Composer John Adams turned 70 last week, and his birthday celebrations continue, as the San Francisco Symphony, featuring violin soloist Leila Josefowicz, and conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas, perform his dramatic symphony Scheherazade.2 at Davies Symphony Hall tonight and Saturday. The program also includes selections from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet. The San Francisco Chronicle's Joshua Kosman, reviewing the program's premiere earlier this week, calls Scheherazade.2 a "thrillingly inventive new work [that] grabs the listener right from the opening measures ... There’s something happening all the time, and all of it is riveting." He says: "Scheherazade.2 is edge-of-the-seat stuff—evocative, propulsive, fascinatingly unpredictable." Nonesuch released the first recording of Scheherazade.2 last September; Josefowicz, for whom the piece was written, performs it on the album with the St. Louis Symphony led by David Robertson.

Composer/pianist Timo Andres helps celebrate the composer’s milestone birthday, as he and fellow pianist David Kaplan join Britten Sinfonia and conductor Benjamin Shwartz in performing Adams's Chamber Symphony and Grand Pianola Music, at London’s Barbican Hall on Saturday. The program also includes Philip Glass’s Music in Similar Motion and the world premiere of Steady Hand, a new work for two pianos and orchestra by Andres. The new piece is co-commissioned by the Barbican and Britten Sinfonia, and is dedicated to Adams, who, says Andrews, “continues to be an inspiration and a lodestar.” The concert is part of The Sounds that Changed America, the Barbican’s year-long celebration of the music of Steve Reich, John Adams and Philip Glass. The Guardian spoke with Adams ahead of this weekend’s celebrations; you can read the interview here.

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Devendra Banhart brings his North American tour to Florida this weekend: with shows at The Beacham Theater in Orlando tonight and North Beach Bandshell in Miami Beach on Saturday. In a preview of tonight’s performance, the Orlando Weekly writes that Banhart’s show, which features music from his new album, Ape in Pink Marble, “promises to be an intriguing change of pace, a worthwhile venture to witness this variable creative do what he does best.” Banhart heads to Europe and the UK in April.

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Pianist Richard Goode gives a solo recital, featuring works from Bach and Chopin, at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, tonight. Goode has released two recordings of Bach partitas and a recording of Chopin works on Nonesuch.

In its four-star review of Goode’s Bach Partitas Nos. 2, 4 and 5, the San Francisco Chronicle exclaimed: “Exquisite renditions …There is no other performer who can make Bach’s music ring out on the piano with such lean and sinewy strength, such blinding translucence or such tender grace … His artistry is that rare blend in which a probing analytical intelligence is joined to a profound mastery of tone, color and phrasing.” The Los Angeles Times calls his approach to Bach “a small miracle of sensitivity, expression and nuance.”

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Tigran Hamasyan launches a world tour featuring music from his forthcoming album, An Ancient Observer, due March 31, with three consecutive nights at the Blue Whale in Los Angeles, Saturday through Monday.

Hamasyan unveiled the music video for "The Cave of Rebirth" from An Ancient Observer, earlier this week. The video, produced by Truth.io, was directed by Ruben van Leer, made in collaboration with fractal animator Julius Horsthuis and computer facilities at Hectic Electric Amsterdam. "As a pianist and composer, he draws inspiration from jazz, folkloric and classical sources, in ways that feel both hypermodern and practically ageless," says NPR's Nate Chinen, who premiered the video via WBGO. "This synthesis is well captured in the video." You can watch it here and get the song when you pre-order the album on iTunes or the Nonesuch Store.

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Lake Street Dive continues its US tour, featuring music from its 2016 Nonesuch debut album, Side Pony, with sold-out shows this weekend: at Mr. Small’s Theatre outside of Pittsburgh tonight and the Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, on Saturday. The Boston Globe calls Side Pony an "exuberant, harmony-rich blend of pop, soul, and jazz.”

The band made an appearance on PBS's Charlie Rose show earlier this week. You can watch it here.

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Brad Mehldau and his trio—Larry Grenadier on bass and Jeff Ballard on drums—round out their current European run with two shows in Portugal: at Centro Cultural de Belem in Lisbon tonight and Casa de Musica in Porto on Saturday, followed by a show at Box Sevilla in Spain on Sunday. The tour concludes in Spain with a performance in Almeria on Tuesday. Mehldau begins a run of solo US dates in March, before the trio meets back up in Europe in May.

As recently reported 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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Joshua Redman brings Still Dreaming, a quartet with trumpeter Ron Miles, bassist Scott Colley, and drummer Brian Blade, to De Camera in Houston tonight. The group was formed in homage to the late Dewey Redman, Joshua’s father, and his role in the classic Ornette Coleman alumni quartet Old and New Dreams. Still Dreaming goes on tour next month, with shows in Boston, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Columbus, and DC, culminating with four dates at Lincoln Center in New York City.

“This is a band where we feel pretty comfortable with that language,” Redman tells Houstonia Magazine in an interview ahead of tonight’s show. “I love playing in situations that are really open. It allows for true collective improvisation. In a way, we may be trying to collapse the distinction between playing something that is formally ‘free’ and something that isn’t.” You can read what else he had to say here.

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The Staves tour of North American continues out West with a sold out show at Casbah in San Diego tonight, followed by shows at Club Congress in Tucson on Saturday, and Valley Bar in Phoenix on Sunday.

The trio released two new tracks earlier this month: "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.