With the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games just two weeks away, on July 27, Olympic fever has already begun for fans of the quadrennial event, not least in the UK with the recent launch of the Cultural Olympiad's London 2012 Festival. Kronos Quartet joins in the festivities this weekend with a performance of Terry Riley's Sun Rings in the Centre Hall of the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, Scotland, on Sunday. (The concert, scheduled to be performed outside at Glasgow's Riverside Museum, has been moved indoors due to weather concerns.) Kronos and the National Chamber Choir of Ireland perform the piece, which also includes pre-recorded spacescapes and a projected film featuring images of solar flares and close-ups of the planets.

Kronos Quartet continues its participation in the London 2012 Festival next weekend with two outdoor performances at Battersea Park as part of BT River of Music, a once-in-a-lifetime weekend of free music at landmarks along the River Thames. Just days later, on July 24, the Quartet makes its debut at BBC Proms.

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There's no shortage of festival fun in the UK this weekend, with Punch Brothers performing at three of them: in the Latitude Festival's Obelisk Arena at Southwold's Henham Park this afternoon, Larmer Tree Festival in Wiltshire on Saturday, and Hard Rock Calling in London on Sunday.

The band is in good company at the Latitude Festival, with Amadou & Mariam also performing in the Obelisk Arena tonight; Fatoumata Diawara in the World Arena this afternoon; and Lianne La Havas in the World Arena Saturday afternoon; not to mention Omara Portuondo singing with the Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club in the World Arena Sunday night.

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Saturday marks what would have been Woody Guthrie's 100th birthday. Billy Bragg, who, with Wilco, put music to the folk legend's words on the acclaimed Mermaid Avenue albums, closes out his North American tour with the centennial celebrations this weekend.

Bragg plays the final show of the three-night WoodyFest hosted by Steve Earle at City Winery in New York City tonight; also performing are Amy Helm and Joe Purdy. On Saturday, the birthday celebration moves to Coney Island for a screening of the Mermaid Avenue documentary Man in the Sand at the Coney Island Museum, after which Bragg signs CDs. He then joins Earle for a short concert on the boardwalk before a free outdoor screening of the Guthrie biopic Bound for Glory.

Bragg closes out the weekend and his North American tour with a performance at the Avalon Theatre in Easton, Maryland, on Sunday.

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The Carolina Chocolate Drops spend the weekend in the South, performing at the Handlebar in Greenville, South Carolina, tonight; the Historic Cove Creek School in Sugar Grove, North Carolina, for the 15th annual MusicFest n' Sugar Grove on Saturday; and the Paramount Center for the Arts in Bristol, Tennessee, on Sunday.

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Shawn Colvin is the guest on NPR's World Cafe today. She talks about her new memoir, Diamond in the Rough, and performs songs from her latest album, All Fall Down, joined by Buddy Miller,the album's producer, and bassist Viktor Krauss, who also performs on the album.

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Dr. John closes out the Continental leg of his European tour with two festival sets this weekend: at Jazz Open in Stuttgart, Germany, tonight and Cahors Blues Festival in France on Sunday. Dr. John heads next to the UK and Ireland for shows through the end of the month.

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k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang continue their North American tour with a performance in Reynolds Hall at the Smith Center for the Performing Arts in Las Vegas, Nevada, tonight. lang and the band are part of the Smith Center's inaugural season.

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The Low Anthem performs at Wenkenpark Riehen in Lörrach, Germany, on Saturday as part of the Stimmen Festival.

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The Brad Mehldau Trio continues its tour of Italy with performances at Arena del Castello in Barletta for the Barletta Jazz Festival tonight and at the Taetro dei Ruderi in Cirella on Saturday.

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The Pat Metheny Unity Band—Chris Potter on sax and bass clarinet, Antonio Sanchez on drums, and Ben Williams on bass—performs at Cava Degli Umbri in the republic of San Marino for the San Marino Jazz Festival tonight followed by two concerts in Italy, at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome on Saturday and at the Bard Fortress in Bard on Sunday.

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Joshua Redman has joined The Bad Plus as special guest on a tour of Europe that lands in Italy this weekend, with concerts at Casa del Jazz in Rome tonight, Arena del Castello in Barletta on Saturday, and Stadio San Vito di Cosenza in Cosenza for the Peperoncino Jazz Fest on Sunday.

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Stephen Sondheim has hit the road for two events out West this weekend featuring conversations about his life in the theatre paired with illustrative performances by Christine Ebersole and Brian Stokes Mitchell: at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa, California, tonight, and the Smith Center for the Performing Arts' Reynolds Hall in Las Vegas on Saturday.

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As noted earlier today in the Nonesuch Journal, Sara Watkins joins A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles tonight for the program's final show of the season, to be broadcast on public radio stations across the US starting Saturday, streaming online at prairiehome.org. She then begins a months-long tour as special guest of Jackson Browne at the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center's Belk Theater in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Saturday, and at the North Charleston Performing Arts Center in Charleston, South Carolina, on Sunday.