Bang on a Can’s Long Play Festival takes place at venues across Brooklyn throughout the weekend, including concerts by Mary Halvorson, Caroline Shaw & Sō Percussion, and Tyondai Braxton.

Mary Halvorson performs with her trio Thumbscrew—bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Tomas Fujiwara—at Public Records on Saturday. Nonesuch Records released Halvorson’s twin label debut albums, Amaryllis (on which Fujiwara performs, as does vibraphonist Patricia Brennan, who performs at the festival with her own quartet on Sunday) and Belladonna, last year. The Guardian called the recordings “new landmarks in Halvorson’s already inimitable discography." 

Caroline Shaw & Sō Percussion bring music from their 2021 album, Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part, to BRIC Ballroom on Sunday afternoon. For the album, they developed songs in the studio, with lyrics inspired by their own wide-ranging interests: James Joyce, the Sacred Harp hymnal, a poem by Anne Carson, the Bible’s Book of Ruth, the American roots tune “I’ll Fly Away,” the pop music of ABBA, and more.

Tyondai Braxton joins multi-instrumentalist Jefre Cantu-Ledesma and composer Ben Vida at Roulette Intermedium on Saturday night. The first studio recording of Braxton's Telekinesis—an eighty-seven-piece work for electric guitars, orchestra, choir, and electronics—featuring Metropolis Ensemble, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, and chamber choir The Crossing was released on Nonesuch last fall; the Times exclaims: "It's remarkable."

Among the other artists at the festival familiar to Nonesuch fans through the decades are Alarm Will Sound, Iva Bittová, Michael Gordon, Philip Glass Ensemble, and Morton Subotnik.

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On the festival front, Hurray for the Riff Raff and Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway are both at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans for the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival this weekend.

Molly Tuttle and her band Golden Highway play the Sheraton New Orleans Fais Do-Do Stage on Friday evening, following an interview between Tuttle and Mollie Farr on the Allison Miner Music Heritage Stage. Their new album, City of Gold, due July 21 on Nonesuch, follows their acclaimed 2022 label debut, Crooked Tree, which won the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album.

Hurray for the Riff Raff—aka Alynda Seggara—performs at the Shell Gentilly Stage on Saturday afternoon. Segarra flies solo at the Cultural Exchange Pavilion Celebrates Puerto Rico stage on Friday afternoon, followed by an interview with Lily Keber on the Allison Miner Music Heritage Stage. A digital deluxe version of Hurray for the Riff Raff’s acclaimed 2022 Nonesuch Records debut, LIFE ON EARTH, was released last month.

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Kronos Quartet leads a festival of its own of sorts, continuing its fiftieth anniversary season celebrations with 50 for the Future Weekend, held at venues throughout Amsterdam. The weekend-long event features concerts, talks, panels, and masterclasses hosted by the String Quartet Biennale Amsterdam. All fifty works from Kronos’s 50 for the Future commissioning project will be performed throughout the weekend; Kronos opens and closes the festival and is joined by Attacca Quartet, Ragazze Quartet, Ruysdael Quartet, Publiquartet, Matangi Quartet, Belinfante Quartet, Signum Quartett, Adam Quartet, and Animato Quartet.

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And speaking of weekend-long events, Cécile McLorin Salvant is in residence at SFJAZZ in San Francisco all weekend. Following a Gala performance with pianist Sullivan Fortner last night, celebrating SFJAZZ Founder and Executive Artistic Director Randall Kline, she and her quintet—Fortner, bassist Yasushi Nakamura, percussionist Weedie Braimah, and drummer Savannah Harris—play Miner Auditorium tonight, tomorrow, and Sunday afternoon and evening. Tonight's concert will stream live from the hall at 7:30pm PT via SFJAZZ At Home, with an encore broadcast Saturday at 11am PT.

Salvant’s 2022 Nonesuch debut, Ghost Song, recently won her the Deutscher Jazzpreis in Germany for International Vocal Album, and has garnered her nominations for the Jazz Journalists Association Awards for Female Vocalist of the Year and Record of the Year. Salvant’s new album, Mélusine, released earlier this year on Nonesuch and out on vinyl today, features a mix of five originals and interpretations of nine songs, dating as far back as the twelfth century, mostly sung in French along with Occitan, English, and Haitian Kreyòl. "Anyone who thinks they already know the full extent of Cécile McLorin Salvant's artistry should listen to Mélusine without further delay," exclaims Jazzwise.

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Earlier this week, Thomas Adès’ led the Opéra National de Paris orchestra in its debut of his score to The Dante Project for performances of the Wayne McGregor ballet at Palais Garnier in Paris, featuring set and costume design by visual artist Tacita Dean. Performances continue all month, with Courtney Davis conducting tonight and tomorrow. The composer returns to conduct throughout the month.

The first recording of Dante, made by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and its Music & Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel in concert at Disney Hall, debuted at No. 1 on the UK Specialist Classical chart last week and was named one of the 100 Best Pieces of Classical Music by the Times. The collectable limited vinyl two-LP edition includes artwork by Dean and photography from the Royal Ballet’s premiere performances.

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Sam Amidon joins violinist Pekka Kuusisto and the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra at Kulttuurikorjaamo in Kokkola, Finland, tonight.

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The Black Keys are in California this weekend, headlining the Beachlife Festival in Redondo Beach tonight, before joining Beck and Natalie Bergman for a sold-out Beachlife After Party Record Hang at The Venice West on Saturday.

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Soprano Julia Bullock joins pianist Conor Hanick and dancers from the American Modern Opera Company (AMOC) in performances of Olivier Messiaen’s Harawi at De Singel in Antwerp, Belgium, tonight, and Erholungshaus Leverkusen in Leverkusen, Germany, on Sunday.

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The Brad Mehldau Trio—bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard—performs at Telekom Forum in Bonn, Germany, on Sunday, as part of JazzFest Bonn. Mehldau’s new live solo album, Your Mother Should Know: Brad Mehldau Plays The Beatles, was released on Nonesuch earlier this year. Mojo gives it four stars, calling it “an inspired set that reveals new ways of hearing pop classics."

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Sarah Kirkland Snider's Mass for the Endangered, with a libretto by poet/writer Nathaniel Bellows, is being performed by Amor Artis at the Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral in New York City on Sunday. The piece is a celebration of, and an elegy for, the natural world—animals, plants, insects, the planet itself—an appeal for greater awareness, urgency, and action. Originally commissioned by Trinity Church Wall Street, the first recording, released on New Amsterdam / Nonesuch Records in 2020, features the English vocal ensemble Gallicantus conducted by Gabriel Crouch.