Congratulations to Yussef Dayes, who has been nominated for two BRIT Awards: Best New Artist and Best Alternative/Rock Act. The 2024 BRIT Awards ceremony will take place at The O2 Arena in London on March 2, broadcast live on ITV1 and ITVX. Dayes’ debut solo studio album, Black Classical Music, was released in September; the eight-song The Yussef Dayes Experience: Live From Malibu is out this Friday.

As part of Kronos: Five Decades, the year-long celebration of Kronos Quartet’s 50th anniversary, the group is publishing five decade-spanning playlists curated by its founder and violinist David Harrington. The latest, featuring music Kronos performed in its fourth decade, 2003–2012, is out now. It includes works the quartet recorded on Nonesuch by Sigur Rós, Henryk Górecki, Clint Mansell, R.D. Burman, Ramallah Underground, Rokia Traoré, Pēteris Vasks, Terry Riley, Vladimir Martynov, Steve Reich, and more. You can hear it here.

Sam Amidon has announced a headline solo tour of the US this spring, following a North American tour as special guest of This Is the Kit and a weekend at Big Ears Festival in Knoxville. The new shows start in Northampton, Massachusetts, on March 26 and includes stops in New Hampshire, New York, California (with Sam Gendel), Oregon (with Laura Veirs), and Washington. The This Is the Kit tour starts in Brooklyn February 21.

The Black Keys released a music video for their new single, "Beautiful People (Stay High)," from their upcoming album, Ohio Players, out April 5. The video showcases beautiful people across the world, bringing high-energy dancing to match the track’s feel-good sentiment. You can watch it here.

Congratulations to Julia Bullock and Thomas Adès, who have been nominated for BBC Music Magazine Awards—"celebrating the best new classical music recordings"—Bullock for the Vocal Award for her debut solo album, Walking in the Dark, and Adès for the Orchestral Award for his Dante, performed by LA Phil and Gustavo Dudamel. (Both albums have been nominated for Grammy Awards.) Winners will be chosen by public vote, which begins today and closes at midnight on Friday, February 23, and announced at an awards ceremony at King’s Place in London on April 18. To have your say, visit classical-music.com/awards and vote for your favorites now.

Guitarist/composer Mary Halvorson's new album, Cloudward, is out now. Halvorson performs eight new compositions with her sextet Amaryllis—the improvisatory band that performed on her acclaimed 2022 albums Amaryllis and Belladonna: Patricia Brennan (vibraphone), Nick Dunston (bass), Tomas Fujiwara (drums), Jacob Garchik (trombone), and Adam O’Farrill (trumpet). Laurie Anderson is featured on one track. The Guardian, naming Cloudward its Jazz Album of the Month, says: "Halvorson’s fusions of written and spontaneous music reach an entrancing new seamlessness and seductive warmth with this terrific set. Superb." PopMatters calls it "a shimmering, deeply satisfying example of a jazz sextet firing on all cylinders. Prepare to be astonished." Bandcamp says: "It’s only January, but it’s hard not to see this as one of the great achievements of 2024."

Ambrose Akinmusire's album Owl Song, Cécile McLorin Salvant's Ghost Song and Mélusine, and Yussef Dayes' Black Classical Music are all topics of conversation on the latest New York Times Popcast episode, "An Elastic and Impressive Moment in Jazz," hosted by Times music critic Jon Caramanica, with guests and Times music writers Marcus J. Moore and Giovanni Russonello. You can hear their conversation about "impressive recent releases" and this moment in jazz here.

Julia Bullock sings Samuel Barber, Bob Dylan, Connie Converse, and more in Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall. John Adams conducts the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony in an all-Adams program. Jeremy Denk performs in Key West. Mary Halvorson and her Amaryllis sextet bring their new album, Cloudward, to France and the Netherlands. Kronos Quartet celebrates its 50th in France. Makaya McCraven and Meshell Ndegeocello perform in Chicago's Symphony Center. Cécile McLorin Salvant tours Arizona and California. Molly Tuttle joins Tommy Emmanuel at Glasgow's Celtic Connections and in Buxton.

As part of Nonesuch Records's 60th anniversary celebrations, the 2024 Big Ears Festival lineup includes fifteen Nonesuch artists past, present, and future. Ahead of the festival, taking place in Knoxville, TN, March 21–24, we've got a playlist of music from all of those artists: Sam Amidon, Laurie Anderson, Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, Tyondai Braxton, Rhiannon Giddens, Mary Halvorson, Robin Holcomb, Wayne Horvitz, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Kronos Quartet, Brad Mehldau, Ringdown (Caroline Shaw and Danni Lee), Davóne Tines, Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, and Yasmin Williams. You can hear it here via Spotify and Apple Music.

Nonesuch Records, founded in 1964, celebrates its 60th anniversary throughout 2024 with events including special programming at March’s Big Ears Festival; Vinyl Me, Please exclusive reissues; a podcast; an exhibition and portfolio set of artist portraits by photographer Michael Wilson; classic album vinyl reissues; limited-edition merchandise; flash sales; playlists; a video series; and more. Further details and additional programming, including artist talks, art shows, and radio series, will be announced. A playlist of more than 750 tracks—one from nearly every digitally available album the label has released—is out today.

As part of the year-long celebration of Nonesuch Records' 60th anniversary, we're launching a new video series today called Nonesuch Selects. For the series, artists stop by the Nonesuch office, pick some of their favorites from the music library, and share a few words on their choices. Guitarist and composer Mary Halvorson, whose new album, Cloudward, is out tomorrow, kicks things off with music by Laurie Anderson, Tyondai Braxton, Jeff Parker, Caroline Shaw & Attacca Quartet, and Kronos Quartet. You can watch it here.

Congratulations to Hurray for the Riff Raff, recipient of the International Folk Music Awards 2024 People’s Voice Award, presented to "an individual who unabashedly embraces social and political commentary in their creative work and public careers," and to Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, nominees for Album of the Year for City of Gold. The Awards ceremony will take place at the Folk Alliance International Conference in Kansas City, MO, on February 21.