Stephen Sondheim celebrated his 80th birthday this past March, a momentous milestone that has been marked in many ways throughout the year, including two New York Philharmonic concerts at Lincoln Center. The New York Times called it "thrilling." That show, Sondheim! The Birthday Concert, is airing on PBS's Great Performances, starting tonight. David Hyde Pierce hosts a stellar cast, including Mandy Patinkin, Audra McDonald, Laura Benanti, John McMartin, Michael Cerveris, Patti LuPone, Victoria Clark, Bernadette Peters, Elaine Stritch, and many others.

Harps and Angels, the new musical featuring the music and lyrics of Randy Newman, officially opened at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles this week and runs through December 22. Variety calls the play "a sure cure for wintertime blues ... a showcase for his whiskey-soaked melodies and incisive poetic gifts." The Hollywood Reporter says: "All in all, it's a journey as simple, complex, contradictory and confounding as life itself—just what you'd expect from a fellow with the temperament of Huck Finn and the soul of a poet."

In December 2007, the Nonesuch Store opened online with just a couple of new releases. Now, three years later, the store has grown to include hundreds of new and classic Nonesuch albums. To celebrate this third anniversary, all CDs, LPs, and DVDs on the site are now 33% off the standard retail price. That's an extra savings of almost 20% off the everyday prices listed here.

Jessica Lea Mayfield, whose debut Nonesuch album, Tell Me, is due out February 8, has just announced several new US tour dates in February with Justin Townes Earle. In fact, the tour will bring her back to her hometown of Kent, Ohio, on the record's release date. The tour kicks off in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and includes stops in Burlington, Buffalo, Detroit, Chicago, Bloomington, Madison, and Minneapolis. The two will play previously scheduled shows in Philadelphia, Boston, New York, and DC next month.

Wanda Jackson and her forthcoming Jack White-produced album, The Party Ain't Over, are the subject of a feature article in the latest issue of American Songwriter magazine. "I don’t know too many female names in the rock and roll world that come before her," White says. "She put in that energy to take it someplace totally new," he says of Jackson and the new album. "It’s a testament to how much someone can fall in love with music.”

Following the Barbican and Carnegie Hall celebrations of Steve Reich's latest works early next year, some of his most iconic works will be featured in the weeklong Sacrum Profanum festival taking place in Kraków, Poland, on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. In an introductory video seen here, Reich describes Sacrum Profanum as "one of the best new-music festivals in the world." Among the festival performers are Jonny Greenwood, Alarm Will Sound, Ensemble Modern, London Sinfonietta, and Bang on a Can.

AfroCubism is currently on tour in Europe, where this group of Malian and Cuban greats played a sold-out show at the Barbican in London on Sunday. The Arts Desk called it "one of the most transporting and life-affirming gigs of the year." The Evening Standard gave it a perfect five stars, saying: "The musical links are real and there’s a clear physical delight in throwing round the exuberant solos." Band member Toumani Diabaté gave the BBC World Service a brief tutorial on the kora and how this traditional Malian instrument worked so well with the sounds of Cuba on AfroCubism.

The nominations are in for the fRoots Critics Poll of Best New Album of 2010, and among them are the Carolina Chocolate Drops and several artists on the World Circuit/Nonesuch roster: AfroCubism, Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté, and Cheikh Lô. This year marks the 25th annual fRoots Critics Poll. The winners will be announced in BBC Radio 3's World on 3 on December 3.

Emmylou Harris, The Low Anthem close out their tour together ... John Adams conducts Dutch premiere of City Noir ... Laurie Anderson and her dog perform at Art for Animals benefit ... Carolina Chocolate Drops continue French tour ... Shawn Colvin tours Midwest with Loudon Wainwright ... Ben Folds takes Lonely Avenue South ... Bill Frisell does Disfarmer ... Kronos Quartet plays Portugal ... Brad Mehldau continues Highway Rider Europe tour ... Punch Brothers play the South ... Oumou Sangare is in the Bronx ... Allen Toussaint, Nicholas Payton celebrate New Orleans ... Sara Watkins concludes European tour ... and more ...

The Barbican in London has revealed the complete program for Reverberations: The Influence of Steve Reich, a two-day celebration of his music and his influence on generations of musicians, May 7 and 8. Highlights include performances of all the new music he has written since the Barbican celebrated his 70th birthday in October 2006, including Double Sextet, 2x5, and WTC 9/11, performed by Kronos Quartet. Carnegie Hall presents those works in Music of Steve Reich at the end of April.

Ben Folds continues his Lonely Avenue tour stops in Montclair, New Jersey, Charlotte, and Atlanta. The New York Times describes him as "a witty, engaging songwriter possessing both chops and humor, a rare combination." The Londonist, looking forward to February's UK tour, says his "live performances are full of energy, bite, irony and good humour." Folds spoke with Nashville Public Television about his upcoming benefit concert with the Nashville Symphony in a video you can watch here, along with a preview of the upcoming season of NBC's The Sing-Off.

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.