Stephen Sondheim spoke with playwright Tony Kushner at New York's Public Theater last fall, upon the publication of Finishing the Hat, Sondheim's first-ever collected lyrics. The evening, part of the Public Theater's Public Form discussion series, was hosted by NEA chairman Rocco Landesman. You can now watch excerpts from the event in a new video from the Public, posted here. Sondheim will receive the Olivier Special Award in London this Sunday.

Nonesuch releases its first recording of music by Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy, Grá agus Bás, on May 3. The album includes the title piece, which translates as Love and Death, as well as the composer’s song cycle That the Night Come. The Dublin–based Crash Ensemble—which Dennehy co-founded—performs both works, conducted by Alan Pierson. Irish singer Iarla O’Lionáird is the soloist for Grá agus Bás; Dawn Upshaw is featured on That the Night Come. The album is currently available to pre-order here.

The Carolina Chocolate Drops and Punch Brothers will be among the performers at the first Dave Matthew Band Caravan, a series of three-day, multi-artist festivals taking place this summer. Atlantic City, New Jersey, will host this first Caravan, which will take place June 24–26 at Bader Field, formerly the site of the Atlantic City Municipal Airport. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday, March 25.

Dan Auerbach's song "Going Home," off his debut solo album, Keep It Hid, provides the musical setting for a new short documentary video released today from the United Nations that calls attention to the crisis of internally displaced people in Eastern Congo. Today's video release coincides with the visit of UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos to the Congo. Watch the video here.

Wanda Jackson will perform at Rachael Ray's Feedback Party at the SXSW Music Festival in Austin next Saturday, March 19. She is the latest Nonesuch artist to join the SXSW line-up, joining Emmylou Harris and Jessica Lea Mayfield. Jackson comes in at No. 1 on the Prefix list celebrating "some of our personal favorite frontwomen, singers, songwriters, and icons" on International Women's Day. This Saturday, she will be featured on CMT's Insider.

Emmylou Harris's Hard Bargain, due out April 26, is now available for pre-order in the Nonesuch Store with an exclusive manuscript lyric sheet of the album's opening track, "The Road," a number of which will be autographed by Harris. On "The Road," Harris looks back on the formative time she spent with Gram Parsons at the beginning of her career. In April, Harris will perform at special intimate shows in Los Angeles and New York and on the Late Show with David Letterman.

Nonesuch will release the self-titled debut album from James Farm, a collaborative band featuring saxophonist Joshua Redman, pianist Aaron Parks, bassist Matt Penman, and drummer Eric Harland, on April 26. The band uses traditional acoustic jazz quartet instrumentation for its song-based approach to jazz and incorporates the members’ myriad of influences: rock, soul, folk, classical, and electronica, among many others. The band will be touring the U.S. this summer in support of the album.

Randy Newman's North American tour brought the singer-songwriter to the New York area for several performances, including Saturday's show at The Town Hall in New York City. Time Out New York exclaims: "The Town Hall is across the street from the Stephen Sondheim Theatre, whose namesake, along with Bob Dylan, gives this great American songwriter his only real competition." The Village Voice concurs, calling him "the greatest living songwriter not named something that rhymes with Smob Smylan."

The Society of London Theatre has announced that Stephen Sondheim will be the recipient of the Olivier Special Award 2011. He will accept the Award in person, given in recognition of his contribution to London theatre, at the Olivier Awards this Sunday, March 13, at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. The Awards ceremony will conclude with a tribute to Sondheim. The whole evening will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 2; there will be live televised coverage via the BBC’s Red Button.

The Low Anthem brings its US winter tour to a close this week before heading to Europe, with shows in Portland, New York, and in the abandoned pasta sauce factory where they recorded their new album, Smart Flesh. The Boston Globe says The Low Anthem hit "a high note" in its Friday show at the Old South Church, "a galvanizing 90-minute performance that was masterful and even magical at times."

The Low Anthem performs two sold-out shows in Massachusetts with hand-screened shirts on hand ... John Adams makes Toronto Symphony Orchestra debut ... Timothy Andres joins Gabriel Kahane for Ives-inspired evening ... Carolina Chocolate Drops play two shows in PA ... Ben Folds continues European tour ... Emmylou Harris, John Prine play Alabama ... Fred Hersch, Joshua Redman do duo in NYC ... Kronos Quartet tours Taiwan ... Brad Mehldau holds master classes in NYC ... Natalie Merchant performs Bard benefit ... Randy Newman hits NYC ... Punch Brothers play Utah ... and more ...

k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang will perform at the eighth-annual Stuart House benefit held at the John Varvatos store in West Hollywood, on Sunday, March 13. Varvatos closes the street and opens the door of his boutique for an afternoon of live music, shopping, auctions, great food, and kids’ activities. Proceeds benefit Stuart House, a program serving the special needs of child victims of sexual abuse and their families.