Inspired by Bach

‘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, 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.

Composer Julio Medaglia was born in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1938. He studied conducting in Germany for ten years before returning to Brazil to conduct and compose. For 30 years, he hosted a daily radio show in São Paulo that sounded similar to PT, combining concert highlights and contemporary music. On today's show, we'll hear the Imani Winds play Julio Medaglia's 'Belle Epoque en Sud-America,’ including a really fun movement named "Crazy Baby Clarinette!"

Inspired by Isabel Wilkerson's moving book on the Great Migration, composer Carlos Simon captures the search for hope and the struggle to find a home. On today's show, we'll hear the Ivalas Quartet perform Simon's Warmth from Other Suns at a concert in Skaneateles, New York.

In 2016, pianist and composer Gabriela Montero wrote a concerto reflecting how people perceive Latin America. She says it's not an overtly political piece, but it does express the light and dark sides of the subject. Today, we'll hear Gabriela Montero play her “Latin Concerto” at a recent concert in Gstaad, Switzerland.

From the neon flicker of a glowstick to the summer sparkle of a lightning bug, composer Jessie Montgomery finds musical inspiration in the science of light. Tune in today to hear the Sphinx Virtuosi perform Montgomery's 'Chemiluminescence' at a recent concert presented by Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

Johannes Brahms described his fourth symphony as "dark and melancholy." The powerful final movement is built on a theme from a Bach cantata, creating a massive, ebbing chaconne that balances gravity and beauty. Today, Gianandrea Noseda conducts the Zurich Philharmonia in a performance of Brahms's Symphony No. 4.

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.

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.

Johannes Brahms described his fourth symphony as "dark and melancholy." The powerful final movement is built on a theme from a Bach cantata, creating a massive, ebbing chaconne that balances gravity and beauty. Today, Gianandrea Noseda conducts the Zurich Philharmonia in a performance of Brahms's Symphony No. 4.