The Staves—the duo of Jessica and Camilla Staveley-Taylor—kick off a North American headline tour in support of their new album, All Now, at Union Stage in Washington, DC, on Sunday, then head up to New York City for a show at Bowery Ballroom on Monday. “Their first record as a duo is one of the strongest releases of the band’s career,” Atwood Magazine's Mitch Mosk writes of the new album. “A product of passion and perseverance, soul-searching and self-knowing, All Now is an emboldened, cathartic release that sees The Staves basking in beautiful folk rock pastures as they take on the world ... utterly enchanting—a catchy, cohesive, and many-sided listening experience with endless returns.” Last week, the duo was on Monocle on Culture to discuss their new album, which host Robert Bound describes as “sonically rich, full of moments of euphoria,” and perform live on the show; you can hear the episode here.

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Composer John Adams conducts The Cleveland Orchestra in a performance of his own City Noir at the Severance Music Center’s Mandel Concert Hall in Ohio on Saturday. The program, which was first performed last night, also includes Gabriella Smith’s Breathing Forests and Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun. Nonesuch Records’ 2014 recording of City Noir, performed by the St. Louis Symphony, led by Music Director David Robertson, and featuring saxophonist Timothy McAllister, went on to win the Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance.

The first recording of Adams’s Girls of the Golden West, performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic with the composer conducting, is due on Nonesuch April 26. The recording was made in Disney Hall, starring Julia Bullock and Davóne Tines, with the Los Angeles Master Chorale led by Grant Gershon.

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Sam Amidon brings his US tour to California this weekend, with a solo show at McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica on Saturday and a trio performance with saxophonist Sam Gendel and bassist Sam Wilkes at Zebulon in Los Angeles on Sunday. Amidon is on the latest episode of BBC World Service’s Music Life along with Brìghde Chaimbeul, Rhodri Davies, and Linda Buckley. They discuss the roles of tradition and place in music, and what they might think about when performing. You can hear their conversation here.

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Composer and pianist Timo Andres’ piano concerto The Blind Banister is performed by Simon Crawford-Philips at Örebro Konserthus in Sweden tonight, as part of a program with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and conductor/violinist Pekka Kuusisto. The piece can be heard on Andres’ just-released album of the same name performed by the composer and Metropolis Ensemble and conductor Andrew Cyr; the album also includes his Upstate Obscura, performed by Metropolis and soloist Inbal Segev, and the solo piano piece Colorful History, performed by Andres. "Original and arresting,” says the Guardian’s four-star album review. “It’s a highly accomplished disc all round."

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Laurie Anderson gives a sold-out performance at Koerner Hall in Toronto tonight, as part of 21C Music Festival. Anderson is the Guest of Honor at dublab's annual Creative Cultivation Salon at The River LA in Los Angeles this Tuesday, supporting the non-profit radio station's programs and mission. "If you love the things that are happening on dublab—and who wouldn't?—consider supporting this incredible effort," Anderson says. Earlier this year, she received the Recording Academy’s 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award during GRAMMYs weekend in Los Angeles.

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Hurray for the Riff Raff, aka Alynda Segarra, continues the West Coast leg of their North American tour, featuring music from their new album The Past Is Still Alive, in California, with concerts at the Belasco in Los Angeles tonight and Pappy & Harriet's in Pioneertown on Saturday. They head to Arizona for a show at Valley Bar in Phoenix on Sunday. "I'm such a big fan," Elton John says of Hurray for the Riff Raff, his guest on the latest episode of his Apple Music show Rocket Hour. "This is an artist who loves what they do, and so do I." You can hear their conversation here.

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The Magnetic Fields continue their 69 Love Songs 25th Anniversary tour in New York City, performing at The Town Hall tonight and tomorrow, following sold-out shows there last night and Wednesday. These concerts feature the full album, all 69 songs in order, over two nights at each tour stop.

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Mandy Patinkin brings his Being Alive tour—a collection of his favorite Broadway and classic American tunes from the likes of Irving Berlin, Stephen Sondheim, Cole Porter, Harry Chapin, and more—to Canada for a performance at the Imperial Theatre in St. John, New Brunswick, on Saturday, accompanied by pianist Adam Ben David. Patinkin spoke to CBC News’ Steven Webb ahead of the show; you can read what he had to say here. His latest album, Children and Art, was released on Nonesuch in 2019.

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Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion bring music from their 2021 album, Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part, and the forthcoming follow-up, Rectangles and Circumstances, to Western Carolina University’s Coulter Hall in Cullowhee, North Carolina, on Saturday. They also join students for a collective performance of Julius Eastman’s Stay on It. Announced earlier this week, Rectangles and Circumstance, an album of ten songs co-written and performed by Shaw and Sō Percussion, will be released via Nonesuch Records on June 14; a video for the title track may be seen here.

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Guitarist Yasmin Williams plays the Phelps Dunbar Tent at UNO Lakefront in New Orleans tomorrow afternoon, as part of Hogs for the Cause, which works to offer monetary relief to families with children fighting pediatric brain cancer. Last fall, Williams released her first song on Nonesuch, “Dawning.” The track—featuring Aoife O’Donovan on vocals, Kafari on rhythm bones, and Nic Gareiss’ percussive dancing—provides an early peek at her Nonesuch debut album, due later this year. You can hear the song and watch the video for it here.