The first recording of John Adams’ 2017 opera, Girls of the Golden West, is out now on Nonesuch. It tells the story of the California Gold Rush not through familiar time-worn myth, but in the words and deeds of real people. Longtime Adams collaborator Peter Sellars drew from original sources from the era—letters, journals, newspaper articles, and familiar song lyrics—to create the libretto. The composer leads the LA Phil in this recording made in Disney Hall, with the Los Angeles Master Chorale led by Grant Gershon and a cast featuring Davóne Tines, Julia Bullock, Paul Appleby, Hye Jung Lee, Elliot Madore, Daniela Mack, and Ryan McKinny.

The Library of Congress has acquired the collection of manuscripts, instruments, costumes, video and audio recordings, and more from Kronos Quartet and its non-profit organization, Kronos Performing Arts Association. “It’s gratifying to know that Kronos’ legacy will be preserved in perpetuity alongside the manuscripts and other treasures of so many other influential musicians from the US and around the world," said KPAA Executive Director Janet Cowperthwaite. "We are perhaps even more excited to reflect upon all the musicians and scholars who will have access to these materials in years to come, informing their own work and carrying Kronos’ inspiration and influence into the future.” The Library also appointed Kronos founder, artistic director, and violinist David Harrington as the Kluge Chair in Modern Culture and inducted Kronos’ 1992 album Pieces of Africa into the National Recording Registry.

John Adams's El Niño gets Met premiere in NYC with Julia Bullock and Davóne Tines. Sam Amidon and Nico Muhly are in London. Joachim Cooder tours Ireland. Rhiannon Giddens tours Arizona. Hurray for the Riff Raff performs at New Orleans Jazz Fest, as do Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, who also play in Alabama and Memphis. Nathalie Joachim joins Silkroad Ensemble at Oberlin. Kronos Quartet is at UCSB and UCLA. The Magnetic Fields perform 69 Love Songs in San Francisco. Mandy Patinkin is in Charlottesville, VA. Cécile McLorin Salvant tours France with orchestral arrangements by Darcy James Argue. Sarah Kirkland Snider's Mass for the Endangered is performed in Austin.

Vagabon (aka Laetitia Tamko) will support the band Crumb on tour this October. The shows begin in California—Santa Cruz, Oakland, and Sacramento—then head to Salt Lake City and Denver and on to Texas—Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, and El Paso—and Albuquerque and back to California to close out the tour in Santa Ana, San Diego, and Los Angeles.

The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, who kick off their International Players tour in Manchester, England, on Saturday, are on Sound Opinions to talk about their new album, Ohio Players, with hosts Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot, who call them "one of the greatest rock acts to emerge in the 21st century." You can hear their conversation here. The hosts also review Hurray for the Riff Raff's new album, The Past Is Still Alive, calling it "one great tune after another."

Composer/guitarist Yasmin Williams—whose first song on Nonesuch, "Dawning," was released late last year ahead of her label debut album, due later this year—will support Brittany Howard and Michael Kiwanuka on their North American fall tour. The shows begin at The Met in Philadelphia on September 29, and include stops in Boston, New York, Saint Paul, Denver, Boise, Portland, Vancouver, Seattle, Berkeley, Los Angeles, and more.

The Staves' Jessica and Camilla Stavely-Taylor stopped by for the Nonesuch Selects video series, in which artists visit the Nonesuch office, pick some of their favorite albums from the music library, and share a few words on their choices. They chose music by The Gipsy Kings, Emmylou Harris, Joachim Cooder, Steve Reich, and Nickel Creek. You can watch it here.

Rhiannon Giddens takes her You're the One tour to Seattle and San Francisco, while The Martha Graham Dance Company dances to songs from the album in NYC. Richard Goode performs Beethoven in Toronto. The Magnetic Fields play 69 Love Songs in Chicago. Mandy Patinkin is in St. Paul. Cécile McLorin Salvant and orchestra perform at Cité de la musique in Paris. Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Mass for the Endangered is performed in Chicago ahead of Earth Day. The Staves launch West Coast tour in Seattle and Portland. Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway are in North Carolina, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.

Following more than a dozen sold-out shows across the US this spring, Hurray for the Riff Raff (aka Alynda Segarra) has announced a US summer tour. Beginning in early July, a new leg of headline dates will stop in cities that have yet to experience the live show of The Past Is Still Alive, the acclaimed album that has Vulture calling Segarra “one of America’s best songwriters." Upcoming performances also include Hurray for the Riff Raff’s Red Rocks debut and other amphitheater appearances with Norah Jones, as well as a homecoming set at New Orleans Jazz Festival, a return to NYC for a free concert in Battery Park, and more to be announced.

The Black Keys have secured the No. 1 Current Rock Album and No. 1 Current Alternative Album in US sales following the release of their new album, Ohio Players, last week. The album also is the highest debut of the week on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums Chart and Top Alternative Albums Chart, at No. 5 on both charts, and has reached No. 4 on Overall Current Album sales and No. 26 on the Billboard 200. Internationally, Ohio Players is the band’s sixth consecutive top 20 album in the UK, as well as top 20 in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand, and Switzerland, among others. 

Congratulations to Kronos Quartet, whose acclaimed 1992 Nonesuch album Pieces of Africa has been named one of twenty-five recordings to be inducted into the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress for 2024. "It planted a seed for our work," Kronos founder and violinist David Harrington says of the album. "It's flowered so beautifully."

Kronos Quartet has announced its ninth-annual Kronos Festival, to take place at SFJAZZ Center, June 20–23, 2024. The festival marks the ensemble’s milestone 50th Anniversary year and the farewell performances of John Sherba and Hank Dutt, members of Kronos Quartet for more than 45 years. It will feature a slate of world and Bay Area premieres commissioned as part of the KRONOS Five Decades season; several guest artists; and the final performance of A Thousand Thoughts, a live documentary chronicling the quartet’s career, written and directed by Sam Green and Joe Bini.