Stephen Sondheim was awarded the Edward MacDowell Medal in a public ceremony at The MacDowell Colony in Petersborough, New Hampshire, yesterday. Sondheim joins a notable list of past Medal recipients, including Robert Frost, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Leonard Bernstein; this marks the first time in the medal's history a luminary has been chosen from the realm of musical theatre. "I am not only humbled and privileged," says Sondheim, "I am astonished to be in the company." Writer Frank Rich, chairman of the medal selection committee, says: "No artist has made a larger contribution to this quintessential American art form in the modern era than Sondheim has, and no artist could be more deserving of this accolade."

Kronos Quartet joins The National and Bombino plays his own set at Outside Lands festival in San Francisco ... Sam Amidon plays Haldern Pop Fest ... Laurie Anderson brings Dirtday! to Oslo ... Carolina Chocolate Drops, Fatoumata Diawara, Sara Watkins play Edmonton Folk Fest ... Shawn Colvin, Mary Chapin Carpenter tour South, as does Dr. John ... Kremerata Baltica tours Costa Rica ... Randy Newman performs in Kentucky ... Joshua Redman, Rokia Traoré perform at Festival Au Grès du Jazz in France ... Chris Thile celebrates Elliott Smith in NYC ... Allen Toussaint closes out Lincoln Center Out of Doors ... and more ...

Chris Thile stopped by the studios of New York public radio station WNYC to perform some music from his new album, Bach: Sonatas and Partitas, Vol. 1, on Soundcheck and talk with host John Schaefer about the album. "Chris Thile plays well with others," says the show. "But on his latest recording, Thile stands alone, translating the works of Bach—originally composed for solo violin—with exceptional precision on mandolin." Listen to the Soundcheck episode here.

Pianist Jeremy Denk makes his Australian debut with a performance at Newcastle City Hall on Monday, August 12, kicking off a two-week tour of the country with the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) led by conductor, artistic director, and lead violinist Richard Tognetti. The tour—featuring works by Bach, Ligeti, Ives, and Brahms—continues with performances in Adelaide and Perth, followed by several stops in Sydney, and rounds out with dates in Wollongong and Melbourne.

Place Kate-McGarrigle, the square named in honor of the late Canadian singer-songwriter in the Montreal borough of Outremont where she lived, was dedicated yesterday. The ceremony featured remarks from her children Rufus and Martha Wainwright, her sisters Anna and Jane McGarrigle, and city officials, as well as a musical performance. See a gallery of photos and watch the CBC report from the event here. The celebration continues with two concerts in Outremont tonight to benefit the Kate McGarrigle Foundation for sarcoma research.

Sam Amidon was the guest on NPR's World Cafe yesterday, talking with host David Dye and performing intimate takes on four songs off his new album. "On his fourth album, Bright Sunny South, Amidon draws from a variety of traditional folk material, weaving it into his own mesmerizing compositions," says the show. "With the help of [Thomas] Bartlett as a bandmate and producer, several tracks on the new album go beyond tradition to include free-jazz influences, as well as a cover of Tim McGraw's 'My Old Friend.'" Amidon is currently touring Europe and begins a month-long tour of North America in September.

Today marks the release of mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile new album, Bach: Sonatas and Partitas, Vol. 1, which comprises three works written for solo violin and was produced by Edgar Meyer. Thile was featured on PBS NewHour, which calls him "a mandolin virtuoso who defies musical boundaries"; watch the piece here. The Herald Scotland calls Thile "astonishing" and "skilled beyond any obvious deployment of the word virtuosic." Citing "Glenn Gould's sensational second recording of the Goldberg Variations" the Herald says "this album is worthy of a place on any shelf alongside that classic." Epoch Times gives the album four-and-a-half stars, explaining: "The playing goes from heavenly and sublime to technical and outstanding and never loses one’s concentration."

The life and music of Canadian singer-songwriter Kate McGarrigle will be celebrated in a number of special events held in her hometown of Montreal this week. The Outremont neighborhood where McGarrigle lived will inaugurate Place Kate-McGarrigle in her honor Wednesday afternoon. Later that evening, the feature documentary capturing the 2011 NYC McGarrigle tribute concerts will be screened at the Théâtre Outremont, where, on Thursday, Kate's children, Rufus and Martha Wainwright, and her sisters Anna and Jane will host two tribute concerts with special guests to benefit the Kate McGarrigle Foundation for sarcoma research.

Carolina Chocolate Drops' North American tour finds them in their homestate of North Carolina for a performance in Asheville on Thursday, before heading to Canada for the Edmonton and Regina folk festivals. On an earlier tour, the band performed at the famed Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. You can watch their Opry performance of the title track to their latest album, Leaving Eden, here.

Devendra Banhart closes out his five-week European summer tour with two performances in Portugal ... Sam Amidon plays in Poland ... Jeremy Denk is at Grand Teton Music Festival ... Kronos Quartet performs two nights at the Cabrillo Festival ... Lianne La Havas concludes North American tour at Osheaga and Lollapalooza ... Audra McDonald comes to Caramoor ... Joshua Redman returns to Newport Jazz Fest ... Allen Toussaint celebrates Satchmo in the Big Easy ... Rokia Traoré continues French festival tour ... Sara Watkins joins Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion tour ... and more ...

Lianne La Havas, who is in the midst of a week-long North American tour, has premiered a new video for her song "Don't Wake Me Up," the opening track off her debut album, Is Your Love Big Enough?, in an exclusive for Hunger magazine, which cites "her incredible talent" to say: "We’re definitely fans." Watch the video here. Following a show in Montreal and an Osheaga Festival set this week, La Havas closes out her North American tour at Lollapalooza in Chicago on Sunday.

Audra McDonald was a special guest on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on NBC last night. The five-time Tony Award winner stopped by the studio to help Fallon out on a Suggestion Box request to give voice to some sage Yahoo! Answers in her own inimitable way. Watch the segment here. McDonald's US tour keeps her close to home this weekend with a performance at the Caramoor Venetian Theater in Katonah, New York, on Saturday.