Ry Cooder returns to the road with singer Sharon White and country/bluegrass musician Ricky Skaggs to bring their critically acclaimed Cooder-White-Skaggs tour into 2016 and to the Midwest, with shows at Thalia Hall in Chicago tonight, Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, Michigan, as part of the Ann Arbor Folk Festival, tomorrow, and Sangamon Auditorium at the University of Illinois, in Springfield, on Sunday.

The New York Times, in its review of the trio’s show in Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall late last year, says it conveyed “a sense of rare, joyous occasion.”

In advance of tonight’s show, Cooder recently spoke with the Chicago Tribune and with the Illinois Entertainer about the tour and his own rich and varied career, including his recent Nonesuch releases Chávez Ravine, My Name Is Buddy, Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down, and Election Special. You can read what he has to say at chicagotribune.com and illinoisentertainer.com.

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Jeremy Denk joins the Kansas City Symphony, conducted by Michael Stern, for a three concert run performing Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto at Herlzberg Hall in Kansas City, Missouri, tonight, Saturday night, and Sunday afternoon. Denk will also take part in an Inside Music Series event, coaching two area piano students, on Saturday morning.

The San Diego Reader, reviewing Denk’s solo performance of Bach at Symphony Hall last week, calls him “one of the great interpreters of Bach.”

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Rhiannon Giddens continues her tour of Europe and the UK with two performances at the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow with the Transatlantic Sessions group of artists from both sides of the Atlantic as part of the Celtic Connections festival tonight and Sunday. Transatlantic Sessions then heads out for a tour of the UK.

Giddens, who performed a three-song set for BBC Radio 2’s live coverage from Celtic Connections earlier this week, can be seen performing on BBC One TV’s Andrew Marr Show this Sunday morning.

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Kronos Quartet gives the world premiere performance of Jonathan Berger’s My Lai at the Harris Theater in Chicago tonight, joined by Rinde Eckert and Vân-Ánh Vanessa Võ for Berger’s operatic monodrama for voice, traditional Vietnamese instruments, and string quartet. My Lai is an artistic portrayal of and response to the infamous 1968 civilian massacre by US troops during the Vietnam War. Kronos Quartet’s David Harrington spoke with Chicago Classical Review about the piece and its connection to Black Angels, George Crumb’s response to the Vietnam War, which inspired Harrington to form Kronos in 1973. Read what he has to say at chicagoclassicalreview.com.

Kronos Quartet and Kronos Performing Arts Association (KPAA) will present its second-annual hometown music festival, Kronos Festival 2016: Explorer Series, at SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco, next week. The festival features seven concerts over four days connecting area audiences to a wide range of musical voices and traditions from around the world.

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Joshua Redman closes out his four-night Midwest run as a special guest of Umphrey’s McGee at the Orpheum Theater in Madison, Wisconsin, tonight and the Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo, Michigan, tomorrow.

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Chris Thile guest hosts public radio’s A Prairie Home Companion from the show’s home base at the Fitzgerald Theatre in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Saturday afternoon. This follows his co-hosting gig with Garrison Keillor last weekend. But he’s not flying solo this time around, as he’s joined for the occasion by some very special guests: his fellow Punch Brothers, as well as Ben Folds, Brandi Carlile, Ed Helms, and Sarah Jarosz. Folks in the US can tune in on their favorite public radio station this weekend, and fans around the world can listen to the live broadcast online at prairiehome.org starting at 4:45 PM CT.

Thile will guest host the show again next Saturday, joined by a few of the Punch Brothers, along with Paul Simon, Andrew Bird, and Maria Bamford.