Orchestrion, the forthcoming album from guitarist Pat Metheny, is due out on Nonesuch early next year, but you don't have to wait till then to hear music from the record. Pat Metheny Radio, available on patmetheny.com, is offering fans an exclusive first-listen excerpt, now through December 14. You can also pre-order the album with a limited-edition 9" x 12" print signed by Pat only at nonesuch.com.

Q2, the new 24/7 music stream from New York public radio's WQXR dedicated to contemporary classical music, kicks off its first full festival, Maximum Reich: A Celebration of Steve Reich, today. This weeklong immersion into Reich's work will include a presentation of his recorded works, explorations of the influences both on and of Reich, recent videos and exclusive downloads, and interviews and music recordings from the archives of WNYC, the new owner of WQXR.

Rolling Stone has announced its 100 Best Albums of the Decade, and five Nonesuch releases have made the list, including two albums from Wilco and one each from The Black Keys, Amadou & Mariam, and Brian Wilson. Wilco is also on the magazine's list of the decade's Top 100 Songs, for "Jesus, Etc.," joined by Randy Newman, for his Harps and Angels track "A Few Words in Defense of Our Country." OMM includes the Amadou & Mariam album and Ali Farka Touré's Savane on its list of the decade's Top 50.

The Times (UK) weighed in on the decade's best music late last month, including Nonesuch albums in each of four categories. Now, the Sunday Times  offers its list of the best albums of 2009, and Nonesuch artists are one again represented across genres: Wilco for Wilco (the album) in rock/pop, Kronos Quartet's Floodplain in world, and Allen Toussaint's The Bright Mississippi in jazz. SPIN includes Wilco (the album) and Amadou & Mariam's Welcome to Mali on its own list of the year's best.

Brad Mehldau begins a five-night residency at New York's Birdland tonight with a quartet the New York Times calls an "all-star package"—Lee Konitz, Paul Motian, and Charlie Haden—to celebrate the venue's 60th anniversary. In January, Brad returns to New York to perform two solo sets at the Highline Ballroom to benefit JazzReach, a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion, performance, creation, and teaching of jazz.

Music from I Bring What I Love, the film that documents the reception of Youssou N'Dour's 2004 album Egypt at home in Senegal, is out now. The New York Times Travel section took an extensive musical tour through Senegal's capital city of Dakar, enjoying live sets by Youssou, for whom "an ecstatic roar explodes" from the audience; "local legend" Orchestra Baobab; and "longtime local favorite" Cheikh Lô.

The Low Anthem has won the Boston Music Awards' Album of the Year for its Nonesuch debut, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin. "After getting the nominations right this year," says the Boston Herald, "the Boston Music Awards followed through by nailing the winners." He describes the winning album as "a haunting, rootsy romp that rates as one of the best of the year in any state." The band closes its short tour with Josh Ritter tonight.

The nominations are in for the 52nd Grammy Awards and include five Nonesuch artists: Allen Toussaint for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, The Bright Mississippi; Wilco for Best Americana Album, Wilco (the album); Shawn Colvin for Best Contemporary Folk Album, Live; and, for Best Contemporary World Music Album, both Amadou & Mariam (Welcome to Mali) and Oumou Sangare (Seya). Steven Epstein was nominated as Producer of the Year, Classical, for work including John Adams's Doctor Atomic Symphony.

Nonesuch Records is set to release the soundtrack from the critically acclaimed documentary about African superstar Youssou N’Dour, I Bring What I Love, on January 12, 2010. The album features all-new recordings of music from throughout N’Dour’s career as well as two new songs, including the documentary’s title theme, and richly represents the music and the message of N’Dour the artist and the humanitarian.

John Adams and Kronos Quartet return to Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles tonight for another concert in West Coast, Left Coast, the Los Angeles Philharmonic's music festival curated by Adams. Tonight, they'll join the LA Phil for the world premiere of Thomas Newman's new piece, It Got Dark. An encore performance will be given at the Hall tomorrow night.

The Magnetic Fields will head off to Europe for a short string of shows in March following their previously announced US dates. The European tour begins in the UK and makes its way through Sweden, Norway, and Germany, before coming to a close in the Netherlands. Meanwhile, tickets for many of the US and Canada shows—including two shows at New York City's Town Hall—are still on sale.

World Circuit and Nonesuch Records are set to release Ali and Toumani, the second and last album pairing the late guitar virtuoso Ali Farka Touré and kora master Toumani Diabaté, in February 2010. Recorded in London in 2005, Ali and Toumani is the successor to the duo's Grammy-winning In the Heart of the Moon and is the last album recorded by Touré. You can catch a sneak peek of the album at nonesuch.com/media.