Randy Newman performs at The Sheldon in St. Louis, Missouri, tonight, for the Friends of The Sheldon's Winter Friends' Benefit concert. Proceeds from the event benefit Sheldon Educational Programs, which serve over 20,000 St. Louis area students each year. Newman then performs at Park West in Chicago Saturday night.

On Sunday, Newman hits the red carpet at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood for the 83rd Academy Awards. He'll perform his song “We Belong Together” from the film Toy Story 3. It's his 20th Oscar nomination and could be his second win. "I've been around celebrities all my life," Newman tells USA Today, "but I can tell you it's always a helluva night and I'm glad to be there." True Grit, the new film from the Coen brothers, featuring a score by Carter burwell, is up for 10 awards. Tune in on ABC Sunday night at 8 PM to see how it all plays out.

The Chicago Sun-Times calls Newman "the musical equivalent of Stephen Colbert." The Chicago Reader calls him "a composer of vast stylistic knowledge and sophistication as well as a lyricist of blistering wit and honesty." The Minneapolis Star Tribune described his recent gig in that city's Guthrie Theater as "thoughtful, often hilarious and quite satisfying."

Speaking with the Lexington Herald Leader's Walter Tunis in advance of his performance this week at the Lexington Opera House, Newman gave some insight on his concert set and his forthcoming Nonesuch release, his Songbook, Vol. 2, featuring solo-piano reworkings of his songs, due out on Nonesuch in May.

"By working with these songs for so long, I tend to see them a little differently at times," Newman tells Tunis. "On the new album, they are presented in the way I wrote them. (Producer) Mitchell Froom was incredibly helpful. Being a producer means being part psychologist, you know. He was great for morale."

Read more at kentucky.com.

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John Adams’s Doctor Atomic Symphony receives its Canadian premiere in a concert by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, led by conductor Bramwell Tovey, at the Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver, British Columbia, Saturday night. Drawn from Adams’ 2005 opera, Doctor Atomic, the works revolves around the test of the first atomic bomb. Also on the program are Haydn's Symphony No. 101 and Mahler's Symphony No. 10. The VSO will give an encore performance Monday night.

Some 4,300 kilometers away, the Canadian Opera Company's production of Adams's Nixon in China comes to a close with a final performance at the Four Seasons Centre in Toronto Saturday night.

And in Europe, Adams's Chamber Symphony will share a bill with Steve Reich's Tehillim in a concert by the Ensemble intercontemporain and Synergy Vocals at Cité de la Musique's Salle des Concerts in Paris tonight.

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Sérgio & Odair Assad perform their new Concerto for Two Guitars with the Seattle Symphony at Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Washington, tonight.

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The Carolina Chocolate Drops perform a sold-out show at the Jefferson Theater in Charlottesville, Virginia, tonight.

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Shawn Colvin plays two sets at the Williamsburg Lodge in Williamsburg, Virginia, tonight.

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Ben Folds brings the UK leg of his European Lonely Avenue tour to a close with shows at two different O2 Academy venues this weekend: in Glasgow, Scotland, tonight, and Sheffield, England, on Saturday. Folds and his band hit the Continent starting next week. As noted earlier today in the Nonesuch Journal, the Independent gave his London show a perfect five stars, exclaiming: "It's an absolute joy to watch someone so gifted perform."

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Wanda Jackson plays a concert at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC, tonight, and then heads west to Texas to perform at The Kessler in Dallas on Saturday. The Philadelpha Inquirer says her tour opener at Philadelphia's World Cafe Live earlier this week was a "vibrant show."

The Queen or Rock is featured in an article and slideshow in T, the New York Times fashion magazine. "Long may she reign," says Times writer Horacio Silva. See photos of the fashion icon and read the article at tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com.

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The Low Anthem kicked off a short winter tour behind this week's release of their new album, Smart Flesh, with a sold-out show at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in Washington, DC, last night broadcast live online and now available to download at npr.org.

Up next are two performances in Pennsylvania: at the First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia tonight, a Philadelphia Inquirer Critics' Pick, and then another sold-out concert at the Brillobox in Pittsburgh on Saturday, with Bobby and Daniel Lefkowitz supporting both shows. The Low Anthem heads to Charleston, West Virginia, on Sunday to perform at the Charleston Civic Center for Mountain Stage with Lucinda Williams, Red Horse, Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion, and Ivan & Alyosha.

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Jessica Lea Mayfield will be the musical guest on the Late Show with David Letterman tonight, performing "Our Hearts Are Wrong," off her Nonesuch debut album, Tell Me. Also on tonight's show are Glee's Matthew Morrison and comedian Jeff Altman. Tune in on CBS starting at 11:35 PM ET.

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Brad Mehldau and mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter play the last in a short tour of duo shows together this weekend: at Koerner Concert Hall at the Royal Conservatory in Toronto, Ontario, tonight, and at Duke University's Reynolds Theater on Sunday. The tour features the expanded version of Mehldau's Love Songs, as well as works by Brahms, Fauré, Lennon & McCartney, Sibelius and Strauss.

The Washington Post, previewing Mehldau's forthcoming free concert at the Library of Congress, says of the pianist/composer's recently released 2CD+DVD solo album Live in Marciac: "This is about creating two simultaneous improvisations that push against
each other and then close in embrace. The effect is thrilling."

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Fernando Otero and his Electric Quintet conclude their month-long residency at Nublu in New York City with a final performance Saturday night.

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Joshua Redman and his Quartet, featuring Aaron Goldberg, Matt Penman, and Eric Harland, perform at the Newmark Theatre in Portland, Oregon, Sunday night. It's part of the PDX Jazz Festival's Bridges and Boundaries series theme titled Jewish & African Americans Playing Jazz Together.

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Chris Thile performs his his Mandolin Concerto with the Great Falls Symphony and conductor Gordon J. Johnson at the Mansfield Theatre in Great Falls, Montana, on Saturday. Also on the program is Tchaikovsky' Sleeping Beauty Suite.

"He's just got a lot of different skills that have to be marveled at," Johnson tells the Great Falls Tribune. "As a songwriter, he writes lyrics for a lot of his songs that are interesting and thought-provoking. He's also an amazing composer, and we're not just talking writing songs. This piece is a concerto in the traditional format, and it's very skillfully crafted not just for mandolin but for the orchestra as well."

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Allen Toussaint's debut appearance on Austin City Limits, which first aired last year and featured songs from his Nonesuch debut album, The Bright Mississippi, will be rebroadcast on PBS stations across the US this weekend, as noted earlier today in the Nonesuch Journal.

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Sara Watkins returns to her hometown and to other familiar grounds when she joins Garrison Keillor and crew for a sold-out live performance of A Prairie Home Companion at the San Diego Civic Theatre Sunday afternoon. The San Diego Union Tribune calls Watkins "a key member of the Prairie Home family." Tune in on your local public radio or streaming online at prairiehome.publicradio.org.