Rokia Traoré is the subject of a feature article in the Financial Times that examines the life and career of "Mali’s most ambitious, experimental singer," in particular her place in a culture in which musical roles are often strictly defined by tradition and deep-rooted tastes. The article closes at a soundcheck in a London club in which Rokia and her band are getting ready to play, and even with the day's distractions, "when Traoré sings quietly, more to herself than to anyone else, the room is hers and hers alone."

John Adams's opera Doctor Atomic is set to receive its UK premiere next Wednesday, February 25, in the English National Opera's production at the London Coliseum. New Statesman spoke with the composer about the piece, with its "shatteringly powerful" music, and about his place as "the leading American composer of his generation, still in full creative flow, prolific and inventive." The article examines Adams's operas, from his first, Nixon in China, which "transformed the world of opera," to his latest, the "shimmeringly beautiful" A Flowering Tree.

John Adams will be a featured composer of the Barbican Centre's 2009–10 season in a special John Adams Focus series next year. It will include six Adams works over six performances next February to July, featuring four UK premieres and two concerts with the composer leading the London Symphony Orchestra. The Times (UK) talks to Adams about his operas, with Doctor Atomic set to receive its UK premiere by the English National Opera next week.

Youssou N'Dour is partnering with IntraHealth International, the non-profit working to promote sustainable, accessible health care around the world, on a charity album titled OPEN Remix. It will benefit a new IntraHealth OPEN Initiative, created to address critical health issues in Africa by putting the latest open-source software technologies directly in the hands of health workers. Nas, Duncan Sheik, Peter Buck, and other artists have joined Youssou in the effort, donating remixes of his song "Wake Up (It's Africa Calling)" to raise funds and visibility for the new initiative.

Wilco is set to release a new concert DVD, Ashes of American Flags, on Nonesuch, Saturday, April 18, at independent retailers and nonesuch.com nationwide as part of national Record Store Day. The film, shot in high-def and produced and directed by Christoph Green and Fugazi’s Brendan Canty, presents Wilco live in concert during their 2008 tour. Culled from concerts in five quintessentially American venues—Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa, Tipitina’s in New Orleans, The Mobile Civic Center in Mobile, The Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, and the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC—it captures the energy, poignancy, and musicality of a Wilco concert and tour.

Brad Mehldau will be joined by mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter at Carnegie Hall tonight for the world premiere of his new work Love Songs. The piece, written for von Otter, is Brad's third Carnegie Hall commission for voice and song; it is set to poems by Sara Teasdale, Philip Larkin, and e. e. cummings, each poet with a different perspective on love. Mehldau and von Otter will perform a number of American popular songs as well. On the first half of the program, pianist Bengt Forsberg will accompany von Otter on works by Sibelius, Hahn, and Schumann, and perform piano works by Ravel and Dukas.

Orlando "Cachaíto" López, the legendary Cuban bassist, died in a Havana hospital yesterday, after complications from a routine operation. Born in Havana in 1933, Cachaíto came from one of Cuba’s foremost musical dynasties, which included his father, Orestes López and uncle, Israel "Cachao" López, and he was considered by many as the finest bass player in the world. The "heartbeat of the Buena Vista Social Club," bass player Cachaíto was the only musician to have played on every album in the Buena Vista Social Club series.

London's Wigmore Hall has announced the first group of concerts that Brad Mehldau has programmed as artistic director of an annual, two-season jazz series there. Scheduled for the first season, 2009-10, are two solo events, a duo concert with label mate Joshua Redman, a Brad Mehldau Trio concert, and a recital with mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, with whom he premieres his Love Songs tomorrow at Carnegie Hall.

Shortly after Barack Obama was sworn in as President, the Los Angeles Times music critic Mark Swed offered a list of "rich, wise, inclusive original voices" he might invite to the White House to signal his commitment to the arts. Others have even suggested the appointment of an arts czar. Given all the demands currently weighing on the President, though, Adams explains, in a Newsweek interview, that music appreciation has to start on a much more basic level. "[T]he one and only way to interest people in classical music is to get them to play it as children," Adams asserts. "I think people should just be exposed all the time to great art. That sounds like a really simple, grandiose statement, but I think it's really true."

Grammy week is under way, which means not only the culminating awards ceremony, which will be held this Sunday night, but also various special events, including a conversation with and performance by Allen Toussaint tonight at the Grammy Museum, and an invitation-only ceremony honoring Toussaint and Elliott Carter with the Trustees Award Saturday night. Toussaint will also perform on the live broadcast of Sunday's awards ceremony with an eclectic group of fellow New Orleans artists. Nonesuch artists and albums have been nominated for a total of 13 Grammys this year.

Laurie Anderson performs Burning Leaves, a selection of songs and stories from her various solo shows, in Cleveland, Ohio, this Saturday. She is also a featured artist in the new Guggenheim Museum exhibit The Third Mind, on the influence of Asian among American artists. In the House. In the Fire. Stories 1972–2008, a collection of spoken stories and sounds associated with Laurie's performance work, is included in the exhibit, which runs through April 19. In conjunction with the exhibit, Laurie performs two live solo shows, titled Transitory Life: Some Stories, in the museum next month.

k.d. lang has been nominated as both Artist of the Year and Producer of the Year in the 2009 JUNO Awards for her 2008 Nonesuch release, Watershed. Over the years, she has won a total of eight JUNOs, dating all the way back to her 1985 win for Most Promising Female Vocalist of the Year. This year's Producer of the Year nomination is particularly noteworthy, given that Watershed is k.d.'s first self-produced project.