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It was 20 years ago today: John Adams' Road Movies was released on Nonesuch. The album includes the title piece, performed by violinist Leila Josefowicz and pianist John Novacek; Hallelujah Junction, performed by pianists Nicolas Hodges and Rolf Hind (and later heard in the film Call My By Your Name); China Gates and American Berserk played by Hodges; and Phrygian Gates, played by Hind.

Design by John Gall. Photo by Deborah O’Grady.

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The Library of Congress has acquired the collection of manuscripts, instruments, costumes, video and audio recordings, and more from Kronos Quartet and its non-profit organization, Kronos Performing Arts Association. “It’s gratifying to know that Kronos’ legacy will be preserved in perpetuity alongside the manuscripts and other treasures of so many other influential musicians from the US and around the world," said KPAA Executive Director Janet Cowperthwaite. "We are perhaps even more excited to reflect upon all the musicians and scholars who will have access to these materials in years to come, informing their own work and carrying Kronos’ inspiration and influence into the future.” The Library also appointed Kronos founder, artistic director, and violinist David Harrington as the Kluge Chair in Modern Culture and inducted Kronos’ 1992 album Pieces of Africa into the National Recording Registry. More info here.

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The first recording of John Adams’ 2017 opera, Girls of the Golden West, which tells the story of the California Gold Rush in the words and deeds of real people, is out now. You can get it and hear it here.

The composer leads the LA Phil in this recording made in Disney Hall, with the Los Angeles Master Chorale led by Grant Gershon and a cast featuring Davóne Tines, Julia Bullock, Paul Appleby, Hye Jung Lee, Elliot Madore, Daniela Mack, and Ryan McKinny. Longtime Adams collaborator Peter Sellars drew from original sources from the era to create the libretto.

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Vagabon will support the band Crumb on tour this October. The shows begin in California—Santa Cruz, Oakland, and Sacramento—then head to Salt Lake City and Denver and on to Texas—Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, and El Paso—and Albuquerque and back to California to close out the tour in Santa Ana, San Diego, and Los Angeles. Details/tickets here.

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Composer/guitarist Yasmin Williams will support Brittany Howard and Michael Kiwanuka on their North American fall tour. The shows begin at The Met in Philadelphia on September 29, and include stops in Boston, New York, Saint Paul, Denver, Boise, Portland, Vancouver, Seattle, Berkeley, Los Angeles, and more. Details here.

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Kudos all around on The Metropolitan Opera premiere of John Adams' El Niño, with Julia Bullock, Davóne Tines, and Marin Alsop all making their Met debuts!

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The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, who kick off their International Players tour in Manchester, England, on Saturday, are on Sound Opinions to talk about their new album, Ohio Players, with hosts Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot, who call them "one of the greatest rock acts to emerge in the 21st century." The hosts also review Hurray for the Riff Raff's new album, The Past Is Still Alive, calling it "one great tune after another." You can hear the episode here.

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Toi toi toi to all involved in the Metropolitan Opera premiere of John Adams' El Niño starring Julia Bullock and Davóne Tines, opening tonight! Performances of Adams' acclaimed opera-oratorio, conducted by Marin Alsop, continue through May 17. You can hear the 2001 premiere recording on Nonesuch, with Dawn Upshaw, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, and Willard White, here.

Photo by Evan Zimmerman / Met Opera

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The Staves 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. They chose music by The Gipsy Kings, Emmylou Harris, Joachim Cooder, Steve Reich, and Nickel Creek.

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It was 15 years ago today: Allen Toussaint's Nonesuch debut album, The Bright Mississippi, was released. Toussaint explores the work of his New Orleans forebears on a soulful, live-in-the-studio jazz set, produced by Joe Henry, performing with Don Byron, Nicholas Payton, Marc Ribot, David Piltch, Jay Bellerose, and special guests Brad Mehldau and Joshua Redman.

"Exquisite" —Washington Post

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Following more than a dozen sold-out shows across the US this spring, Hurray for the Riff Raff has announced a US summer tour. Beginning in early July, a new leg of headline dates will stop in cities that have yet to experience the live show of their new album, The Past Is Still Alive. Tickets are on sale now here.

Upcoming performances also include their Red Rocks debut and other amphitheater appearances with Norah Jones, as well as a homecoming set at New Orleans Jazz Fest and a return to NYC for a free Battery Park show.

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It was five years ago today: Caroline Shaw & Attacca Quartet's Orange was released on New Amsterdam / Nonesuch Records. The album would go on to win the GRAMMY Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance and was followed in 2022 by Evergreen, which would win the same award.

"Completely gorgeous in so many ways," exclaims BBC Radio 3. "It hits you everywhere, all at once." "A love letter to the string quartet," says NPR. "When you hear all the imaginative sounds on Orange, you know you're listening to the voice of a strong composer." 

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It was ten years ago today: Kronos Quartet's 40th anniversary was celebrated with two releases: Kronos Explorer Series, a box set of five classic albums from five different parts of the world—Pieces of Africa, Night Prayers, Caravan, Nuevo, and Floodplain—which the Independent called "extraordinary," and A Thousand Thoughts, a new album featuring music from fourteen different countries, including China, India, Sweden, and Vietnam, to which Songlines gave five stars, calling Kronos "one of the musical marvels of our age."

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Congrats to The Black Keys, who've secured the No. 1 Current Rock Album and No. 1 Current Alternative Album in US sales with their new album, Ohio Players! The album also is the highest debut of the week on Billboard's Top Rock Albums Chart and Top Alternative Albums Chart, at No. 5 on both charts, and has reached No. 4 on Overall Current Album sales and No. 26 on the Billboard 200. Internationally, Ohio Players is the band's sixth consecutive top 20 album in the UK, as well as top 20 in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland, and more.

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“Both the record company and the festival aren’t pretending that genres don’t matter, but they both insist that a knowledge of and an engagement with a particular music’s history and vocabulary can lead to very personal, quite unprecedented art,” Geoffrey Himes writes in a Paste feature on Nonesuch and Big Ears Festival, which welcomed 15 Nonesuch artists to perform there last month in celebration of our 60th anniversary. "Moreover, they act as if each such transformation of the past into the future has a similar quality, no matter which tradition is being reconsidered. Rhiannon Giddens’ remaking of old-time string-band music shares something fundamental with Brad Mehldau’s remaking of jazz piano.” You can read the article here.

Photo by Eli Johnson

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Congratulations to Kronos Quartet, whose acclaimed 1992 Nonesuch album Pieces of Africa has been named one of twenty-five recordings to be inducted into the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress for 2024. "It planted a seed for our work," Kronos founder and violinist David Harrington says of the album. "It's flowered so beautifully." You can read more here.

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"What I love about this one is this dreamy middle section that goes into the minor key," Brad Mehldau says of Fauré's Nocturne No. 4 in E-flat Major, Op. 36, on BBC Radio 3's Saturday Morning.' "It really takes you somewhere, and it's so evocative. That kind of music has rubbed off on my own compositions." The show, hosted by Tom Service, gave the first broadcast of Mehldau's performance of the piece, from his upcoming album, Après Fauré,' due May 10 (along with his other new album, After Bach II).