Kronos Quartet was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize, which recognizes outstanding achievement and excellence in music, in a ceremony held last night at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. As the recipient of this honor, Kronos receives a monetary award of $75,000. At last night’s ceremony, Nonesuch Records President Robert Hurwitz spoke of the label’s relationship with Kronos, now three decades strong, and the group’s unique contributions to the world of music. Read the full text of his speech here.

Dawn Upshaw helps kick off the 2011 Ojai Music Festival tonight. She is the music director of this year's festival, which runs through Sunday, June 12, and marks the soprano's fourth appearance at the Southern California festival. Festival highlights include Upshaw's performance of Crumb’s The Winds of Destiny and the world premiere of Maria Schneider's Winter Morning Walks. The Los Angeles Times says "her voice is like a ray of light in a forest. Its luminous tone is proof that some things in the world can never be manufactured."

The 10th Annual Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival gets under way in Manchester, Tennessee, tomorrow and runs through the weekend, with performances from a number of artists familiar to readers of the Nonesuch Journal: Jessica Lea Mayfield, The Low Anthem, Wanda Jackson, Sara Watkins, The Black Keys, Dan Auerbach, and Allen Toussaint. In addition, Nonesuch has teamed up with Relix magazine and the Bonnaroo Beacon, the official daily newspaper of the festival, to offer two very special contests to Bonnaroo attendees.

Composers Steve Reich, Louis Andriessen, and Philip Glass, and Nonesuch Records President Robert Hurwitz have all contributed to the BBC Radio 3 documentary 50 Years of Minimalism in Music, which aired this past Saturday night. They and a number of other music pioneers spoke with American conductor Richard Bernas in this look back at five decades of Minimalism, "the musical language of our time." The program is available online at bbc.co.uk.

Chris Thile and Michael Daves have announced a short run of tour dates in the Midwest in September, stopping in Ann Arbor, Urbana, and Chicago. These follow summer festival sets at Telluride, Grey Fox, and Newport and a headline set in Brooklyn. Relix calls their debut album, Sleep with One Eye Open, a "boisterous tribute to their bluegrass roots," one that "literally crackles with youthful energy." The review concludes: "If bluegrass ever needs another revival, this future classic is more than enough to keep the flame lit."

True Grit—Joel and Ethan Coen's 2010 film adaptation of the 1968 Charles Portis novel, starring Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Barry Pepper, and Hailee Steinfeld—is out now on Blu-Ray and DVD. For the film's soundtrack, available on Nonesuch, composer Carter Burwell looked to 19th-century hymns for inspiration. The Los Angeles Times says the score works "equally well for big-screen vistas and solitary contemplation."

Emmylou Harris concludes her spring European tour at Admiralspalast in Berlin tonight. She heads back to the States and launches the US leg of her tour at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Telluride, Colorado, on June 17. Harris recently spoke with Rolling Stone about her new album, Hard Bargain, and moments from throughout her career, like her friendship with Gram Parsons, about whom she wrote "The Road" off Hard Bargain, and working with Bob Dylan.

What's It All About, Pat Metheny's forthcoming sequel to his first solo baritone-guitar effort, One Quiet Night, features classic tunes from songwriters like Paul Simon, Lennon & McCartney, Burt Bacharach, and Henry Mancini. "With What's It All About," says All About Jazz, "Metheny's ability to think outside the box never comes at the expense of losing sight of it, making music that's easy and accessible, but with deeper layers simmering just beneath its calm surface." In a new video posted here, Metheny introduces the new album by performing a number of tracks and discussing the album's inspiration.

Jamm, Senegalese musician Cheikh Lô’s first album in five years, is out now in North America. Upon its European release last year, Uncut called it the “African album of the year,” and the Guardian said, “Cheikh Lô is back with an album that reconfirms his position as one of the finest, one of the most soulful singers in West Africa.” In a four-star review, Q called it “true global music to make anyone feel better.”

k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang brought their UK tour to a close with a performance at Clyde Auditorium in Glasgow, Scotland, last night. The tour included two shows at London's Royal Festival Hall, to which the Guardian gives four stars. "lang is a beaming and ebullient figure tonight," says the Guardian. "k.d. lang's mojo has clearly been firmly relocated." The Evening Standard says "she's discovered how to have a ball, without sacrificing the passion that underpins her work ... How could anyone not fall a little in love?"

Timothy Andres will appear on today's episode of The New Canon on Q2, the online stream from New York's WQXR dedicated to new music, along with fellow composer/performer Gabriel Kahane, to discuss the blurring line between classical and pop musics. The show will also include recordings of their music, as well as that of Sufjan Stevens and Chris Thile. Andres will perform a solo concert at Brooklyn's Bargemusic on Thursday.

Ben Folds continues his Lonely Avenue tour of Asia in Japan ... Amadou & Mariam are in NYC ... Laurie Anderson performs Delusion in Spain and Portugal ... Shawn Colvin plays in Virginia and Pennsylvania ... Emmylou Harris's European tour heads to Amsterdam ... k.d. lang continues UK tour in London, Nottingham ... Kronos Quartet performs A Chinese Home close to home in San Francisco ... The Low Anthem launches US tour ... Jessica Lea Mayfield concludes her European tour in Amsterdam ... Pat Metheny talks music and science in NYC ... Allen Toussaint plays in Oregon ... and more ...