Yo-Yo Ma has partnered with Knoxville-based arts nonprofit Big Ears for the multi-faceted concert “Our Common Nature: An Appalachian Celebration,” with musical guests Rhiannon Giddens, Chris Thile, and Edgar Meyer, on Friday, May 26, at World’s Fair Park in Knoxville, TN. In addition, Thile and Giddens will each perform a concert, May 25 and May 27, respectively, at Knoxville's Bijou Theatre. Conceived and curated by Ma, the World’s Fair Park celebration will include musicians, storytellers, and poets from throughout the Appalachian region, and will be the culmination of a week-long series of cultural experiences and conversations that lift the myriad voices of Appalachia—Indigenous, European, Latinx, Black, and beyond.

John Adams leads the LA Phil, Julia Bullock, and others in performances of his opera Girls of the Golden West at Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA. Kronos Quartet performs at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall and in Saratoga Springs. Brad Mehldau's quintet is at Village Vanguard in NYC through Sunday. Mandy Patinkin is at Strathmore in Bethesda. Cécile McLorin Salvant is in California, at the Mondavi Center in Davis and Bing Concert Hall in Stanford. The Black Keys DJ in NYC.

Makaya McCraven, Jeff Parker perform as part of NYC Winter JazzFest. Laurie Anderson is at SFJAZZ. Julia Bullock joins Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra for Knoxville: Summer of 1915. Jeremy Denk, Rhiannon Giddens are at Kimmel Center in Philadelphia. Gabriel Kahane performs from Magnificent Bird in NYC. Brad Mehldau, Cécile McLorin Salvant join Blue Note at Sea. Mandy Patinkin kicks off tour in Pennsylvania. Joshua Redman is at Tucson Jazz Festival. Chris Thile is solo in Paducah.

The Black Keys have announced initial details of the European leg of their Dropout Boogie Tour starting in June. Following shows in Luxembourg and the Netherlands, the band will be joined by special guests Spoon for concerts in Paris, London, Manchester, Glasgow, Cologne, and Hamburg. The Black Keys will play festival sets in Italy, Portugal, and Spain in July. Pre-sale tickets for the June dates will be open to the band’s fan club, The Lonely Boys & Girls Club, on December 13; general on-sale begins December 16. This marks The Black Keys’ first European tour since 2015. 

Rhiannon Giddens will tour the UK this spring, joined by multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi. The tour starts in Aberdeen on April 27, with shows in Edinburgh, Gateshead, Perth, London, Norwich, Birmingham, and Essex. They follow the last two concerts of Giddens' Perspectives series at Carnegie Hall and bookend the Boston Lyric Opera run of Omar, her opera with Michael Abels, in May. They precede the 2023 Ojai Festival, of which she is Music Director, in June, and a trip to Italy for festival sets in Spoleto and Umbria in July.

Keep Your Courage, Natalie Merchant’s tenth solo studio album and the first of new material since her 2014 self-titled record, is due April 14. An eclectic album, produced by Merchant, it features lush orchestrations throughout, two duets sung with vocalist Abena Koomson-Davis of Resistance Revival Chorus, contributions from the Celtic folk group Lúnasa and Syrian clarinetist Kinan Azmeh, and horn arrangements by jazz trombonist Steve Davis. There are nine original songs by Merchant and an interpretation of a song by Ian Lynch of the Irish band Lankum. The vinyl LP edition includes four bonus tracks from earlier albums, previously unreleased on vinyl. Merchant will tour the US in the spring and fall. 

Vagabon will join Weyes Blood on tour in March and April 2023. The shows kick off at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee on March 13, followed by stops in Minneapolis, Des Moines, Englewood, Salt Lake City, Boise, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Phoenix, Santa Fe, Austin, and Dallas, culminating at Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa on April 2.

Cécile McLorin Salvant performs her new theatrical piece Ogresse at the Kennedy Center. Timo Andres celebrates Ingram Marshall at Yale. The Black Keys take part in VetsAid 2022 in Columbus. Rhiannon Giddens joins LA Phil for Julia Bullock–curated festival. Tigran Hamasyan plays in Bentonville and Los Angeles. Hurray for the Riff Raff joins Bright Eyes in Providence and Brooklyn. Kronos Quartet leads online master class. Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride, Brian Blade are in Zurich and Groningen. Caroline Shaw, Sō Percussion perform in Oregon, broadcast live. Chris Thile, Sam Amidon tour London, Manchester, and Glasgow. Molly Tuttle is in Tennessee and North Carolina.

Kronos Quartet will tour Australia for the final time in March 2023, in celebration of its 50th anniversary. The KRONOS Five Decades Tour—the eighth Australian tour for the ensemble produced by Arts Projects Australia—will take in Perth Festival, Arts Centre Melbourne, Tasmania’s Ten Days On The Island, WOMADelaide, and Adelaide Festival, culminating at the Sydney Opera House on March 14. Kronos will perform music spanning brand new works and signature pieces from composers around the world.

Gabriel Kahane, who heads to Europe and the UK this month for a London Jazz Festival set at the Southbank Centre and two nights in Copenhagen with the Danish String Quartet, has just announced a return to the Continent next March. The tour begins at the Philharmonie de Luxembourg on March 2, followed by a night at the Elbphilhrmonie in Hamburg and shows in Cologne, Lyon, Paris, Cenon, and Chateauroux. 

Tigran Hamasyan kicks off a North American tour with music from his new album of American standards, StandArt, at The Opera House in Brooklyn on Wednesday, followed by shows in Bentonville, Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia, Ottawa, and Toronto. "Out of all the so-called jazz standard repertoire, there are a number of compositions that really have a special place in my heart,” he says in a new video about the making of the album. "It was a true blessing to record this project with Matt Brewer with Justin Brown as the trio and have guest appearances of Ambrose Akinmusire, Mark Turner, and Joshua Redman."

Hurray for the Riff Raff, who is currently touring North America as special guest of Bright Eyes, will join First Aid Kit on their West Coast tour in May 2023. The shows kick off at the Fox Theater in Oakland on May 15, followed by the Hollywood Palladium and stops in Phoenix, Denver, Salt Lake City, Portland, and Vancouver, culminating at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle on May 24.