Mahler at the Opium Den

Pianist Aristo Sham believes the true measure of a competition is how it treats its musicians. He praises the Cliburn Competition for making contestants feel less like rivals and more like respected artists at a festival. Today, we'll hear Aristo Sham perform music by Sergei Rachmaninoff and Gabriella Montero, recorded live at the 2025 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

Despite the English horn’s misleading name—it’s neither English nor a horn—the instrument produces a famously "angelic" sound that takes center stage in Hector Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture. Berlioz originally composed the music for his opera Benvenuto Cellini. Though the opera flopped, he salvaged its best melodies to create an orchestral centerpiece. In today's episode, Andrés Orozco-Estrada leads the RAI National Symphony Orchestra in a concert performance of the Roman Carnival Overture.

In the 19th century, French writer Aloysius Bertrand sought to achieve with words what Rembrandt did with light and shadow, creating a collection of dark, poetic hallucinations titled Gaspard de la nuit. Decades later, those eerie verses inspired Maurice Ravel to write one of the most notoriously difficult piano suites. On today's program, pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason performs the framing movements of Maurice Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit, recorded live at the University of Georgia Performing Arts Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

In the 1990s, composer Starr Parodi had a frightening encounter with a South Pacific riptide. She drew an inspirational parallel from that experience to a much more recent tragedy: the 2025 Pacific Palisades fire that destroyed her home and studio. Through both events, she discovered that resilience often comes from letting go rather than fighting the flow. On today's show, Delyana Lazarova conducts the ensemble ROCO in Starr Parodi's meditation on surrender, Riptide.

While many musicians follow a strict, lifelong path to the conservatory, Joaquín Valdepeñas took a winding route. He didn't pick up a clarinet until seventh grade and treated it as a school-year hobby. It wasn't until college that he took his first formal lessons. He eventually earned a Master’s from Yale and has spent the last 22 years as principal clarinetist of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. In today's program, Valdepeñas shares that wealth of experience as a conductor and educator. We'll hear him lead the Aspen Wind Orchestra in Charles Gounod's Petite Symphonie, recorded live at the Aspen Music Festival and School in Colorado.

Meet our next 2026 PT Young Artist in Residence: Soprano Claudia Diaz. In today's episode, Claudia joins Valerie Kahler for music and conversation at our studio in Saint Paul.

Soprano Claudia Diaz is the next member of our 2026 cohort of PT Young Artists-in-Residence. Claudia recently joined Valerie Kahler in our St. Paul studio. Listen to the music and the entire interview here.

We're excited to introduce our next 2026 PT Young Artist in Residence: Soprano Claudia Diaz. In today's episode, Claudia joins Valerie Kahler for music and conversation at our studio in Saint Paul.

Recently, composer and pianist Michael Stephen Brown found inspiration in Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem "The Lotos-Eaters." He was struck by its vivid imagery and felt compelled to express it in his own way. On today's show, we'll hear Brown's "The Lotos-Eaters" performed by the composer (and others) at a concert presented by ChamberFest Cleveland.

In 2017, Aldo López-Gavilán composed a piano concerto based on a simple tune he had written for his daughters. He imagined a beautiful place, full of wonder and curiosities from around the world... a musical emporium. On today's show, we'll hear Aldo López-Gavilán's Emporium, a fusion of classical, gospel, and Afro-Cuban musical traditions.