Punch Brothers’ T Bone Burnett–produced new album, The Phosphorescent Blues. The album "shows off their eclectic sound," says NPR's Morning Edition. "The album mixes chamber-music intricacy, improvisational flash, lump-in-throat balladry, and a puckish Debussy cover," says the Boston Globe. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune says the new album features "some choral harmonies that are somewhere between the Beach Boys and heaven." The CBC calls the album "triumphant." "Listening to the Punch Brothers is an exercise in wonder," says the Irish Times. "The playing and harmonies are breathtaking. Enjoy." The Herald Scotland calls it "a quite masterly collection from a quintet of virtuosi."

New York Live Arts has announced the schedule of its 2015 Live Ideas festival, S K Y - Force and Wisdom in America Today, taking place April 15–19. Curated by Laurie Anderson in conjunction with New York Live Arts' Artistic Director Bill T. Jones, the 2015 Live Ideas festival combines the arts and social issues to creatively question the direction of modern culture. The festival presents more than 25 events via an array of music, dance, poetry, film, discussion, and a late-night lounge, featuring Anderson among others, as well as the work of artists including Lou Reed, Julian Schnabel, John Cage, and Arvo Pärt.

Steve Reich is the subject of a feature-length special on BBC Radio 6 Music's The Tom Robinson Show, for which the composer spoke about his career and his latest work, Radio Rewrite. "His work with repetitive patterns and rhythms has been hugely influential across mainstream as well as experimental music," says the show. NPR Music looks back on the 50th anniversary of one groundbreaking piece: "It's Gonna Rain is just one example of Reich's broad musical lexicon that over five decades has influenced countless musicians in classical, electronic and even popular music."

Tigran Hamasyan, whose new album, Mockroot, is out now in France and coming soon to the rest of the world, recently sat down with Le Figaro in France to discuss the new album and to perform two songs from it—"Kars" and "Lilac"—as well as the Johnny Green tune "Out of Nowhere." You can watch all three performances here. "It's been several years now that Tigran Hamasyan has stood out in the world jazz scene," says Le Figaro, through translation. "For this prodigy, it is not only his technique that is impressive, but the way in which he literally dives into the notes ... whirling his fingers in a breathtaking ballet."

Rhiannon Giddens is the subject of a feature profile in the New York Times. Her forthcoming solo album, Tomorrow Is My Turn, "is a showcase for Ms. Giddens’s glorious voice, which merges an opera singer’s detail and a deep connection to Southern roots," writes Times music critic Jon Pareles. "She can summon the power of a field holler, Celtic quavers, girlish innocence, bluesy sensuality, gospel exaltation or the pain of slavery. She can sing velvety, long-breathed phrases or rasp and yip like a singer from the backwoods long ago. For all her technical control, her voice is a perpetually soulful marvel." The album's producer, T Bone Burnett, tells Pareles she has “a pretty profound gift ... I’ve been doing this for 50 years, and I haven’t seen anything like it."

Punch Brothers take their new album, The Phosphorescent Blues, to the UK, with shows in Glasgow and London ... Olivia Chaney performs in London too ... Rhiannon Giddens is on BBC Radio 4's Loose Ends ... Richard Goode plays Mozart with Milwaukee Symphony ... Gidon Kremer closes out US tour at Carnegie Hall ... Audra McDonald joins Naples Philharmonic in Florida ... Brad Mehldau plays solo in Lisbon ... Conor Oberst plays Todos Santos Music Festival in Mexico ... Joshua Redman tours Germany with WDR Big Band ... 

Due to a serious shoulder injury to Patrick Carney, The Black Keys’ forthcoming European concerts, part of their Turn Blue World Tour, have been cancelled up until March 10. Regrettably, due to prior scheduled commitments and venue availability, efforts to reschedule the original dates were unsuccessful; therefore all tickets will be refunded in full at their point of purchase. At this time, it is not expected that any dates after March 10 will be cancelled.

Pianist Tigran Hamasyan has released a video that goes behind the scenes in the recording studio in Meudon, France, where his new album, Mockroot, was recorded in May of last year. The video shows Hamasyan with his trio—Sam Minaie on electric bass and Arthur Hnatek on drums and live electronics—and vocalist Gayanée Movsisyan as they record the new album. Watch it here.

Rhiannon Giddens has released a new song, her take on the Hank Cochran tune "She's Got You," made famous by Patsy Cline, from her forthcoming debut solo album, Tomorrow Is My Turn. "Patsy Cline is of course the ultimate country singer, and one of the ultimate singers, period," says Giddens. "Hubby Jenkins and I recast this in a sort of old-timey R&B vibe." The track, says Okayplayer, which premiered it, is "buoyed by a slow dragging, burnt sugar bass and horn melody and her spot-on vocal." Listen to the song here and download it now when you pre-order the album.

Contemporary Color, a performance event created by David Byrne inspired by the high school phenomenon of color guard, will be presented in Toronto and Brooklyn this June. Color guard teams from the US and Canada will perform alongside live performances from David Byrne, Nelly Furtado, How to Dress Well, Devonté Hynes, Kelis, Nico Muhly and Ira Glass, St. Vincent, tUnE-yArDs, and more. A co-commission by BAM and Luminato Festival, Contermporary Color promises audiences "the biggest glitter cannon show of your life."

Punch Brothers' new album, The Phosphorescent Blues, is due out next week (with vinyl due February 24). But you don't need to wait till then to hear it. The new album is streaming in full all this week exclusively via Press Play series, "where The New York Times debuts noteworthy new music." The band kicks off a brief tour of Ireland and the UK this week; the US tour starts February 20.

In the "excellent" Nonesuch release of Nico Muhly’s opera Two Boys, recorded live at the Metropolitan Opera, the piece “emerges quite wonderfully, confirming the arrival on the operatic scene of a mature and striking new compositional voice,” raves Opera magazine. “The opera is a work of great insight and compassion, with principal themes that loom large in the modern world,” says the magazine. “The eclectic score is deeply affecting … [Muhly’s] lyrical gifts glow brightly … The choral writing is marvelous; most memorably, the chorale that closes the opera leads the music onto an exquisitely rarefied plain.” The review concludes: “the CD is very strongly recommended.”