Heaven-Sent Music

‘Performance Today’ has selected performer and composer Jessie Montgomery as the 2025 Classical Woman of the Year. This annual award recognizes women who have made significant contributions to the classical music art form and have inspired our listeners. Find out more!

In 2020, American composer Judd Greenstein wrote a piece inspired by his daughter, Zohara, whose name means brightness. The music evokes the sensation of rays of bright light bouncing between cello and viola. On this edition of PT, we'll hear Greenstein's 'K'zohar Harakia,' performed by Zohara's aunt and uncle, violist Ayane Kozasa and cellist Paul Wiancko.

Jiji is a guitarist from Seoul, South Korea. When she was nine, she performed for a well-known guitarist...who was harshly critical of her playing. So, she hatched an 18-year "revenge" plan - to become a professional guitarist. Jiji plays Asturias by Isaac Albéniz on today's show, from a recent concert at the Honest Brook Music Festival in Delhi, New York.

Pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason draws inspiration from Clara Schumann both as a musician and as a powerful female role model. On today's show, Kanneh-Mason performs Schumann’s Piano Concerto, a piece Schumann began composing at just 13 years old.

The hurdy-gurdy has strings like a violin, a keyboard, and a hand crank that produces a wheezing drone. Composer Missy Mazzoli was fascinated by this sound and wanted to make a whole orchestra sound like a big hurdy-gurdy.  Tune in for the Sinfonia for Orbiting Spheres by Missy Mazzoli on today’s episode.

The Viano Quartet began as a randomly assigned group project at Indiana University's Colburn School of Music. They meshed so well that now, ten years later, they’re still going strong. On today's show, we'll take you to a recent concert at the Music@Menlo festival to hear the Viano Quartet play Anton Webern's Langsamer Satz.

From a small daily house orchestra 75 years ago, the North German Radio Philharmonic (NDR Radiophilharmonie) has evolved into an ensemble that performs over 100 concerts each year. Join us at a concert in Hanover, Germany, to hear them perform Peter Tchaikovsky's Orchestral Suite No. 3.

French violist Antoine Tamestit plays a stunning instrument, believed to be the very first viola made by Antonio Stradivari in 1672. On today's show, Tamestit takes the stage with clarinetist Pierre Genisson for a performance of Max Bruch's Double Concerto for Clarinet and Viola at a recent concert in Verbier, Switzerland.

Today, we take you to the Kölner (Cologne) Philharmonie in Germany to hear Richard Wagner's powerful Faust Overture. Hear about the concert hall's distinctive history, where they custom-designed the 2,000 seats to optimize acoustics and absorb sound.

The pressure to achieve perfection can be overwhelming. So, what would it be like to embrace vulnerability and imperfection? For composer Derrick Skye, it's a profound release from fear and anxiety. In today’s episode, we’ll hear a quartet inspired by the idea of imperfection: Deliverance by Derrick Skye.