Armenian composer and pianist Tigran Hamasyan gave a Facebook Live concert on the official Armenian government Facebook page from his home in Los Angeles today. The event is part of a twice-weekly concert series initiated by the government "to make the daily lives of self-isolated and isolated citizens more interesting," according to Armenian Public Radio. You can watch it here.

Rhiannon Giddens has released a music video for "Trees on the Mountain" after a song from there is no Other, her 2019 Nonesuch album with Francesco Turrisi. The video was directed by William Kaner and choreographed by Nashville Ballet Artistic Director Paul Vasterling, and features company artists from Nashville Ballet. Giddens previously worked with Nashville Ballet for her score to last year's Shakespeare-inspired ballet Lucy Negro Redux. You can watch it here.

Sam Gendel performed a Facebook Live concert for Qobuz USA from his home in Los Angeles this afternoon. He played music from his 2020 Nonesuch debut album, Satin Doll, and more. You can watch it again here.

Jeremy Denk will lead a three-part series of online events for WNYC/WQXR's Jerome L. Greene Performance Space in NYC. The series, Bach's Well-Tempered Lens, features performances and conversations exploring J.S. Bach’s life and his Well-Tempered Clavier Book I. The events take place on April 7, April 27, and May 11. “Listening to Jeremy Denk play Bach," says Jennifer Sendrow, the Greene Space Executive Producer, "is a powerful antidote to life’s chaos, bringing people together to revel in music that transcends time and continues to inspire joy and provoke our curiosity.”

Joshua Redman will join San Francisco Conservatory of Music as Artistic Director of Roots, Jazz, and American Music. The RJAM program is a collaboration between SFCM and SFJAZZ. “When we launched RJAM three years ago, we set out to create an innovative program that would prepare the next generation of jazz musicians for multifaceted, entrepreneurial careers,” said SFCM President David Stull. “Building the program with our faculty and watching our first RJAM students flourish has been tremendously rewarding. Now with Joshua Redman at the helm, our students have direct access to some of the greatest minds—and players—in jazz.” Redman will share his expertise with students in one-on-one sessions, studio classes, ensembles, and lectures.

The Magnetic Fields have released "Kraftwerk in a Blackout," a new song from their forthcoming album, Quickies, due in May. Quickies features twenty-eight new short songs by Stephin Merritt, ranging in length from thirteen seconds to two minutes and thirty-five seconds. You can download "Kraftwerk in a Blackout" now when you pre-order the album, and watch the video, by Robert Edridge-Waks, here.

Composer and pianist Timo Andres performed a Facebook Live concert for Qobuz USA from his home in Brooklyn. He played five pieces from the upcoming album I Still Play by Brad Mehldau, Nico Muhly, Donnacha Dennehy, John Adams, and Andres himself. You can watch the performance here. I Still Play, due May 22, is eleven new solo piano compositions by artists who have recorded for Nonesuch Records, written in honor of the label’s longtime President Bob Hurwitz on the occasion of his 2017 shift into the Chairman Emeritus role.

In this age of anxiety, we hope this playlist—fourteen hours of songs from some forty years of Nonesuch recordings—may bring some calm. Available on Spotify and Apple Music.

Newport Festivals Foundation has established the Newport Festivals Musician Relief Fund to provide financial relief to musicians in the folk and jazz communities experiencing a loss of income as a result of COVID-19, through rapid micro and full grants. The focus and priority of the fund is on artists who have played the Newport Jazz or Folk Festivals and those in the Rhode Island community; all other applications will be considered on a case by case basis.

Rhiannon Giddens has joined with musician Amanda Palmer and author Neil Gaiman to create Art Is Alive, a new online resource guide to support artistic and creative freelance communities whose livelihoods have been so greatly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. "We are hoping that this website can act as a kind of general yellow pages for the current money emergency in the art and music world," they say. "We like to call it our COVID-19 directory of give and take." Art Is Alive also offers a place for artists to interact, to share information as new events, new resources, and new ideas develop.

Yola was joined by her housemates, the members of Birds of Chicago, to perform a three-song set for Rolling Stone's new In My Room series from her home in Nashville. They perform an a cappella take on Etta James's "At Last" then pick up the instruments for Yola's "It Ain't Easier," from her album Walk Through Fire, and Birds of Chicago's own "Second Cousin." You can watch it here.

On May 22, Nonesuch releases I Still Play, an album of eleven new solo piano compositions by artists who have recorded for Nonesuch Records, written in honor of the label’s longtime President Bob Hurwitz as he became Chairman Emeritus in 2017. The album features works by John Adams, Laurie Anderson, Timo Andres, Louis Andriessen, Donnacha Dennehy, Philip Glass, Nico Muhly, Brad Mehldau, Steve Reich, Pat Metheny, and Randy Newman, performed by Andres, Mehldau, Newman, and Jeremy Denk. Pre-order to download Nico Muhly's "Move" played by Andres now; you can follow along on the score as you watch him perform it here.