It's no surprise that Nonesuch artists would make a point to include the great city of Chicago on their performance schedule. But what is unusual is just how many of them just happen to be performing there on the very same night. This Sunday, the city will play host to four sets of Nonesuch artists: The Low Anthem will be at Chicago's House of Blues with the Avett Brothers; The Magnetic Fields will play the first of two shows at the Harris Theater in Millennium Park; native son Mandy Patinkin concludes his residency with Patti Lupone at the Cadillac Palace Theatre; and Punch Brothers are at Old Town School of Folk Music. The Carolina Chocolate Drops, who performed at Schubas last weekend, will be about a 90-minute drive from the Windy City for a show in Rockford, Illinois, Sunday night.

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The Magnetic Fields play three shows in the Midwest this weekend, starting at the Buskirk Chumley Theater in Bloomington, Indiana, tonight, followed by The Pageant in St. Louis on Saturday, and the first of two shows at the Harris Theater in Chicago's Millennium Park on Sunday.

Time Out Chicago picks the Harris Theater shows as this week's "Top Live Show." Time Out's Doyle Armbrust says that the band's latest Nonesuch release, Realism, "reaffirms [Stephin Merritt] as a wickedly talented wordsmith."

Following The Magnetic Fields performance in Los Angeles earlier this week, the Orange County Register's Ben Wener wrote: "The sheer pleasure of following along to his character studies—as carefully and efficiently constructed as the finest Randy Newman—was much of what made the Magnetic Fields’ performance Tuesday night at the Wilshire Ebell so engaging."

Last night, the band performed at Milwaukee's Pabst Theater, which proved to be "a case of the right band for the right venue," says the A.V. Club's Matt Wild, "a perfect synthesis of style, aesthetics, and off-kilter sensibilities. Singer-songwriter Stephin Merritt’s ornate, theatrical chamber-pop seemed at times custom built for the Pabst’s elegant charm." Ultimately, "the night was an unqualified success."

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As reported earlier in the Nonesuch Journal, John Adams returns to the Barbican in London this weekend for the hall's John Adams Focus series. He introduces a special screening of the documentary Wonders Are Many, about the making of Doctor Atomic, Sunday afternoon at the Barbican's Cinema 3, followed by the UK premiere of Doctor Atomic Symphony, with the composer leading the London Symphony Orchestra.

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Laurie Anderson, NASA's first and as yet only artist-in-residence talks with novelist and Barnard College professor of physics and astronomy Janna Levin in a sold-out event at New York's Rubin Museum of Art. The event, part of the museum's Brainwave series, is titled "How Did the Universe Get Its Spots?"

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Vinicio Capossela launches a weeklong tour of North America with two nights at New York City's Poisson Rouge, tonight and Saturday. For tonight's tour opener, he welcomes Marc Ribot and Frank London to the share the stage with him. One of Italy’s most celebrated and best-selling artists, Capossela releases his latest album, The Story-Faced Man, now available digitally from the Nonesuch Store. This compendium offers American audiences an introduction to the music of the man described by the Sunday Times as "Italy’s greatest rock star" and by Mojo as "Italy’s most intriguing musical traveler."

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The Carolina Chocolate Drops continue their tour of the American Midwest with stops at the Mayo Civic Center's Presentation Hall in Rochester, Minnesota, Saturday night, and Big Cities Lounge in Rockford, Illinois, on Sunday. The band appeared on the BBC World Service's The Strand for an interview and performance that can be heard online at bbc.co.uk. The band's segment begins at at 19 minutes in.

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Christina Courtin concludes her two-week tour with Mike Doughty with two shows in California this weekend: tonight at Soho in Santa Barbara and Saturday at Slim's in San Francisco. Christina stays on in California for a Sunday-night "house concert" at The Roost in Carmel. She heads next to Texas for appearances at the NX35 Music Conferette and SXSW.

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Bill Frisell and his trio, featuring Rudy Royston and Eyvind Kang, is in Massachusetts for the next few days, beginning in Boston, where they'll play four sets over two nights, tonight and Saturday, at Scullers Jazz Club. On Sunday, the group heads to Fall River to play the Narrows Center for the Arts.

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There are just a few days left on The Low Anthem's tour with the Avett Brothers, after which the Rhode Island quartet will branch out on its own headlining tour. Before then, there are three shows with the Avetts: tonight at First Avenue in Minneapolis, Saturday at the Riverside Theater in Milwaukee, and Sunday at the House of Blues Chicago.

"Whatever you call it, it works," says On Milwaukee's Bobby Tanzilo of the music on the band's hard-to-define Nonesuch debut album. "Oh My God, Charlie Darwin is one of the best records of 2009."

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Natalie Merchant will be among the judges of the New York state finals in the Poetry Out Loud recitation contest, which encourages high school students to memorize and perform poetry. The finals will be held at The Linda in Albany Saturday afternoon. On her forthcoming Nonesuch debut, Leave Your Sleep, Merchant sets the works of poets like Edward Lear, Ogden Nash, and Robert Graves to music.

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Pat Metheny continues his European Orchestrion tour with performances at the Philharmonie in Köln, Germany, Saturday, and at the Grand Auditorium in Luxembourg on Sunday.

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Mandy Patinkin and Patti Lupone continue their residency at the Cadillac Palace Theatre in Chicago with performances of An Evening with Patti Lupone and Mandy Patinkin all through the weekend. Up next for Patinkin are the two sold-out concerts celebrating Stephen Sondheim's 80th birthday at Lincoln Center on March 15 and 16, which also feature Audra McDonald.

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Punch Brothers play two shows in Wisconsin before Sunday night's show at Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music. Tonight, they're at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee, and on Saturday, it's the Center for the Arts Concert Hall in Platteville.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Jon M. Gilbertson describes Punch, the band's 2008 Nonesuch debut, as "a layered and complex Americana work." Previewing tonight's show, Gilbertson says, "Live, Punch Brothers can be just as warmly unpredictable, throwing in covers of unlikely bands such as the Strokes and Radiohead."

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Joshua Redman and his trio, featuring Reuben Rogers on bass and Bill Stewart on drums, perform at the Luckman Theatre at CalState in Los Angeles Saturday night. LA Weekly's Brick Wahl includes the show among "Brick's Picks" of shows, describing Redman as "a great sax player and never dull."

Redman helped kick off the SFJAZZ spring season with an intimate solo performance at San Francisco's Grace Cathedral last weekend. San Jose Mercury News reviewer Richard Scheinin insists that "people will be talking about Friday's sold-out concert for years to come." He reports that it "was at once dramatic, almost theatrical, but also personal—and good entertainment."

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With his 80th birthday approaching later this month, Stephen Sondheim continues his series of on-stage conversations about his life and career. Tonight, he'll speak with Rohan Preston and Graydon Royce of the Minneapolis Star Tribune at that city's State Theatre.

Further bolstering the Nonesuch presence in Chicago, Sondheim was there just last night, joining Chicago director Gary Griffin for a conversation from the stage of the Harris Theater. Over the course of the evening, the composer showed he "has a steel trap for a mind," reports the Chicago Tribune's Chris Jones, "and, just weeks away from his 80th birthday, enjoys near perfect recollection of his every moment in the Broadway theater."

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Allen Toussaint follows last night's performance with New Orleans band Galatic on Jimmy Kimmel Live with two solo piano sets at Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz tonight. He returns to Los Angeles on Saturday for a special double bill with the Blind Boys of Alabama at Royce Hall.

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Sara Watkins performs at Clemens Fine Arts Center in Paducah, Kentucky.