Laurie Anderson's new film, Heart of a Dog—which has been shown at numerous film festivals to critical praise—begins its theatrical run at the Film Forum in NYC tonight and continues there through November 3. Anderson attends screenings tonight and each day this weekend. Following the Film Forum run, Heart of a Dog will be shown in theaters across the US. It also will air on HBO in early 2016. The New York Times calls it a "dreamy, drifty and altogether lovely movie." New York calls it "one of the most moving and provocative films you'll see this year." Nonesuch Records releases the Heart of a Dog soundtrack this Friday, October 23.

Recorded during the T Bone Burnett–produced sessions for Rhiannon Giddens's highly acclaimed solo debut, Tomorrow Is My Turn, her five-song vinyl EP Factory Girl is due on Black Friday Record Store Day, November 27, 2015; a digital version is due December 11. The EP includes songs written or made famous by musical heroes Ethel Waters and Sister Rosetta Tharp; a song co-written by Giddens; a traditional Gaelic mouth music tune; and the title track, a traditional Irish song for which she wrote additional lyrics. Giddens resumes her tour on November 6, with new international tour dates announced for early 2016, including several as part of Transatlantic Sessions.

The line-up for the 2016 Big Ears Festival has been announced, and featured among the performers are several artists familiar to readers of the Nonesuch Journal: Laurie Anderson and Philip Glass, Olivia Chaney, Sam Amidon, Nico Muhly, and Bombino. Big Ears will be held at venues throughout downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, March 31–April 2, 2016. Weekend passes and daily tickets for the 2016 Big Ears Festival will go on sale this Friday, October 23, at 12 PM ET.

Today marks the release of Brad Mehldau's 10 Years Solo Live eight-LP vinyl box set, culled from 19 live recordings made over a decade of the pianist's European solo concerts. Mehldau has "emerged as a player with a stunning virtuosity and daring ability to mine far reaches of improvisation," raves All About Jazz. This is "a beautiful release/box from a unique pianist who continually shows what the piano can do." The Guardian gives the set four stars, noting Mehldau's "virtuosity and lyrical ingenuity ... There are plenty of gems here." "Let's make no bones about it: Brad Mehldau is a magician," exclaims Record Collector in a five-star review. "Hearing the pianist in full flow during a live performance is ... nothing less than an awe-inspiring experience."

Kronos Quartet, Sam Amidon celebrate the opening of St. Anne’s Warehouse in Brooklyn … John Adams leads European premiere of his Scheherazade.2 … The Bad Plus Joshua Redman tours Midwest … Tyondai Braxton plays Toronto … Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club takes its "Adios" tour to Texas … Jeremy Denk performs in Canada … Richard Goode joins LA Chamber Orchestra … Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell bring the latest leg of their US tour to a close … Lianne La Havas is in LA … Audra McDonald plays Peoria … Randy Newman visits Belgium … Conor Oberst gives free hometown show … Rokia Traoré performs Desdemona in Melbourne … Junun screens at Rome Film Festival and in San Francisco … and more …

Laurie Anderson is featured in the New York Times and the New Yorker, which both look at her new film and album, Heart of a Dog, and her piece Habeas Corpus, which recently premiered at the Park Avenue Armory. "They’re both about how you tell stories, and what they mean," she tells the Times, "and how you create a world with them." In London for the BFI London Film Festival debut of Heart of a Dog, Anderson was the guest on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour and BBC Radio 3's In Tune. She will be the guest on BBC Radio 6 Music's Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone this Sunday and can be heard on this week's Dinner Party Download.

St Germain's new, self-titled album was featured on today's episode of NPR's All Things Considered. "This isn't your typical globe-trotting cut-and-paste," says reviewer Tom Moon. "Where most DJs organize their work around static loops, St Germain seeks a less scripted, more improvisational atmosphere." He later concludes: "There's a lot of musical conversation going on here. St Germain went deep into West African music and discovered that to capture its nuances, he had to ditch some of his DJ tricks and open things way up. The result: a timeless African sound reconfigured ever so slightly for the electronic age."

The Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club will perform at The White House this afternoon in celebration of Hispanic Heritage month. A delegation of about 500 dignitaries and politicians from around the world will be hosted by President Barack Obama. The event is due to stream live at whitehouse.gov/live. Led by members of the original, Grammy Award–winning Buena Vista Social Club band, the Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club will be the first Cuban musical group to perform at The White House in more than 50 years.

Lake Street Dive has just been signed to Nonesuch Records, which releases the band's label debut in early 2016. The four musicians, who are currently on a US tour, met as students at New England Conservatory. USA Today recently said of them, "The group is built around the powerhouse alto voice of Rachael Price, which sports traces of Amy Winehouse and Bonnie Raitt. That instrument is supported by the strong, smart songwriting and gorgeous harmony singing of band mates Bridget Kearney, Michael ("McDuck") Olson, and Michael Calabrese." Further details about the album and its release will be announced shortly, as will further tour dates.

Lianne La Havas, who is currently touring the US, recently stopped by NPR's World Cafe to talk with host David Dye about her new album, Blood, and perform three tracks from it—"Green and Gold," "What You Don't Do," and "Unstoppable"—as well as "Forget," from her debut album. "In 2012, Is Your Love Big Enough? came out, and it was a real breath of fresh air," says Dye. "It's really unusual to find any artist, but particularly one so young, who doesn't feel the need to be genre-defined in any way. What a great record ... Blood is here now, the new album, and as you will hear, it's a pretty spectacular record." Listen to the performance and interview here.

Kronos Quartet leads a weeklong workshop at Carnegie Hall April 9–15, 2016, open to student and young professional string quartets aged 18–35 to explore new works commissioned as part of Fifty for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire. The tuition-free workshop culminates in a public performance at Zankel Hall and will also focus on several of Kronos’s signature works. The application deadline is November 17, 2015. Kronos performs at Zankel Hall on April 2. The group performs at the St. Ann's Warehouse opening in Brooklyn this Saturday and the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in Manhattan on Tuesday.

Audra McDonald will take part in a very special performance, "A Celebration of American Creativity," at The White House tonight, as part of the series In Performance at the White House. They will join President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama and performers including Buddy Guy, Queen Latifah, Keb' Mo', Smokey Robinson, Esperanza Spalding, Brian Stokes Mitchell, James Taylor, and Usher, with special readings and remarks from Carol Burnett, in celebration of art and literature in unique American musical forms. The event will stream live at whitehouse.gov/live starting at 7:25 PM ET tonight. A Celebration of American Creativity: In Performance at the White House will premiere on PBS on Friday, January 8, 2016.