week by Q2 Music, the New York-based online new-music station of WQXR. The album opens with The Beatitudes, which "beams with religious ecstasy and provides an easy gateway to the meatier subjects," says Q2. "Enter with fortitude, but expect euphoria." Kronos Quartet will give the New York premiere of one of the pieces at Carnegie Hall on February 28.

Carolina Chocolate Drops' song "Country Girl," off their forthcoming album, Leaving Eden, has been named Song of the Day by NPR; an instant download of the track is included with album pre-orders. The band is currently touring the US. Listen to their recent appearance on WTJU in Charlottesville here. The Schenectady Daily Gazette, reviewing a recent show, says: "The Carolina Chocolate Drops are highly skilled musicians, but they’re also a lot of fun, with a gift for showmanship." The Independent Weekly in Durham concurs, saying the band has been "wowing audiences with their roots music chops and pure showmanship." Highlights from the band's recent set at Celtic Connections can be heard on BBC Radio 2.

Nonesuch Records wishes Philip Glass a very happy 75th birthday today. The composer celebrates with the US premiere of his Ninth Symphony by the American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. He previews the performance on WNYC's Soundcheck today at 2 PM ET. He was the subject of a feature profile on NPR's Morning Edition earlier today. "Composer Philip Glass changed the landscape of American music," says NPR. "Glass came up with a new way to make music, and with it, brought a new audience to the concert halls."

Kronos Quartet began its week-long Barbican residency in London over the weekend with master classes and workshops. The residency, titled Awakenings, continues with concerts at Hackney Empire tonight, the Barbican on Thursday, and Wilton's Music Hall on Friday. Kronos Quartet appeared on BBC Radio 3's In Tune and performed two pieces from the concerts. "One of the most celebrated and famous ensembles on this globe," says In Tune's Sean Rafferty of his guests. "Nearly 40 years of innovation, excellence and excitement—how does one begin to describe the Kronos Quartet?"

Carolina Chocolate Drops and Punch Brothers are in the UK this week, set to share a bill at Celtic Connections in Glasgow on Friday. Before then, Punch Brothers have been performing with Amos Lee and headline their own show at Bush Hall in London. Carolina Chocolate Drops have been making the rounds at the BBC, performing songs from their forthcoming album, Leaving Eden, on BBC Radio 3's In Tune and talking with Radio 4's Front Row about reclaiming the black string-band tradition.

Listeners of New Sounds, from New York NPR member station WNYC, have chosen their picks for the Top Ten best new releases of 2011, and topping the list is Donnacha Dennehy's Nonesuch Records debut album, Grá agus Bás. On the list at No. 3 is Steve Reich's latest, WTC 9/11. Both albums had previously made NPR Music's best-of-the-year lists. New Sounds host John Schaefer also includes Dennehy's Grá agus Bás on his list of the year's best.