Composer and trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire’s album honey from a winter stone, which he calls a “self-portrait,” is out now. It features improvisational vocalist Kokayi, pianist Sam Harris, Chiquitamagic on synthesizer, drummer Justin Brown, and the Mivos Quartet. “For arguably the most technically gifted trumpeter of his generation, a lot of Ambrose Akinmusire’s breakthroughs actually come from letting go of standards and structures," says the New York Times. "Lately Akinmusire has been making some of the most intimate, spellbinding music of his career.”

Rhiannon Giddens was on NPR's Code Switch podcast to talk with co-host B.A. Parker, who is learning to play the banjo and is looking to find community and reclaim an instrument rooted in Black culture. You can hear their conversation here.

Composer/guitarist Yasmin Williams performed "Nectar," from her new album, Acadia, for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert's Late Show Me Music online performance video series. You can watch it here. Williams kicks off a US tour in Ann Arbor this Friday.

Hurray for the Riff Raff, aka Alynda Segarra, was on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live! to perform "Snake Plant (The Past Is Still Alive)," from their 2024 album, The Past Is Still Alive. You can watch it here.

Steve Reich and Caroline Shaw are performed at Carnegie Hall, while Reich is also performed in Brooklyn, and Ringdown—Shaw and Danni Lee Parpan—performs in Portland. John Adams is performed by the San Francisco Symphony. Jeremy Denk is also in San Francisco, with Takács Quartet, at Hertz Hall. Gabriel Kahane and his father Jeffrey Kahane are at Northwestern, while Cécile McLorin Salvant is at Yale.

Portuguese fado singer Carminho stopped by the NPR offices in Washington, DC, to perform a Tiny Desk Concert of songs from her albums Portuguesa and Maria and her EP Carmimho at Electrical Audio. "The world of Portuguese fado is full of emotion that is on display within seconds of this performance by vocalist Carminho," says NPR's Felix Contreras. You can watch it here.

Congratulations to John Adams and Davóne Tines, who have been nominated for BBC Music Magazine Awards—"celebrating the best new classical music recordings"—Adams for the Opera Award for his Girls of the Golden West (on which Tines performs) and Tines for the Vocal Award for his solo recording debut, ROBESON. Winners will be chosen by public vote and announced at an awards ceremony at Kings Place in London on April 23.

Composer/trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, whose new album, honey from a winter stone, is out next week, stopped by for the Nonesuch Selects video series, in which artists visit the Nonesuch office, pick some of their favorite albums from the music library, and share a few words on their choices. He chose recordings by Joni Mitchell, Paul Jacobs (performing Schoenberg), Jonny Greenwood, Mary Halvorson, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Steve Reich, and Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride, and Brian Blade.

Yasmin Williams stopped by Acoustic Guitar to perform songs from her new album, Acadia, and more and to discuss the album. You can watch the session here. "Yasmin Williams is known for extending the boundaries of solo fingerstyle guitar, with progressive techniques and original compositions that blossom out of traditional folk and roots touchstones," writes Acoustic Guitar's Joey Lusterman. "On her latest record, Acadia, she expands her distinctive sound world even further." Williams kicks off a US tour later this month.

Julia Bullock sings in San Francisco, where a new John Adams piano concerto is premiered. Jeremy Denk performs at Union College. Gabriel Kahane goes solo at Michigan State. Brad Mehldau sits in with Al Foster in NYC.

Congratulations to composer and pianist Timo Andres on receiving the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's Elise L. Stoeger Prize—a $25,000 cash prize, awarded biennially by CMS to recognize significant contributions to the field of chamber music composition. Andres says: “I feel equally challenged and freed to take risks when I write chamber music, and writing it, I’ve learned the most about becoming a better composer and musician. To be recognized in this medium by one of its greatest institutional standard-bearers is a huge and unexpected honor.”

Across NYC this weekend, Makaya McCraven continues his Winter Jazzfest artist residency with three shows, Mary Halvorson continues her residency at The Stone, Punch Brothers kick off season two of The Energy Curfew Music Hour at Minetta Lane Theatre, and Rachael & Vilray perform at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Also in the US, Hurray for the Riff Raff's Austin City Limits set airs on PBS, and Gabriel Kahane is in Orlando. Across the Atlantic, Julia Bullock sings at Saffron Hall in UK.