Timothy Andres, Sara Watkins perform at the "magnificently enlightening" (Los Angeles Times) Carlsbad Music Festival ... Laurie Anderson alights in Austin and Albuquerque ... Billy Bragg joins Woody Guthrie Brooklyn birthday bash ... Carolina Chocolate Drops play from Raleigh to MASS MoCA ... Fatoumata Diawara is a "must-see" (Sun-Times) at Chicago's World Music Festival ... Einstein on the Beach concludes run at BAM ... Kronos Quartet performs Steve Reich in Düsseldorf ... k.d. lang plays three-night run in Toronto ...Pat Metheny concludes Yoshi's residency, plays Monterey Jazz Fest ... Chris Thile, Michael Daves headline Brooklyn Bluegrass Bash ... and more ...

Fatoumata Diawara kicks off her US tour, featuring music from her debut album, Fatou, at the Cityfolk Festival in Dayton, Ohio, tonight, followed by stops in Bloomington, Chicago, New York City, Boston, Washington, DC, New Hampshire, and North Carolina. Her new album is "a joyous mix of vibrant songs about love, politics and empowerment," says the Chicago Sun-Times. "Fatou is a rare gift of a record for fans of African pop, female vocalists and generally outstanding music," raves PopMatters. "Prepare to be smitten." Diawara has just been nominated for a MOBO Award for Best African Act.

Punch Brothers have announced a 2013 New Year's Eve Three-Night Extravaganza to take place at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC, December 29–31. In addition to single show tickets, there are three-night passes available, which include a limited-edition silkscreen poster. A limited pre-sale is underway now. The shows will come at the end of a three-month international tour that includes stops at venues across North America, Europe, and the UK; a New Yorker Festival event; ACL Festival set; and much more.

Kronos Quartet closes out Kraków's Sacrum Profanum festival with a celebration of Polish composers and a double bill with Sigur Rós ... Laurie Anderson brings Dirtday! from Uppsala to Portland ... Billy Bragg celebrates Woody Guthrie in the UK ... Carolina Chocolate Drops tour the Northeast ... Rhys Chatham gives A Crimson Grail its UK debut ... Shawn Colvin is in Texas ... Einstein on the Beach opens at BAM ... Adam Guettel performs in London ... k.d. lang plays the Pantages in Winnipeg ... Pat Metheny's Unity Band is in residence in Seattle ... Joshua Redman tours Ireland ... Chris Thile solos in NYC ... Sara Watkins presents the Watkins Family Hour in LA ... and more ...

Philip Glass and Robert Wilson's Einstein on the Beach, widely credited as one of the greatest artistic achievements of the 20th century, launched its creators to international success when it was first produced in Avignon, France, in 1976. Now, 20 years since its last production, as part of an international tour, Einstein on the Beach returns to New York with eight performances at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), tonight through September 23.

Joshua Redman and his Trio, featuring Reuben Rogers and Gregory Hutchinson, launch their Irish tour with a concert at The Button Factory in Dublin tonight. The five-day, five-city tour includes stops in Limerick, Cork, Dún Laoghaire, as well as a show at The Mac in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Redman returns to Europe in November for the first in his curated concerts at London's Wigmore Hall and a three-week European tour with James Farm.

Steve Reich's complete string quartets—Different Trains, Triple Quartet, and WTC 9/11—will be performed by ACME at New York's (Le) Poisson Rouge tonight, with the composer in attendance. The program features the world premiere of the all-live version of WTC 9/11, a piece that reflects on the World Trade Center attacks of September 11, 2011. There will be a pre-concert conversation with the composer. The concert will be streaming and videocast live via NPR and Q2 Music.

London-based Lianne La Havas has arrived in North America for shows at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC and Belmont in Montreal, plus a free in-store performance at Amoeba Music in LA this week. Tonight's Bowery Ballroom concert has been named WNYC's Gig Alert and is a Critics' Pick at New York magazine, which says La Havas' "smoky ripple of a voice and her way with a guitar are beautiful things to behold, especially alone onstage, where their feathery perfection seems almost miraculous."

Pat Metheny's Unity Band heads West, performing in Denver, Aspen, and Salt Lake City ... Jeremy Denk opens the Louisville Orchestra season ... Dr. John plays Beaver Creek, Colorado ... Philip Glass goes inside Einstein on the Beach in NYC event videocast live on Q2 ... Lianne La Havas makes her Bestival debut ... k.d. lang kicks off her Canadian tour in Victoria, British Columbia ... Joshua Redman Trio headlines Rosslyn Jazz Festival outside DC ... Dawn Upshaw closes out Ravinia's summer season with The Knights ... and more ...

Robert Wilson and Philip Glass's famed 1976 opera Einstein on the Beach is the subject of a feature article in the Sunday New York Times that looks at the work's historical significance as a new production lands at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) September 14–23. Q2 Music launches Music of Constant Change: A Philip Glass Festival, running though September 9, surveying the composer's career through music, interviews, videos, and a live videocast of a conversation and performance featuring Glass and members of the current tour of Einstein on the Beach.

As Labor Day weekend brings the summer to its unofficial close, late summer festivals abound. Allen Toussaint performs The Bright Mississippi at Curaçao North Sea and Chicago jazz fests ... Joshua Redman is at Curaçao with James Farm ... Carolina Chocolate Drops play Rhode Island's Rhythm & Roots ... Dr. John plays Wyoming's Snowy Range Music Fest and St. Louis' Big Muddy Blues Fest  ... Emmylou Harris returns to the Greenbelt Harvest Picnic ... Lianne La Havas is at Dublin's Electric Picnic ... k.d. lang closes out US tour in California ... The Low Anthem is at End of the Road ... Pat Metheny resumes Unity Band tour ... Sara Watkins plays Four Corners Folk Fest in Colorado ... and more ...

The Black Keys closed out their European summer festival tour with a performance at the Reading Festival Sunday night. The BBC was there and captured their performance of "Little Black Submarines," off El Camino. The band was also featured on last night's episode of Le Grand Journal on Canal+, performing "Gold on the Ceiling," also from El Camino. Watch both videos here. And listen to an interview with Patrick Carney from Lollapalooza via The Weekly Feed.