The musical influence of Steve Reich and his compositions are the focus of a marathon weekend at the Barbican in London on May 7 and 8. Following the previous announcement of the Reverberations weekend, further details of the program have now been confirmed. The weekend celebrates Reich as a special guest in honor of his 75th birthday year during a packed weekend that explores his influence on generations of musicians, as well as his own work.

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) has announced that Audra McDonald has been cast to play Bess in the A.R.T.'s new production of Porgy and Bess. Also in the cast are Norm Lewis as Porgy and David Alan Grier as Sportin' Life. Performances will begin August 17 at the Loeb Drama Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. McDonald will join Liev Schreiber to announce the nominations for the 56th Annual Drama Desk Awards on May 2.

Laurie Anderson is the subject of the cover story of Art Review magazine, which coincides with the Barbican exhibition featuring Anderson's work from 1970s New York. The article examines Anderson's explorations of sound and voice, from her early "tape-bow violin" experiments to her latest album, Homeland. Anderson will perform in the Concert for Japan in New York City this weekend and will read a short story by James Salter at the Parrish Art Museum in Southampton the following weekend. Later this month, she will emcee a poetry event for the PEN World Voices Festival at the 92nd Street Y.

Chris Thile and Michael Daves's debut album, Sleep with One Eye Open, is a collection of 16 traditional tunes by bluegrass legends like The Monroe Brothers, The Louvin Brothers, Jimmy Martin, and Flatt & Scruggs. The duo recently performed a number of songs from the album at Rockwood Music Hall in New York City, where they kick off their East Coast tour next month. Check out their performance of the title track in a new video posted to Facebook. It's the first in a series of performance videos that will be unveiled in the coming weeks leading up to the album's release.

Nonesuch releases John Adams’s Son of Chamber Symphony / String Quartet on May 31, 2011. Son of Chamber Symphony (2007) is performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), led by the composer, and Adams’s String Quartet (2008) is performed by the St. Lawrence String Quartet, the ensemble for which the piece was written. This is the first recording of both works. The album is now available for pre-order in the Nonesuch Store.

The Low Anthem has contributed the latest addition to the A.V. Club's Undercover series: their take on the classic Wilco tune "A Shot in the Arm." Says the A.V. Club: "Though there are plenty of heirs apparent to Wilco's crossover-Americana charm, TLA seem like particularly strong candidates based on an already-impressive discography." The Low Anthem recently performed several songs off their new album, Smart Flesh, at NPR member station WFUV; watch the videos here.

Natalie Merchant and Carolina Chocolate Drops performed at the 45th annual Cambridge Folk Festival in England last summer to great acclaim. The Guardian said "Merchant was on classic form." The Daily Telegraph described the Carolina Chocolate Drops as "Cambridge naturals, playing their banjo and jug-band music with such irrepressible joy you can well imagine they’ve arrived on the main stage direct from last night’s camp fire." Now, a two-hour DVD of the 2010 festival has been released, capturing songs from these performances.

Steve Reich's WTC 9/11 recently received its world premiere in a performance by Kronos Quartet, which will give the West Coast premiere this week in Irvine, California. The Los Angeles Times spoke with the composer about this "signature Reich piece" and with Kronos, "the pied pipers of innovative music," about the collaboration. Kronos will give the NY premiere later this month in an all-Reich program at Carnegie Hall. Kronos and other performers on the concert talk about performing Reich's music in new short videos you can watch here.

After wrapping up its current European run with sold-out shows across the continent, The Low Anthem will return to the United States for spring and summer dates in support of their latest Nonesuch release, Smart Flesh, including headline shows and dates with Iron & Wine and Mumford & Sons. The Low Anthem is featured on the bonus track of label mate Emmylou Harris' forthcoming album Hard Bargain; her collaboration with the band on their song “To Ohio” will be available digitally via iTunes and Amazon.

Pat Metheny and his Orchestrion were featured on CBS Sunday Morning this past weekend. The guitarist-composer explained the inner workings of the cutting-edge instruments and performance methods he used on his latest Nonesuch album and subsequent world tour. Watch it here. Metheny will lead a five-day workshop this summer in Connecticut with his trio, featuring Christian McBride and Antonio Sanchez, that also includes nightly concerts.

The Civil War, the five-part film by Ken Burns, deemed one of the most popular offering ever presented on public television, is airing anew on PBS stations across the US this week. Nonesuch released the official soundtrack recording to the film back during its original run in 1990; it went on to win the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album. Featuring traditional American music ranging from brass bands to gospel choirs, “the music in The Civil War achieves an eloquence parallel to that of the narration," wrote GQ, "and it reinforces the visual illusion of aching, coming-to-life immediacy."

Wanda Jackson was featured on the CBS Evening News last night in a look at her five-and-a-half decades of music making. "You're as hot now as you've ever been," says CBS's Anthony Mason. Watch the segment here. The Denver Post, reviewing a recent Jackson concert, says "her signature rock ‘n’ roll bad girl growl sounds just as sexy at 73 as it must have at 17." KDHX says of another: "It was truly a pleasure to watch one of the first and feistiest ladies of rockabilly (really it's hard to place Wanda Jackson in just one category) work her magic."