Alarm Will Sound gave the world premiere performance of John Adams's Son of Chamber Symphony last weekend at Stanford University, and the reviews continue to roll in. The San Francisco Chronicle, calls the new piece “vivacious,” writing that it “bursts with the technical prowess and cogent wit of the composer's finest efforts.” The Financial Times points to the group's prowess in pulling off the "dangerously exhilarating" piece with aplomb. The San Jose Mercury News praises "the crackerjack new-music ensemble."

The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures has unveiled the winners of its awards for the best in film for 2007, and on its list of the Top Ten Films of the Year: Sweeney Todd. The film also garnered an award for Best Director, Tim Burton. The awards will be handed out at a special gala event on Tuesday, January 15, in New York City. Congratulations to Tim and the entire Sweeney cast and crew!

Fans of The Wire: Ever wonder how Prop Joe's earliest deals went down? Want to watch the very first McNulty-and-Bunk all-night bender? See Omar's first heist? The show's creator, David Simon, has produced three prequel shorts you can now catch on Amazon.com's page for the newly released fourth-season DVDs. 

Lee's Summit, Missouri, Pat Metheny's hometown, is also the home and inspiration for the new Metheny Music Foundation, which awards scholarships for local high school students to attend the University of Missouri—Kansas City Jazz Improv Camp. On Friday, March 7, the Foundation will hold a fundraising concert at the nearby Unity Village Activities Center featuring student musicians from Lee's Summit schools along with the Pat Metheny Trio and Pat's brother, trumpeter Mike Metheny.

The Palm Springs International Film Festival has announced that Daniel Day-Lewis, star of the upcoming Paul Thomas Anderson film There Will Be Blood, will be presented the Desert Palm Achievement Award at the Festival's January 5 gala event, reports the Palm Springs Desert Sun. The Festival includes screenings of over 200 films as well as special events, seminars, and runs January 3-14.

When Sérgio and Odair Assad joined the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra for two concerts at the Adelaide Guitar Festival in Australia this past weekend, the performance was "one of the most exhilarating on record" for the ASO, according to the Adelaide Advertiser. The program featured Ravel's Rhapsodie Espagnole, which showcased the syncopated rhythms "the Brazilian brothers have in their blood, along with a sense of lyricism rare among their kind." Also on the program were selections from Sérgio's arrangement of Piazzolla's Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, which, complementing the orchestra's strings and winds, was "drawn even further into the Argentinian ambiance by the warmth and clarity of the two guitars."

SFJAZZ has announced the line-up for its ninth annual spring season, and the Brad Mehldau Trio is on the bill. The new season, which runs from March 6 through June 20, includes a performance by Brad and his trio on June 6 at San Francisco's Herbst Theatre June 6. 

Fans of the The Wire residing north of the 49th parallel will be able to catch the show's fifth and final season Sunday, January 6, the same day it debuts on HBO in the US. Viewers in western Canada can tune in on Movie Central at 8 PM PT and those in the eastern part of the country can watch on The Movie Network at 9 PM ET. The soundtrack will be available from Nonesuch two days later.

This holiday season, the Times-Picayune's Chris Waddington is happy to do without yet another mall-music listen to "Jingle Bell Rock." He's listening instead to Sérgio and Odair Assad's new album, Jardim Abandonado, and has added it to his list of gifts to give.

The managing editor of the Onion's A.V. Club, Josh Modell, recently caught a sneak preview of Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood, and while it's not the official A.V. Club review (look for that closer to the film's December 26 release), he had a few fine words on the movie: "[N]ot only did I see the best film of the year—in a walk—but maybe one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. This isn’t the official A.V. Club take ..., but I’d be surprised if any of our crack film reviewers will find it anything less than a masterpiece."

Best Movie of 2007. That's what Roger Friedman of foxnews.com is calling the Tim Burton–directed Sweeney Todd "... without a doubt." He's a longtime fan of the musical and has been a fan of the film from his first look at a critics screening. After last night's premiere, he can confirm that "Everything about it is just perfect ... There were a thousand wrong turns Burton and crew could have taken, but somehow they avoided them. They condensed a complicated three-hour show into a highly entertaining two hours without missing a beat."

Sérgio and Odair Assad recently stopped by the Soundcheck studios at WNYC, New York Public Radio, to perform works off their new album, Jardim Abandonado. New Yorkers can tune in to Soundcheck today at 2 PM EST on 93.9 FM to hear the live performances.