Rhiannon Giddens kicks off her 2016 tour with three weeks in Europe, starting at Handelsbeurs in Gent, Belgium, tonight. The tour continues with stops in Cologne, Berlin, Amsterdam, and Paris, before heading to the UK for Celtic Connections in Glasgow. She then joins artists from both sides of the Atlantic for the Transatlantic Sessions tour across the UK, including a sold-out show at London's Royal Festival Hall. Giddens returns to the US in February to perform Swimming in Dark Waters: Other Voices of the American Experience with Leyla McCalla and Bhi Bhiman in several cities, and takes her solo tour to Japan and Australia in March.

The line-up for the 2016 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, aka Jazz Fest, has been announced, and included among this year's performers are Rhiannon Giddens (April 24) and Punch Brothers (May 1). Jazz Fest runs over seven days across two weekends, April 22–24 and April 28–May 1. The festival will pay tribute to one of the Crescent City's favorite sons, Allen Toussaint, hosted by the Allen Toussaint Band with special guests.

Joshua Redman's six-night residency with Still Dreaming at NYC's Jazz Standard runs through the weekend … Timo Andres premieres new work in Washington, DC … Olivia Chaney performs at Celtic Connections in Glasgow … Jeremy Denk is in California for three concerts with San Diego Symphony … Richard Goode plays solo piano in France … Audra McDonald gives two rare performances in London … and more …

Audra McDonald will bring her Tony Award-winning portrayal of Billie Holiday in Lanie Robertson's musical play Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill to London, making her West End Debut with a nine-week run at Wyndham's Theatre starting June 25, 2016. "London is my second favourite city in the world, and I've always wanted to perform in the West End," McDonald tells the Daily Mail. "I'm just so tickled that it’s finally coming together; and I'm especially thrilled that it’s this particular project." HBO's own presentation of Audra McDonald in Lady Day will premiere on March 12. She performs two concerts in London this Sunday and returns to Broadway this spring in Shuffle Along.

The first recording of composer Henryk Górecki's final work, Symphony No. 4, Tansman Episodes, is out next Friday, January 22, on Nonesuch Records. But you don't need to wait till then to hear it: the album is streaming in full here as an NPR First Listen. "It's an intriguing summation of the sounds of a singular career," says NPR.

Over the past week, the Nonesuch Journal has posted a series of videos leading to the January 22 release of the seven-disc box set Henryk Górecki: A Nonesuch Retrospective, the first recording of the his Symphony No. 4, and the first vinyl LP of the beloved 1992 Nonesuch recording of his Symphony No. 3. The previous videos include interviews with the late composer; his son Mikolaj, who completed his father’s Fourth Symphony; Adrian Thomas, who wrote the liner notes; and conductor Andrey Boreyko, who led the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s premiere and recording of Symphony No. 4. Today comes the final in this series of videos: an excerpt from the premiere performance of Symphony No. 4. Watch it here.

Composer Louis Andriessen's six decades of music-making will be celebrated at the Barbican Centre in London with Andriessen: M is for Man, Music & Mystery, a series of concerts, held in Barbican Hall and at Milton Court Concert Hall, February 9–13, 2016. The series features performances of works by Andriessen, including La Commedia, De Stijl, and Rosa's Horses, as well as a conversation with the composer about his life and music.

Shye Ben Tzur, Jonny Greenwood, and the Rajasthan Express, who came together in Jodhpur, India, last year to record the album Junun, will reunite to perform the album in its entirety in the UK for the first time, at Barbican Hall in London on March 11, 2016. Tickets go on sale to Barbican members on Thursday, January 14, and to the general public on Friday, January 15.

Natalie Merchant recently stopped by the NPR studios in Washington, DC, to perform a Tiny Desk Concert for Bob Boilen and the staff at NPR and NPR Music. The intimate set included "Cowboy Romance," from her recent album Paradise Is There: The New Tigerlily Recordings; "Texas," from her 2014 self-titled record; the title song to her album Motherland; and "Weeping Pilgrim," a Protestant hymn covered on The House Carpenter’s Daughter. For that last song, Merchant led the NPR staff in a sing-along for which Boilen suggests viewers "have a tissue handy." See why in the Tiny Desk Concert here. Merchant will join Rolling Stone's Anthony DeCurtis in conversation at NYC's 92nd Street Y on February 10 and tours the US and Europe in March.

The five-part series celebrating the January 22 release of Henryk Górecki: A Nonesuch Retrospective and the first recording of the late composer's final work, Symphony No. 4, Tansman Episodes, continues. Today, we hear from conductor Andrey Boreyko, who led the London Philharmonic Orchestra in the premiere performance and Nonesuch recording of the new piece. "I hear these chorales bringing a very special atmosphere of concentrating on one’s own life," says Boreyko, "the lives of other people, things that happened, the meaning of it all, the afterlife, is there a light at the end of the tunnel or isn’t there? I believe this symphony as a whole is trying to answer this question as well." Watch the interview here.

The New Orleans City Council has passed a resolution officially declaring Allen Toussaint's birthday, January 14, as Allen Toussaint Day in the City of New Orleans. The resolution was signed by all councilmembers and presented before Toussaint's family and friends. "Our artists and musicians are our ambassadors, as their talents, hard work, and genius creates the culture for which we are internationally known," said New Orleans Councilmember Susan G. Guidry. "Allen served our city as one of our finest ambassadors."

Rhiannon Giddens was the subject of a feature profile on CBS Sunday Morning, looking at her life in music, as a founding member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops; following her show-stopping performance at the Another Day, Another Time concert; and since the release of her Grammy-nominated solo debut album, Tomorrow Is My Turn. "How often can you witness a moment that changes a career?" says Sunday Morning's Martha Teichner of the concert. "Giddens was like a musical explosion onstage. What happened next was like an explosion in her life." Watch it here.