"The three string quartets Henryk Górecki wrote for Kronos are a totally unique body of work," writes Kronos Quartet Artistic Director David Harrington of the composer, who passed away earlier today. "With Already it is Dusk, Quasi una fantasia, and ...songs are sung, Górecki extended a tradition that includes Bach and Beethoven, among many others." Read Harrington's personal remembrances here and see photos of Kronos and the composer.

Nonesuch Records was saddened to learn of the death of composer Henryk Mikolaj Górecki, who died at the age of 76 today in Katowice, Poland, after a long illness. Górecki reached a worldwide audience in the 1990s with his Symphony No.3, which reached the top of the classical charts in the US and UK. He wrote three string quartets for Kronos Quartet, whose Artistic Director David Harrington says: "There is no one who can replace Henryk Górecki in the world of music. Many others have created beautiful, passionate, even exalted music. But Henryk found a way forward and beyond, through thickets of styles and fashions, that resonates of the single human being in communion with the power of the Universe. I miss him immensely."

NY Phil performs Adams's Hamonielehre at Carnegie Hall ... Laurie Anderson does Delusion in Florence ... The Black Keys play Germany's Rolling Stone fest ... Carolina Chocolate Drops play Benelux ... Shawn Colvin has two shows in NYC ... Ben Folds hits Buffalo and Philadelphia ... Emmylou Harris, The Low Anthem play Montclair and Albany ... Gidon Kremer, Kremerata Baltica close US tour in Boston ... Kronos Quartet performs in Poland and Germany ... Jessica Lea Mayfield joins Jay Farrar in Kentucky and Ohio ... Brad Mehldau premieres Highway Rider in London ... Punch Brothers, Stephen Sondheim visit Strathmore  ... Allen Toussaint takes New Orleans Nights to New England ... Caetano Veloso joins Beck at MOCA benefit ... Sara Watkins tours UK ... and more ...

Punch Brothers continue their US tour with stops outside DC, and in Charleston, West Virginia, for a live Mountain Stage performance. The Washington Post calls their music "dazzling." Last week, Steve Martin awarded banjoist Noam Pikelny the Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass and performed with the band on The Late Show with David Letterman. Punch Brothers also performed at WFUV in New York. Watch videos of it all here.

Tune in to NPR's World Cafe today to hear Folds and Hornby discuss their new album, Lonely Avenue, and to hear Folds perform a few of its songs. Folds's US tour takes him to Buffalo tonight, where Artvoice says the unexpected collaboration behind Lonely Avenue is a success: "Folds flourishes on this album, and his curious choice to collaborate with an author, when Folds himself is recognized by fans for his words, is a trick that pays off." The duo is the subject of a new piece on the BBC News.

In September, Philip Selway, Nonesuch Records, and Indaba Music launched a search for collaborators to remix his song "Beyond Reason" off his solo debut album, Familial. Selway has now chosen a Grand Prize Winner and two Runners-Up, and fans have chosen 15 Honorable Mentions, all of which can be heard here. Entertainment Weekly says: "Selway’s hushed, eerie folk tunes were a revelation after years of hearing him keep the beat in his main gig."

Steve Reich's 2x5 receives its US premiere at Strathmore Hall outside of Washington, DC, tonight. The piece will be performed as part of an all-Reich program by the Bang on a Can All-Stars. Bang on a Can gave 2x5 its world premiere in Manchester, England, last summer and can be heard on the first recording of the piece, released this past September with Reich's Double Sextet, which is also on tonight's program. Voting has begun at Indaba Music to pick the Top ten 2x5 remixes.

Brad Mehldau gave the New York premiere of his Highway Rider in Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall Tuesday night, performing with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and the musicians featured on the album. The New York Times says of all Mehldau's classically inspired works, Highway Rider "is his grandest effort yet," with its "ear-catching modal motif" and influences in Beethoven. At the same time, it remains "couched in jazz’s bluesy chromaticism and fluid rhythms." Highway Rider's European premiere is this Saturday at the Barbican in London.

Ben Folds continues his US tour, featuring music from Lonely Avenue, his album with Nick Hornby, with a stop at Club Zoo in Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review says the collaboration "yielded one of the year's most compelling albums." Sequenza21 calls Lonely Avenue Folds's "most musically ambitious and wide-ranging effort to date; yet it’s uniformly distinguished. Perhaps in response to the rich lyrical terrain he has before him, Folds incorporates a number of stylistic inflections this time out, from savvily arranged seventies pop to undulating minimalism and from sensitive balladry to brash piano punk."

Jessica Lea Mayfield’s Nonesuch Records debut, Tell Me, will be released February 8. Produced by The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, the album follows Mayfield’s acclaimed 2008 release, With Blasphemy So Heartfelt, which Pitchfork gave an 8.2, calling it "fascinating and endlessly listenable." Tell Me is now available to pre-order in the Nonesuch Store, where the first 250 CD or vinyl copies include a signed 7” of the album’s first single, “Our Hearts Are Wrong.” Mayfield will tour throughout the fall, including dates with Jay Farrar and Justin Townes Earle.

Emmylou Harris, Kronos Quartet, and Philip Glass will be among the diverse array of artists performing at the Sydney Festival in Australia this January. Harris will give three shows, including a free set at the Festival First Night, marking her first time performing in Australia in a decade. Kronos gives the Australian premiere of A Chinese Home, with pipa virtuoso Wu Man, and performs Glass's Dracula with the composer. Glass also offers an evening of his chamber music with cellist Wendy Sutter. The Black Keys will be in Australia for the Big Day Out tour plus several newly added side shows.

Harps and Angels, the new musical featuring the music and lyrics of Randy Newman, begins previews today at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. The show opens officially on November 21 and runs through December 22. Though it shares its name with Newman's latest Nonesuch release, the new production includes songs from that album and throughout his career. The show is directed by Jerry Zaks, with Katey Sagal and Michael McKean leading an ensemble cast.