Lake Street Dive, currently touring the UK and Ireland before heading to Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, has announced a two-month US tour beginning in February 2017. The tour will include stops at the band members' alma mater, The New England Conservatory in Boston, for the school's 150th anniversary; Meyerhoff Symphony Hall with The Baltimore Symphony; The Fox Theatre in Oakland; and at the Ace Hotel in LA. Fan pre-sale begins Wednesday, November 16; general on-sale begins on Friday, November 18.

Conor Oberst, who released his new solo album, Ruminations, on Nonesuch last month, talks with The National's Matt Berninger for The Talkhouse Music Podcast. The two discuss their own songwriting and other songwriters, not least the late, great Leonard Cohen. They "are two of rock’s heaviest-hitting lyricists," writes Talkhouse producer Elia EInhorn. "Turns out, they’re also huge fans of each other’s songs." You can hear the conversation here.

Devendra Banhart will perform songs from his new album, Ape in Pink Marble, on tour in the western United States in early 2017. The concerts begin at The Showbox in Seattle on January 23 and include stops in Portland, San Francisco, San Diego, Santa Ana, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Boulder, and Telluride. Tickets go on sale this Friday, November 18.

William Kentridge's "superb staging" of Lulu is performed by English National Opera … Jeremy Denk gives recital in Chicago … Rhiannon Giddens plays Highlands Fest in North Carolina … Junun tour concludes in Europe … Kronos Quartet performs Steve Reich in Paris … Lake Street Dive is in UK … Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau round out European tour … Chris Thile hosts A Prairie Home Companion in Philadelphia … Caetano Veloso, Teresa Cristina return to Rio … and more …

Rhiannon Giddens has unveiled a recording of "Freedom Highway," the song written by Pops Staples and recorded by the Staple Singers in 1965, from her forthcoming album, due in early 2017. She is joined on the song by Bhi Bhiman. You can hear it here. "I am a daughter of the South; of the white working class, of the black working class; of the Democrat, and the Republican; of the gay, and the straight; and I can tell you one thing—we are far more alike than we are different," says Giddens. "We cannot let hate divide us; we cannot let ignorance diminish us; we cannot let those whose greed fills their every waking hour take our country from us. They can't take U.S. from US—unless we let them ... Let's walk down Freedom Highway together."

Confessions, a collaboration between the acclaimed American composer Nico Muhly and the Faroese singer/songwriter Teitur, is now available on vinyl on Nonesuch in the US and Canada, following its recent digital and CD release; the vinyl is due worldwide on December 2. The lyrics, inspired by or culled from video and commentary the pair found on YouTube, are simple, matter-of-fact, fragmentary, funny, and strange, yet they attain a dignity paired with the gorgeous and expressive music.

Lake Street Dive plays Iceland Airwaves, begins UK, Ireland tour … John Adams’s Scheherazade.2 performed in Zurich with Leila Josefowicz … Laurie Anderson gives talks in NYC, Miami … Tyondai Braxton concludes tour in The Hague, Glasgow … Jeremy Denk plays upstate New York ... Rhiannon Giddens sings at the Opry at the Ryman … Junun tour launches in London, Turin … Kronos Quartet is in Iceland, Lithuania … Conor Oberst plays Nashville … Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau tour Europe … Steve Reich at 80 is celebrated in London … The Staves play Wisconsin … Rokia Traoré tours Canada … and more …

In the 2016–17 season, the Barbican celebrates milestone birthdays of composers Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and John Adams. The series, Reich, Glass, Adams: the Sounds That Changed America, begins with two days celebrating Reich, who recently turned 80, and his music this weekend, featuring Barbican Associate Ensemble Britten Sinfonia and the London Symphony Orchestra. Among the pieces performed over several programs this weekend are Three Tales, Different Trains, Electric Counterpoint, City Life, Drumming, New York Counterpoint, You Are (Variations), Daniel Variations, The Desert Music, the European premiere of Pulse.

Composer/musician Shye Ben Tzur, guitarist Jonny Greenwood, and the Rajasthan Express, who came together in Jodhpur, India, last year to record the album Junun, reunite to perform the album on tour in the UK and Europe. The concerts begin with a performance at The Troxy in London on Friday, as part of the Illuminations festival, which also includes a free, weeklong exhibit of artwork and films from the recording of album at the Omeara Gallery in London starting today. The European tour continues with concerts in Turin, Lausanne, Milan, Rome, and Berlin, before concluding at Le Guess Who? Festival in the Netherlands.

The Staves, who kick off a tour of Minnesota and Wisconsin tonight, have announced a new tour across North America in February and March. The shows begins in Seattle on February 16, followed by stops along the West Coast in Vancouver, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego; then into Arizona and Texas; down South to New Orleans, Birmingham, Nashville, Louisville; and up North to Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Boston, Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto. Fan pre-sale begins this Wednesday; general on sale begins Friday, November 4.

Rhiannon Giddens took part in the TED conference in February of this year. She joined the Silk Road Ensemble to perform "St. James Infirmary," a traditional tune made famous by Louis Armstrong and which Allen Toussaint recorded for his Nonesuch debut album, The Bright Mississippi. You can watch Giddens and the Silk Road Ensemble's take on the tune below. 

The results of the 80th Annual DownBeat Readers Poll have been announced, and the winner for Guitarist of the Year is once again Pat Metheny. Metheny released two albums on Nonesuch this year: The Unity Sessions, which the Times of London called "brilliant," and Cuong Vu Trio Meets Pat Metheny, which All About Jazz called "a complete success." "The results of this year’s poll illustrate a respect for tradition as well as an enthusiastic openness to innovation," said DownBeat Editor Bobby Reed.