Composer Louis Andriessen's six decades of music-making will be celebrated at the Barbican Centre in London with Andriessen: M is for Man, Music & Mystery, a series of concerts, held in Barbican Hall and at Milton Court Concert Hall, February 9–13, 2016. The series features performances of works by Andriessen, including La Commedia, De Stijl, and Rosa's Horses, as well as a conversation with the composer about his life and music.

Shye Ben Tzur, Jonny Greenwood, and the Rajasthan Express, who came together in Jodhpur, India, last year to record the album Junun, will reunite to perform the album in its entirety in the UK for the first time, at Barbican Hall in London on March 11, 2016. Tickets go on sale to Barbican members on Thursday, January 14, and to the general public on Friday, January 15.

Natalie Merchant recently stopped by the NPR studios in Washington, DC, to perform a Tiny Desk Concert for Bob Boilen and the staff at NPR and NPR Music. The intimate set included "Cowboy Romance," from her recent album Paradise Is There: The New Tigerlily Recordings; "Texas," from her 2014 self-titled record; the title song to her album Motherland; and "Weeping Pilgrim," a Protestant hymn covered on The House Carpenter’s Daughter. For that last song, Merchant led the NPR staff in a sing-along for which Boilen suggests viewers "have a tissue handy." See why in the Tiny Desk Concert here. Merchant will join Rolling Stone's Anthony DeCurtis in conversation at NYC's 92nd Street Y on February 10 and tours the US and Europe in March.

The five-part series celebrating the January 22 release of Henryk Górecki: A Nonesuch Retrospective and the first recording of the late composer's final work, Symphony No. 4, Tansman Episodes, continues. Today, we hear from conductor Andrey Boreyko, who led the London Philharmonic Orchestra in the premiere performance and Nonesuch recording of the new piece. "I hear these chorales bringing a very special atmosphere of concentrating on one’s own life," says Boreyko, "the lives of other people, things that happened, the meaning of it all, the afterlife, is there a light at the end of the tunnel or isn’t there? I believe this symphony as a whole is trying to answer this question as well." Watch the interview here.

The New Orleans City Council has passed a resolution officially declaring Allen Toussaint's birthday, January 14, as Allen Toussaint Day in the City of New Orleans. The resolution was signed by all councilmembers and presented before Toussaint's family and friends. "Our artists and musicians are our ambassadors, as their talents, hard work, and genius creates the culture for which we are internationally known," said New Orleans Councilmember Susan G. Guidry. "Allen served our city as one of our finest ambassadors."

Rhiannon Giddens was the subject of a feature profile on CBS Sunday Morning, looking at her life in music, as a founding member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops; following her show-stopping performance at the Another Day, Another Time concert; and since the release of her Grammy-nominated solo debut album, Tomorrow Is My Turn. "How often can you witness a moment that changes a career?" says Sunday Morning's Martha Teichner of the concert. "Giddens was like a musical explosion onstage. What happened next was like an explosion in her life." Watch it here.

Robert Plant and The Sensational Space Shifters have announced a tour of the American South for this March. The tour kicks off at the Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival on March 4 and includes additional stops in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas, culminating in a show at ACL Live at Moody Theater in Austin. "I'm always eager to return to the hospitality of the Southern states," Plant said. "Towns and cities that hold fond memories for me personally, places that gave birth to so much of the music I love." Tickets go on sale this Friday, January 15.

Laurie Anderson's Heart of a Dog will receive its HBO premiere on April 25. The film is still playing at theaters across the US, having landed on a number of year's best lists, including those of the New York Times and New York magazine. A unique three-minute version of the film is showing on Times Square's electronic billboards each night this month starting at 11:57 PM as part of Midnight Moments. Hear Laurie Anderson's recent interview with BBC Radio 6 Music's Mary Anne Hobbs here.

The Nonesuch Journal continues its five-part video series marking the forthcoming release of Henryk Górecki: A Nonesuch Retrospective and the first recording of the late composer's final work, Symphony No. 4, Tansman Episodes, by hearing from Adrian Thomas, the author of the book Górecki and of the liner notes for the new recording. "What you get in this Fourth Symphony is pretty much the widest range of Henryk's character," says Thomas. "I think he had very broad interests in terms of what constitutes the mind, what constitutes the spirit, what constitutes the soul, and that can involve earthy things as well as ethereal things, and this is what you get in the Fourth Symphony." Watch the interview here.

Yesterday, the Nonesuch Journal began a five-part series of videos marking the forthcoming release of the seven-disc box set Henryk Górecki: A Nonesuch Retrospective with the first recording of the late composer's final work, Symphony No. 4, Tansman Episodes, on Friday, January 22. Today, Górecki’s son, composer Mikolaj, who completed Symphony No. 4 after his father’s death, discusses the piece; his relationship with his father as son and pupil; and his efforts to complete the piece after the precise indications for orchestration his father had left in the score.

A Celebration of American Creativity: In Performance at the White House, with President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and performances from Audra McDonald and a host of fellow artists, premieres on PBS stations across the US tonight at 9 PM ET. The performances commemorate the 50th anniversary of the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act. McDonald's portrayal of Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill will premiere on HBO on March 12. She will take part in an all-star tribute to Lena Horne at Symphony Space in NYC this Tuesday and lead two shows at the Leicester Square Theatre in London on January 17. Audra McDonald returns to Broadway in Shuffle Along this spring; previews begin March 15.

The Arcs have written, recorded, and released a new track, "Lake Superior," inspired by the case of Steven Avery examined in the new Netflix documentary Making a Murderer. You can hear it here. "It's like Billy Childish says, 'We live in troubled times,'" writes the band. "Last week, we got a sneak peek at what goes on behind the curtains of our criminal justice system. A few sleepless nights later we gathered in the studio and wrote this song. Written, recorded, mixed and mastered in 2 days." The band has made the track available to download, with proceeds going to the Innocence Project.