John Adams led the National Symphony Orchestra and bass-baritone Eric Owens in the first of three performances of his 1989 piece The Wound-Dresser at The Kennedy Center last night. Also on the program were works by Barber and Elgar, plus Copland's Suite from Billy the Kid. Performances continue tonight and Saturday, with post-concert signings of Adams's 2008 memoir, Hallelujah Junction: Composing an American Life, both days. It's all a part of John Adams: Perspectives, The Kennedy Center's two-week celebration of Adams's music.

Before tonight's concert, in the Whittall Pavilion of the Library of Congress's Thomas Jefferson Building, Adams will read from Hallelujah Junction, followed by a Q+A session, today at noon. The event is free and open to the public.

On Saturday, The Kennedy Center presents a free screening of the 2000 film John Adams: A Portrait, which combines concert footage of Nixon in China and El Niño, excerpts from the film adaptation of The Death of Klinghoffer, and interviews and commentary from director Peter Sellars, conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, and Adams himself.

For more on these and other events of John Adams: Perspectives, visit kennedy-center.org.

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Laurie Anderson is in Poland this weekend for the CODES Festival of Traditional and Avant-Garde Music. Saturday morning, she participates in a discussion of her work and answers questions from students at the Faculty of Humanities MCSU. That night, Anderson joins John Zorn for a concert of Improvisations in the courtyard of Lublin Castle. Lou Reed, who was scheduled to perform with Anderson and Zorn, will not be able to attend; bassist Bill Laswell will perform instead.

Voting has begun in the Indaba Music remix contest for "Only an Expert," off Anderson's forthcoming Nonesuch release, Homeland. To listen to the submissions and pick your favorite, visit indabamusic.com/remixla.

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The Black Keys are performing a free show somewhere in New York City on Saturday. It's being presented by KIN, the new phone from Microsoft, and will take place at an as-yet undisclosed location in the city's Tribeca neighborhood. For more information as it becomes available, follow the band's Twitter feed at twitter.com/blackkeysnews.
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The Carolina Chocolate Drops are back in their home state of North Carolina today for a concert at The Orange Peel in Asheville. Before tonight's show, the trio will stop by Harvest Records for a free in-store performance and CD signing, kicking off at 3 PM. On Sunday, the band will perform at the Bijou Theatre in Knoxville, Tennessee, in a benefit for the city's Joy of Music School.

The Asheville Citizen-Times previews tonight's show at The Orange Peel with an interview with band member Justin Robinson. The paper calls the Carolina Chocolate Drops' Nonesuch debut album, Genuine Negro Jig, "a show stopper that has turned heads around the world, incorporating everything from the blues and string band music to contemporary rock 'n' roll." The record is due out on vinyl June 29 and is available for pre-order in the Nonesuch Store.

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Bill Frisell concludes his two-week residency at New York's Village Vanguard with performances through Sunday. This week's shows feature the 858 Quartet, with Hank Roberts on cello and Eyvind Kang and Jenny Scheinman on violin.

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It's Philip Glass Weekend at the Muziekgebouw Frits Philips in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Philip Glass and the Philip Glass Ensemble perform his score to the film Koyaanisqatsi in the Eindhoven Airport Zaal there Saturday night. And on Sunday, they perform his Music in 12 Parts.

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Richard Goode is on tour in Europe this month. On Saturday, he performs works by Bach, Chopin, and Schubert at Philharmonic Hall in Liverpool, England.

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Kronos Quartet continues its European tour with a performance at Tivoli Concert Hall in Copenhagen on Saturday. The program includes works by Ramallah Underground, Aleksandra Vrebalov, Bryce Dessner, Sigur Rós, Michael Gordon, and others.

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Brad Mehldau and Joshua Redman close out their duo tour of Europe this weekend. Tonight, they'll play the second of two consecutive nights at Ancienne Belgique in Belgium. On Saturday, they head over to Coutances, France, for the Festival Jazz Sous les Pommiers, and then to the Stadtcasino in Basel, Switzerland, on Sunday for the tour closer.

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Natalie Merchant began her European tour earlier this week with stops in Brussels, Amsterdam, and Cologne. She continues through Germany this weekend with stops at Übel und Gefährlich in Hamburg, tonight, and Admiralspalast Studio in Berlin on Saturday. Following performances in Munich and Paris next week, Merchant takes the show to London for the start of the UK leg of the tour next weekend.

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There's just over one week left on the North American leg of Pat Metheny's whirlwind Orchestrion tour, before Metheny and his stageful of instruments head to South Korea and Japan in June. This weekend, the tour heads to the Music Hall in Detroit tonight; the Palace Theater in Loraine, Ohio, on Saturday; and the Bardavon Theatre in Poughkeepsie, New York, on Sunday.

Detroit Free Press columnist Mark Stryker describes Metheny's latest project as "remarkable" with "a sweeping palette for his inventive improvisations. It's a technological miracle of sorts, though what's more impressive is that the results sound so musical and so quintessentially Metheny."

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Randy Newman plays the last of his European shows on the Continent at Oosterpoort in Groningen, Netherlands, Saturday night. On Sunday, he plays the first of his three UK shows at the Sage Gateshead. The two final shows follow next week at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall and London's Royal Festival Hall. Ahead of the Glasgow show, BBC Radio Scotland's Ricky Ross celebrates Newman's music on tonight's program, starting at 8 PM. You can listen online at bbc.co.uk.

The Irish Times, reviewing Newman's recent show at the Grand Canal Theatre in Dublin describes his songs as "models of songwriting and storytelling craft. It is this ability to operate on the edge that makes Newman such a remarkable artist." Reviewer Joe Breen writes: "Newman’s sharp, challenging observations on religion, relationships, racism, power, politics and history continue to have great resonance and, judging by their reception in Dublin, are still capable of making us laugh, perhaps think—and maybe even cry a little inside." Read the complete concert review at irishtimes.com.

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New Orleans native Allen Toussaint performs at Gulf Aid, a benefit concert to raise funds for wetland recovery efforts and to support fishermen and families affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Also scheduled to perform at this Sunday's all-day event are Lenny Kravitz, John Legend, Mos Def, Dr. John, and many others. It will be broadcast on New Orleans radio station WWOZ 90.7 FM, online at wwoz.org.

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Dawn Upshaw makes her Edmonton Symphony Orchestra debut Saturday night in the Winspear Centre's Enmax Hall, singing Osvaldo Golijov’s Three Songs, and his adaptation of four songs by Schubert, all written expressly for her. Also on the program is Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4.