Dawn Upshaw joined violinist Geoff Nutall for the European premiere of Kurtág's Kafka Fragments at the Barbican in London last week, directed by Peter Sellars. The Guardian gave it four stars, citing "Upshaw's emotional honesty and gripping presentation of music that tests a soprano's technique." She joins another Sellars collaborator, John Adams, in performances of Adams's El Niño with the San Francisco Symphony, led by the composer, in early December.

Punch Brothers continue the Southern swing of their US tour, following last night's show in Knoxville and a live Mountain Stage set that led the Charleston Gazette to say the band "can flat-out play music." Chris Thile spoke with Birmingham magazine's Carla Jean Whitley, who tells him: "Perhaps I'm reading too much in, but it just sounds like you're five guys having a great time creating music with friends." The band has just added new dates to their tour schedule in January.

Philip Selway will be the guest on NPR's World Cafe today. Tune in on NPR stations across the United States or listen in online at xpn.org to hear Selway talk with the show's host, David Dye, and perform songs from his solo debut album, Familial. Selway recently selected the winner in the search for collaborators to remix the album track "Beyond Reason," which you can download at Spinner.

On February 22, The Low Anthem will release Smart Flesh, the self-produced follow-up to their critically lauded 2009 release, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, on Nonesuch. The majority of Smart Flesh's 11 tracks were recorded in a cavernous, vacant pasta sauce factory in Central Falls, Rhode Island. The eclectic array of instruments used on the album include jaw harp, musical saw, stylophone, three antique pump organs (restored by the band), and oversized drum kits.

Martin Scorsese has selected 15 films by fellow Academy Award-winning director Elia Kazan for the Elia Kazan Film Collection, a new, 18-disc box set, capturing what NPR's Fresh Air recently described as "some of the most mythic performances in film history." Included are three films whose scores were recorded for the Nonesuch Film Series: A Streetcar Named Desire, Viva Zapata!, and East of Eden.

Congratulations to Fernando Otero, winner of the 2010 Latin Grammy Award for Best Classical Album. Otero picked up the Grammy at the 11th annual Latin Grammy Award ceremonies in Las Vegas for his latest album, Vital (World Village), the follow-up to his 2008 Nonesuch release, Pagina de Buenos Aires. He and his band perform in New York this week, at the Nublu Jazz Festival and at Zinc Bar for the New Dimensions in Latin Jazz series.

"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."

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."

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.