Natalie Merchant's US summer tour came to California last week for a number of concerts, including stops at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles and the Spreckels Theatre in San Diego over the weekend. Merchant had previously performed in the Bay Area and stopped by 826 Valencia, Dave Eggers' writing program for students. The San Francisco Chronicle described the event as "a kind of 'master class' for high school kids."

Stephen Sondheim's 80th birthday has been celebrated in many ways, including concerts with renowned interpreters of the composer's music, like Bernadette Peters, who taks to the Sunday New York Times about her new role in A Little Night Music. Times critic Anthony Tommasini offers own birthday wishes to the composer in a video featuring the writer at the piano performing and discussing some of his favorite Sondheim musical moments. After one such piece, he says: "It's that kind of detail that makes Stephen Sondheim so important to musicians and composers, but it is also what makes the show so rich and meaningful, and why he is so beloved by so many people, including me."

Timothy Andres has announced a number of dates for his 2010–2011 season, including a Carnegie Hall concert with Brad Mehldau featuring selections from his piece Shy and Mighty. Fanfare says Andres "conjures up a wonderful 'world of ideas'" on the piece and album. "The music is consistently imaginative, clever, and expressive." The reviewer declares the album "strongly recommended" and "can’t imagine anyone not enjoying this fine music."

Adams's El Niño opens the Edinburgh International Festival ... The Black Keys return to Ohio ... Toumani Diabaté's in residence at Yoshi's ... Glass’ Cello Concerto closes the Cabrillo Festival ... Kronos Quartet plays free show at Lincoln Center Out of Doors ... The Low Anthem tour Europe ... Natalie Merchant heads to Southern California ... Punch Brothers play festivals out West ... Sara Watkins tours with Garrison Keillor ... Wilco throws its first festival ... and more ....

Kronos Quartet performs a free outdoor concert at New York's Damrosch Park for the Lincoln Center Out of Doors series, featuring the world premiere of Christine Southworth's Super Collider, performed with Gamelan Galak Tika on the new Gamelan Elektrika, plus works by Steve Reich, Café Tacuba, Aleksandra Vrebalov, and Raz Mesinai. Prior to the concert, Gamelan Galak Tika will lead a free workshop on the kecak, Bali's famed "Monkey Chant."

Lonely Avenue, the new album from Ben Folds and Nick Hornby, is now available for pre-order in the Nonesuch Store with an exclusive, limited-edition Folds/Hornby-penned manuscript score from the album track "Picture Window," a number of which will be signed by the artists. The record, due out September 28, is available for pre-order on CD, vinyl, and in a deluxe edition that includes the CD, four short stories by Hornby, and photos by Joel Meyerowitz in a hardbound, 152-page book.

The Black Keys will make their debut in the Rock Band Music Store of downloadable content for the Xbox 360, PlayStation3, and Wii on August 17. The Black Keys Pack 01 will feature “Strange Times” and “I Got Mine,” off 2008's Attack & Release, and “Your Touch” off the band's Nonesuch debut album, Magic Potion.

As Natalie Merchant and her band perform songs from Leave Your Sleep in California this week, new shows have just been added in the Northeast this fall featuring a full symphony orchestra. LA Weekly calls Leave Your Sleep "the most sonically adventurous project of her career." The Atlantic, reviewing the Seattle show, says it "worked—in wondrous ways," calling it "a tour de force ... an artist's creative and courageous venture into new territory altogether."

Punch Brothers' latest Nonesuch album, Antifogmatic, was just released on vinyl, while the band is out West performing songs from the album. Already on the road for a month now, Punch Brothers announce their fall tour, adding several new dates throughout the South. "Most shows are now on-sale," reports Noam Pikelny on the band's newly redesigned website. "People might be lining up outside of these venues already. There's just no way to tell for sure."

Sara Watkins has begun the month-long Summer Love Tour with Garrison Keillor and the cast of A Prairie Home Companion. She tells the Grand Rapids Press: "One of the things I'm looking forward to is getting to hear [Garrison] tell stories every night." Watkins will also perform on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on September 2 and has been nominated as Artist of the Year in the San Diego Music Awards.

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, the free outdoor music festival held in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, celebrates its 10th anniversary this year with a stellar line-up of performers that includes a number of Nonesuch artists—Carolina Chocolate Drops, Randy Newman, Emmylou Harris, and T Bone Burnett—along with several artists familiar to fans of Nonesuch. The festival will be held October 1–3.