The Staves kicked off a 21-city North American tour with a sold-out show in Seattle last night. This President's Day weekend in the US, the tour continues on the West Coast this weekend with another sold-out set, at Fortune Sound Club in Vancouver tonight, followed by shows at Wonder Ballroom in Portland on Saturday and the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco on Sunday. The concerts continue down the West Coast in the week ahead then move to the South, up to the Northeast, and into Canada in the coming weeks.

The Watford, England–born sisters, now based in Minneapolis—Emily (vocals, synth), Jessica (vocals, guitar, keyboards), and Camilla (vocals, guitar, ukulele) Staveley-Taylor—released two new tracks last week: "Tired As Fuck" and "Train Tracks." You can download the two songs from iTunes and the Nonesuch Store, listen on Spotify and Apple Music, and watch a video for the first track here.

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Composer John Adams turned 70 this week, and his birthday celebrations continue, as the San Francisco Symphony, conducted by Grant Gershon, performs his The Gospel According to the Other Mary at Davies Symphony Hall tonight and Saturday. Adams joins scholars Laura Stanfield Prichard, Sarah Cahill, and Alexandra Amati-Camperi for a pre-concert discussion both nights. The SFS, featuring violin soloist Leila Josefowicz, performs Adams’s Scheherazade.2 next week.

Gramophone celebrated Adams’s milestone birthday with a feature including classic interviews from its archives, listening guides, and a playlist of select recordings from throughout his career. You can find it at gramophone.co.uk.

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Devendra Banhart continues his two-month North American tour of music from his new album, Ape in Pink Marble, with shows at White Oak Music Hall in Houston tonight and Varsity Theatre in Baton Rouge on Saturday, followed by a sold-out show at Terminal West in Atlanta on Monday. Uncut calls the album "excellent," praising Banhart as an “accomplished shaper of moods and atmosphere.”

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Jeremy Denk joins the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Ward Stare, in a performance of Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 at the Eastman Theatre’s Kodak Hall on Saturday. The program also includes selections from Berlioz's Romeo et Juliette.

As reported last month in the Nonesuch Journal, Denk has been selected as Artist in Residence at Milton Court’s Concert Hall in London during the Barbican Centre’s 2017–18 Classic Music concert season. "Jeremy Denk isn't like other pianists," says the Barbican. "He's capable of spectacular musical gymnastics and the most eloquent insights—often in the same breath.”

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Emmylou Harris is aboard the week-long Cayamo: A Journey Through Song cruise, setting sail from Tampa, Florida, heading to Cozumel, Mexico, and Roatan, Honduras. She plays solo sets in the ship’s Stardust Theatre on Sunday and again on Thursday. She returns to the stage next weekend for a duo set with Rodney Crowell.

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Kronos Quartet performs at Victoria Hall in Geneva on Saturday as part of Festival Antigel. On the program are Steve Reich’s Triple Quartet and works by Laurie Anderson, Clint Mansell, Henryk Górecki, and others.

“The string quartet serves better than just about anything I can think of as a salvation from all that is going on right now from which you may desperately crave respite,” says the Los Angeles Times's Mark Swed. “Kronos has never stopped taking a stand … [It] remains as geographically, politically and spiritually feisty as ever.”

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Lake Street Dive launched a two-month tour, featuring music from its 2016 Nonesuch debut album, Side Pony, with a sold-out celebration of the sesquicentennial of the group members' alma mater, the New England Conservatory in Boston last night. The tour continues with three more sold-out shows in the Northeast this weekend: at the State Theatre in Portland tonight, College Street Music Hall in New Haven on Saturday, and The Barn at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock on Monday. The Boston Globe calls Side Pony an "exuberant, harmony-rich blend of pop, soul, and jazz.”

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Brad Mehldau was joined by his trio—Larry Grenadier on bass and Jeff Ballard on drums—in Brussels last night, beginning a run of dates in Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal. The trio plays at De Roma in Antwerp tonight, followed by a sold-out show at Muziekgebouw Eindhoven on Saturday and a performance at Auditorio Nacional Sala de Cámara in Madrid on Sunday.

As reported last week in the Nonesuch Journal, Mehldau has been nominated for two ECHO Jazz 2017 awards for Nearness, his debut duo album with label mate Joshua Redman: International Ensemble of the Year and International Piano Instrumentalist of the Year (Redman is up for International Saxophone Instrumentalist of the Year). Jeff Ballard is nominated for International Drums Instrumentalist of the Year for the Brad Mehldau Trio's latest album, Blues and Ballads.

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Chris Thile concludes his inaugural season as host of A Prairie Home Companion with a sold-out show at the program’s home base, the Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on Saturday. Joining him as special guests for the episode are The Avett Brothers, Jesca Hoop, and comedian Jen Kirkman. Folks in the US can tune in on their favorite public radio station this weekend, and fans around the world can watch the live broadcast online at prairiehome.org starting at 4:45 PM CT. Afterwards, Thile heads south for A Night With Chris Thile at Theatrical Outfit in Atlanta, where he will engage in an in-depth conversation with WABE 90.1's Mara Davis on Sunday.

Thile, whose year is off to a busy start, recently announced Bach Trios, an album of Bach works in collaboration with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and bassist Edgar Meyer due in April. Last month, Thile released a duo album with Brad Mehldau that the Irish Times calls “a spine-tingling triumph.”