Laurie Anderson will be the guest on WNYC's Soundcheck today at 2 PM ET. Tune in to hear Anderson perform live in studio and discuss her latest stage work, Delusion. She will give the New York premiere of the piece at BAM's Harvey Theater in Brooklyn this Tuesday, September 21, kicking off BAM's Next Wave Festival with two weeks of Delusion performances. There's still time to win a pair of tickets at nonesuch.com.

AfroCubism, the long-awaited collaboration between Cuban and Malian musicians, is the subject of an article from Reuters, which spoke with the album's producer, Nick Gold. "Gold has brought the story full circle," says Reuters, "and gathered together the original invitees to make an album mixing the tight rhythms of Cuba with the snaky guitars and desert drums of Mali." Says Gold: "Maybe this huge wait that had taken 14 years. This music seemed to just pour out."

In honor of Stephen Sondheim's 80th birthday this past March, the Roundabout Theatre Company announced that it would rename its Henry Miller's Theatre, on West 43rd Street in New York City, The Stephen Sondheim Theatre. In a public ceremony tonight, the composer lights the marquee renamed in his honor. Among those scheduled to appear are Patti LuPone and librettist John Weidman.

Ben Folds is set to tour the US throughout November in support of Lonely Avenue, a collaboration between him and novelist Nick Hornby, due September 28. Folds’ 13 tour dates feature performances at a number of beloved venues including Chicago’s Riviera and Atlanta’s Tabernacle. The tour concludes with a Thanksgiving weekend homecoming performance at Nashville’s Tennessee Performing Arts Center to benefit the Nashville Symphony. Members of the Ben Folds Fan Club will have advance access to pre-sale tickets and ticket bundle opportunities for Ben’s upcoming tour on September 15 at noon ET. 

Today marks the release of De Profundis, the latest album from violinist Gidon Kremer, whom the Boston Globe calls "one of the most important violinists before the public today," and his Kremerata Baltica chamber orchestra. Kremer is featured in the Globe's Fall Arts Preview of Classical Music, which looks at his unconventional career, from "rebel genius" to an artist who "has retained a refreshingly unconventional musical perspective."

Laurie Anderson opens BAM's 2010 Next Wave Festival next week with the New York premiere of her new piece, Delusion. The festival includes 12 performances of the piece from September 21 to October 3. Nonesuch is giving away three pairs of tickets to a weeknight performance. Read more to find out how. Anderson's new album, Homeland, has landed at No. 1 on The Believer's Real Life Rock Top Ten. Consequences of Sound says Homeland "sums up the artistry of Anderson: indefinable yet avant-garde music at its finest."

Today marks the release of the debut Nonesuch album from Rhys Chatham: the outdoor version of his piece A Crimson Grail—featuring 200 guitarists, 16 bassists, five conductors, and one percussionist—performed at the Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival in 2009. The BBC says: "It's a remarkable, engrossing work that plays against rather than panders to expectations ... [It] achieves an immersive, exultant sense of the sublime." Audiophile Audition gives the album four stars, exclaiming: "Go immerse yourself!"

T Bone Burnett will premiere The Speaking Clock Revue, a multi-artist concert event, in Boston and New York this October. Punch Brothers will perform, as will Elton John & Leon Russell, John Mellencamp, Elvis Costello, Gregg Allman, Ralph Stanley, Jeff Bridges, Karen Elson, The Secret Sisters, Neko Case, and Jim James. The events will benefit The Participant Foundation, supporting music and arts education programming in public schools.

Congratulations to The Black Keys, winners of the Breakthrough Video Award at last night's MTV Video Music Awards for their video to "Tighten Up." The band was on the road on tour with Kings of Leon and The Whigs; more group shows and headlining sets are scheduled for this week in North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, and Florida.

Steve Reich is composer-in-residence at the Numusic Festival in Stavanger, Norway ... The Black Keys continue tour with Kings of Leon ... Carolina Chocolate Drops play MA and NY ... Rhys Chatham plays Boomslang Fest ... Philip Glass talks at Philadelphia's Live Arts Fest ... Wanda Jackson plays Lexington ... The Low Anthem, Philip Selway, Wilco hit the End of the Road ... Punch Brothers are in Austin ... Sara Watkins closes out the Prairie Home Companion Summer Love Tour ... and more ...

As The Black Keys continue their tour with Kings of Leon on the East Coast this weekend, their music will be well represented at Sunday night's 2010 MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles. The video for "Tighten Up," off The Black Keys' album Brothers, has been nominated for Breakthrough Video. MTV says, while it's up against some heavy hitters, "it was the Black Keys' clip that made the biggest impression." Watch it here.

The Low Anthem's summer tour of Europe comes to the end of the road as the band plays the End of the Road festival this weekend and a sold-out show with Iron and Wine at Union Chapel next week. Their next scheduled US date is with Josh Ritter in October. During their tour with The Avett Brothers earlier this year, the band was captured on stage and backstage at the Egyptian Room in Indianapolis for an 11-minute video you can watch here.