Brad Mehldau's Highway Rider has made the Jazzwise list of the Top 10 Albums of the Year for 2010. "Brad Mehldau doesn’t do things by halves," says Jazzwise, which sees the new album as notable both for reuniting Mehldau with producer Jon Brion and for "showing another side to the increasingly influential Mehldau." Mehldau and the featured artists on Highway Rider recently performed the piece in the US and Europe and will do so again at LA's Walt Disney Concert Hall in January.

Steve Reich's latest album, which pairs eighth blackbird's performance of the composer's Pulitzer Prize–winning piece Double Sextet with Bang on a Can's performance of 2x5, has now been named among the Top 10 Classical Albums of 2010 by NPR. "Steve Reich may be labeled a 'minimalist' composer," says NPR, "but the works on this recording are far more 'maximal' than simple repeating chords and mutating melodies."

Carolina Chocolate Drops kick off the latest leg of their world tour, this time back in the US, following their recent tour of Europe. The band will soon be joined by The Low Anthem for a five-show swing through the South, after which The Low Anthem will join Emmylou Harris on the Grand Ole Opry at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium. The Charlotte Observer includes the Carolina Chocolate Drops' Genuine Negro Jig in its 2010 Holiday Gift Guide.

Celebrations of Steve Reich's 75th year in 2011 continue to mount, with Sweden's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra kicking things off in January with Tonsättarfestivalen: Steve Reich, a five-day festival of Reich's music in Stockholm, and the Sónar festival's just-announced all-Reich Opening Night concert in Barcelona in June. Already on tap are musical celebrations at Carnegie Hall, the Barbican, the Sacrum Profanum festival in Kraków, Cité de la Musique, and more.

Wanda Jackson's new album, The Party Ain't Over, produced by Jack White, is due out January 25, and is now available for pre-order in the Nonesuch Store. The first 250 pre-orders include an exclusive, limited-edition poster autographed by Jackson, and all orders include high-quality album MP3s, available for download release day. What's more, with the current Nonesuch Store sale, all CDs and LPs are 33% off the standard retail price.

Louis Andriessen has won the 2011 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition for his opera La Commedia, premiered in 2008. "I was born in a sidestreet by a small canal in the medieval centre of Utrecht," says the composer. "Believe me, 71 years later, getting the world-famous Grawemeyer Award for La Commedia seems to be completely unreal ... I am very grateful for the prize." At the Amsterdam premiere of La Commedia, the Sunday Times described the work as "the distillation of a lifetime’s creativity.” You can watch a short video preview of the Netherlands Opera premiere here.

Timothy Andres's debut album, Shy and Mighty, has made the New York Times Holiday Gift Guide for 2010. Traces of the composer's eclectic influences "show in this melodic, richly contrapuntal, often muscular 10-movement work," says the Times. "But what comes through most clearly is the inventiveness and originality of Mr. Andres’s own compositional voice." Andres will be featured on a special “Where Are They Now?” episode of NPR's From the Top this week; this “Alumni Musical Mavericks” program explores the different musical avenues five performers have taken since they first appeared on the show.

Sara Watkins recently completed an extensive tour across the UK and Ireland, with her brother Sean on guitar. You can watch a video of highlights from the tour here. They will appear in the Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles's production of Much Ado About Nothing, performing music by Lyle Lovett, starting this Wednesday, December 1, and running through December 19. Starring in the production are Helen Hunt as Beatrice and Tom Irwin as Benedick.

The Black Keys are celebrating both Black Friday and Record Store Day with the release of a special, limited-edition box set of their album Brothers to indie retailers and the Nonesuch Store. Included in the package are the original Brothers album on double 45 RPM vinyl and CD as well as a bonus 10” featuring six previously unreleased tracks recorded live in studio, and a limited-edition poster.

Nonesuch Records wishes everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving, and a very fruitful Black Friday. Here are a few concerts in the coming days to keep in mind as well: Ben Folds returns home to Nashville for a concert with the Nashville Symphony to benefit the orchestra and local volunteer firefighters; Punch Brothers are guests on A Prairie Home Companion; Joshua Redman and Brad Mehldau play a pair of duo shows in Europe; and Oumou Sangare concludes a brief US tour.

Stephen Sondheim celebrated his 80th birthday this past March, a momentous milestone that has been marked in many ways throughout the year, including two New York Philharmonic concerts at Lincoln Center. The New York Times called it "thrilling." That show, Sondheim! The Birthday Concert, is airing on PBS's Great Performances, starting tonight. David Hyde Pierce hosts a stellar cast, including Mandy Patinkin, Audra McDonald, Laura Benanti, John McMartin, Michael Cerveris, Patti LuPone, Victoria Clark, Bernadette Peters, Elaine Stritch, and many others.

Harps and Angels, the new musical featuring the music and lyrics of Randy Newman, officially opened at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles this week and runs through December 22. Variety calls the play "a sure cure for wintertime blues ... a showcase for his whiskey-soaked melodies and incisive poetic gifts." The Hollywood Reporter says: "All in all, it's a journey as simple, complex, contradictory and confounding as life itself—just what you'd expect from a fellow with the temperament of Huck Finn and the soul of a poet."