Four Last Songs

In 2020, Joel Thompson composed a piano work inspired by the words of James Baldwin. The piece reimagines the national anthem to reflect on the gap between American ideals and reality. On today's show, pianist Michelle Cann performs Joel Thompson's My Dungeon Shook at a concert presented by Spivey Hall in Morrow, Georgia.

Violinist James Ehnes says the first movement of Jean Sibelius's Violin Concerto feels like a conversation. It's as if someone is about to divulge something important—they may not know HOW to say it, or even if they WANT to tell you, but they're going to tell you anyway. To Ehnes, it feels like a hesitant yet necessary conversation, as if the music is finally revealing a long-held secret. In today's episode, Thomas Søndergård leads the Minnesota Orchestra, with soloist James Ehnes, in Jean Sibelius's Violin Concerto.

Cellist Alban Gerhardt grew up inspired by the warmth of his mother’s soprano voice, yet he finds his own vocal expression in the strings of his cello. Join us today to hear Gerhardt perform Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s Cello Concerto with the RTVE Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Delyana Lazarova.

Today, we're highlighting a piece inspired by a composer's experience of moving alone to a new city at age 18, exploring the human ability to adapt. Tune in to hear Danielle Eva Schwob's evocative work Breathing Underwater, performed by members of the Merian Ensemble in Atlanta, Georgia.

Jeannette Sorrell founded the early music group Apollo's Fire back in 1992... and that fire is still burning hot. We'll hear Apollo's Fire at a concert in Cleveland on this episode of Performance Today.

Today, we'll enter the world of dreams with highlights from Sergei Prokofiev's ballet, Cinderella. Conductor Elim Chan leads the Basel Symphony Orchestra in a suite she arranged herself, capturing the poetic romance at the heart of this timeless story.

Cellist Alban Gerhardt grew up inspired by the warmth of his mother’s soprano voice, yet he finds his own vocal expression in the strings of his cello. Join us today to hear Gerhardt perform Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s Cello Concerto with the RTVE Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Delyana Lazarova.

In 1946, Howard Hanson sent Margaret Nelson a musical gift while she was considering his marriage proposal: a recording of a new work dedicated to her. The gesture won her over, and they enjoyed thirty-five years of happy marriage. On today’s show, we’ll hear Howard’s musical “proposal” to Margaret | Robert Manno conducts the Windham Festival Chamber Orchestra in Howard Hanson’s Serenade for Flute, Harp, and String Orchestra.

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 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.