John Adams led the LSO in the European premiere of his City Noir at London's Barbican Hall last night. The Evening Standard gives it four stars, calling the new piece "a dazzling showpiece." Adams's first opera, Nixon in China, receives its Canadian premiere at the Vancouver Opera tomorrow for the 2010 Cultural Olympiad. Next week, Long Beach Opera presents the first LA staging in two decades. Los Angeles Times' Mark Swed reflects on the opera's history, calling it a "classic" and "a marvelous, ever interesting" work.

Brad Mehldau and his forthcoming Nonesuch release, Highway Rider, were slated to be featured on tomorrow's episode of NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday, but the segment has been postponed to a future date. The Guardian, in a five-star review of the album, calls it "the real deal," saying: "Highway Rider's contrasts and dramatic entries spring constant surprises, and show how much progress the mesmerising improviser has made as a big-ensemble composer."

Louis Andriessen will be the featured composer of the 2010 Frontiers+ festival at the Birmingham Conservatoire in Birmingham, England, which runs all next week, March 15 through 19. Performances for Frontiers+Andriessen come from an array of musicians and student performers. The composer will be in residence as well, attending performances, working with student performers, giving master classes to composition students, and receiving an Honorary Doctorate from Birmingham City University.

Pat Metheny and his recent Nonesuch release, Orchestrion, were slated to be featured on NPR's Morning Edition tomorrow morning, but will be rescheduled for a later date. Metheny was featured on BBC Radio 3's Late Junction earlier this week. The album is full of "lush diatonic harmonies and sweetly melodic improvisations," says Sequenza21, but "what makes this disc so special" is Metheny's "interaction with a robot ensemble" and its "surprising richness and warmth."

The Low Anthem, fresh off a two-week tour with The Avett Brothers, kicks off its first US headlining tour with two shows in DC tonight: a free early show at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage, which will be webcast live, at 6 PM ET, and a later set at the 9:30 Club. The Washington Examiner says of the band's Nonesuch debut, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, that "critics were rightfully awed by the elegant, intricate stylings of the songs." Spinner previews the band's upcoming SXSW stint, asserting that the album has "pushed the band to the forefront of the burgeoning indie-folk scene."

Kronos Quartet performs the first of four performances over as many nights in Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall tonight as part of the Hall's season-long Perspectives: Kronos Quartet. Tonight, Kronos and composer Terry Riley celebrate 30 years of collaboration, with an all-Riley program featuring a world premiere, two New York premieres, and selections from Sun Rings and Salome Dances for Peace.

Recollection, k.d. lang's most recent Nonesuch release, remains at No. 1 on the charts in Australia and in the Top 5 in her home country of Canada, where she wowed audiences at the Vancouver Winter Olympics last month. The Vancouver Sun, in one of two new articles on lang, says her "electrifying rendition of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' ...  is widely regarded as the highlight of the opening ceremonies." The Irish Times says: "The distinctive sound of k.d. lang’s rich voice transcends every divide she has crossed," with Recollection showcasing "most of her many fine moments in song."

The Magnetic Fields have made their way across North America, back to the East Coast, where they began their Realism tour two months ago. The tour closes with three nights at New York's Town Hall starting tonight. The band heads to Europe next week for a two-week tour there. Spinner reports that the band played "to thunderous applause" earlier this week in Chicago; Chicago Reader notes the "outstanding lineup" on stage and the music's "thoughtful and inventive" arrangements.

Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed will curate Vivid LIVE, a two-week festival at Sydney Opera House celebrating the world’s best contemporary artists and cultural interpreters, from May 27 to June 11. The primary focus of the festival will be on exploration through improvisation and collaboration. “For me," says Anderson, "the point is to present a lot of things that you wouldn’t normally go to but gives people the chance to jump off their street."

Brad Mehldau's Highway Rider is out now, with an exclusive bonus demo track included at the Nonesuch Store. Brad's official site, bradmehldau.com, has been relaunched with a new look and lots of new material. All About Jazz describes the new album, with "its almost perfect mix of form and freedom," as "the most fully realized original music the pianist has written to date ... Mehldau the composer has clearly arrived."

Kronos Quartet was credited, in a recent profile in the New York Times, with "reinventing the string quartet as a vehicle of limitless stylistic breadth." This week, Kronos proves yet again how true that is as it concludes its season-long Carnegie Hall Perspectives series, collaborating with numerous artists from around the globe in four concerts on four consecutive nights from Thursday to Sunday in Zankel Hall. Tune in to WNYC's Soundcheck today to hear Kronos and composer Terry Riley discuss the events and perform live.

John Adams and the London Symphony Orchestra gave the UK premiere of his Doctor Atomic Symphony at Barbican Hall Sunday; they perform the European premiere of his City Noir Thursday. The Times (UK) gives Sunday's "extraordinarily compelling" performance four stars, exclaiming that, with Doctor Atomic Symphony, Adams "has created a truly explosive 25-minute piece in which the listener is rocked by a sense of the compacted moral and physical turbulence of the original opera." The Evening Standard gives it four stars as well, calling it "Adams at his heart-on-sleeve best."