Steve Reich joined Bang on a Can All-Stars for the start of the group's 25th anniversary tour and a celebration of the composer's 75th birthday with an all-Reich concert at LA's Walt Disney Concert Hall on Tuesday. "A retrospective of Reich, performed by musicians who live and breathe his music, made attendance at this kind of event one of music's memorable experiences," says the Los Angeles Times. Reich is "as close to a rock star as a composer can get these days." Variety describes the performances of Music for 18 Musicians as "nothing short of transcendent."

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.

Punch Brothers' forthcoming album, Who’s Feeling Young Now?, due out February 14, is now available for pre-order with an instant download of the album's opening track, "Movement and Location," and an exclusive set of custom Punch Brothers paper coasters illustrated by New Yorker cartoonist Matthew Diffee, signed by the band. Watch a preview of "Movement and Location" in a short video here. T Bone Burnett recently described Punch Brothers to American Songwriter as "one of the most incredible bands this country has ever produced."

Dr. John, who will release his forthcoming, Dan Auerbach-produced album, Locked Down, on Nonesuch on April 3, will lead a three-weekend residency titled Dr. John: Insides Out at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, March 29 through April 14. The centerpiece of the residency is a three-night run of concerts in which Auerbach will join Dr. John and a handpicked band to premiere new music from the album. The residency also includes a Louis Armstrong tribute, a night of New Orleans funk, and a series of films shot or set in the Crescent City.

Philip Glass and Robert Wilson's Einstein on the Beach, widely credited as one of the greatest artistic achievements of the 20th century, will be reconstructed for a major international tour nearly four decades after it was first performed and 20 years since its last production, starting with previews at the Power Center in Ann Arbor this weekend. To coincide with the tour and Glass’s 75th birthday, Nonesuch has reissued its seminal 1993 recording, which the Washington Post wrote is "more complete than the first recording and superior in both performance and sound."

Steve Reich will take the stage at LA's Walt Disney Concert Hall tonight for a concert celebrating the composer's work. The all-Reich program—performed by Bang on a Can All-Stars, red fish blue fish, David Cossin, and the composer himself—features the West Coast premiere of 2x5, along with Piano Phase, Music for 18 Musicians, and Clapping Music, on which the composer will join in. Following tonight's concert, an LAist Classical Pick of the Week, the performers take the show to UC San Diego.

Chris Thile and Michael Daves brought the music of their debut duo album, Sleep with One Eye Open, to the picturesque Allen Room overlooking New York's Central Park as part of Lincoln Center's American Songbook series. "They’ve been playing small club shows downtown, and they brought that informality to the Allen Room," says the New York Times, "punctuating dazzling virtuosity with bluegrass-aficionado banter and 'Fiddle Tune Request Time.'” Thile and Daves "sing and play the daylights" out of the tunes, says the Times, playing both with "breakneck" speed and "with restraint and delicacy."

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.

Pat Metheny launches a tour of Korea and Japan with bassist Larry Grenadier ... Laurie Anderson performs new show, Another Day in America, for Calgary's High Performance Rodeo ... Black Keys concert documentary airs in HD on Palladia ... Shawn Colvin, Lyle Lovett perform benefit concert in Austin ... Norwegian Wood, featuring Jonny Greenwood score, opens in Brooklyn ... Kronos Quartet gives Polish premiere of Reich's WTC 9/11 ... The Low Anthem launches tour with City and Colour; performs on Mountain Stage ... Audra McDonald is Bess on Broadway ... Natalie Merchant gives benefit concert for WAMC ... Punch Brothers launch European tour in Amsterdam ... and more ...

Storied musician and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Dr. John—Mac Rebennack—will release Locked Down, a startling album that marks a significant departure from his recent efforts, on April 3, 2012. The new album, produced by The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach, will be Dr. John's first for Nonesuch Records.

Björk has been nominated for a 2012 BRIT Award for Best International Female Solo Artist. Also nominated in that field are Beyoncé, Feist, Lady Gaga, and Rihanna. Björk has previously won four BRIT Awards. The 2012 BRIT Awards will take place at The O2 in London on February 21. Tickets go on sale to the general public today for Björk's ten-show Biophilia NYC residency.

Music of Vladimir Martynov, the just-released album from Kronos Quartet, is now streaming in full on group's website, through January 19. The album includes three works written or rescored for Kronos by the contemporary Russian composer Vladimir Martynov and a special guest performance from former Kronos cellist Joan Jeanrenaud. Kronos artistic director David Harrington spoke with BBC World Service’s The Strand about the new record and the Quartet's upcoming residency at the Barbican in London. Kronos Quartet is currently on tour in Europe performing Steve Reich's WTC 9/11.