The Piano Puzzler

When English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams traveled to Paris in 1907 to study with Maurice Ravel, Ravel pushed him to broaden his thinking and pursue greater artistic ambition. Vaughan Williams remained grateful for that guidance, forging a lifelong friendship with Ravel while maintaining his distinctive voice. Tune in for music by the ever-original Ralph Vaughan Williams on this episode of Performance Today.

Composer Jimmy Lopez Bellido says the pulse of techno music is instantly recognizable in any dance hall or club around the world —a steady, thumping rhythm you feel in your body. Tune in today to hear the thrilling fusion of techno and world music: Fiesta! by Jimmy López Bellido.

Violinist Alexi Kenney challenges the pressure to be perfect in classical music by letting intuition guide his performances rather than succumbing to perfectionism. On today's show, Kenney joins harpist Bridget Kibbey to perform a C.P.E. Bach sonata (Kibbey arranged it for violin and harp) from a recent ChamberFest Cleveland concert.

A few years ago, saxophonist Salvador Flores was a Performance Today Young Artist in Residence. A lot has happened for Flores since then, and we're thrilled to welcome him back to the show. We'll catch up with Salvador Flores—sharing both live music and conversation—on this installment of Performance Today, from APM.

At age three, Stewart Goodyear found boxes of his father's LPs. He devoured all of Beethoven's symphonies, one after another. Then he listened to all the sonatas in one sitting, and a lifelong love of Beethoven emerged. Join us today to hear pianist Stewart Goodyear perform at the 2026 Gilmore International Piano Festival in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

In the early 1800s, clarinetist Heinrich Baermann begged Carl Maria von Weber for a new piece. Weber wrote the first movement in a single day—then procrastinated for four years. Tired of waiting, Baermann forced Weber’s hand by programming the unfinished work for a public concert. Faced with a deadline, Weber finished the score the day before the premiere! On today’s show, we’ll hear clarinetist Jörg Widmann lead a chamber orchestra arrangement of Weber’s Clarinet Quintet at a concert presented by Chamber Music Northwest.

Philip Glass's "Mad Rush" often divides listeners—is it meditative or merely repetitive? Pianist Simone Dinnerstein calls it an amazing piece that keeps her grounded in the present moment. Today’s show features her compelling performance from a recent concert at Spivey Hall, just outside Atlanta in Morrow, Georgia.

French composer Louise Farrenc grew up in Paris in the early 1800s. She had a distinguished career as a pianist and composer and was hired as a professor... but paid half of what men earned for the same work. Louise Farrenc fought for equal pay and GOT it. Today’s episode features a ROCO performance of Louise Farrenc’s Symphony No. 1.

Commissioned by the Gilmore Piano Festival, Clarice Assad composed a series of distinct vignettes in which resting instruments hand off the musical baton to fill the void. Written for the Chicago-based ensemble Eighth Blackbird, the work explores creative continuity through clever structural transitions. We'll hear Eighth Blackbird give the world premiere of Clarice Assad's The Spaces Between, recorded live at the Gilmore International Piano Festival in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Sometimes it's less about the content than the packaging—and Sergei Prokofiev was a master at repackaging his own material. In the late 1920s, he took a fiery opera destined for obscurity and turned it into a mighty symphony he dearly loved. On today's show, we'll take you to a concert in Minneapolis to hear the Minnesota Orchestra perform Prokofiev's Symphony No. 3.