Paul Schoenfield: Cafe Music

‘Performance Today’ has selected performing-arts advocate Deborah Borda as the 2024 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 1880, Antonín Dvořák composed a series of short piano pieces that aren’t performed as frequently as many of his other works. Pianist Leif Ove Andsnes admires the beauty of the music; he’s surprised by its infrequent performance. We’ll hear Leif Ove Andsnes play several highlights from Antonín Dvořák's Poetic Tone Pictures on today's show.

Bruce Adolphe joins us every week with his Piano Puzzlers. This week, an entire class of music students is calling in to play with Bruce on the air. Scott Leaman and his AP Music Theory Class join us on the phone from Tallahassee, Florida, on this edition of Performance Today.

Composer Missy Mazzoli often makes multiple versions of her works. In 2018, Mazzoli wrote a piece for solo bass and string orchestra that she recently rearranged for violin and orchestra, and she says she loves how the solo violin soars over the orchestra in this newer version. Join us today to hear violinist Peter Herresthal and the Bergen Philharmonic play 'Dark with Excessive Bright' by Missy Mazzoli.

Check out this new album by Missy Mazzoli!

When pianist Michelle Cann was a student, she had severe doubts about herself. She even thought about giving up the piano. Looking back now, she says that no matter who you are, the most important battle is the one within yourself. In this edition of Performance Today, we look into Michelle Cann's philosophy and music-making.

Bruce Adolphe joins us every week with his Piano Puzzlers. This week, an entire class of music students is calling in to play with Bruce on the air. Scott Leaman and his AP Music Theory Class join us on the phone from Tallahassee, Florida, on this edition of Performance Today.

Grammy-winning violinist Hilary Hahn loves Eugene Ysaye's collection of solo violin sonatas. They're wonderfully witty and inventive, but they're not well known outside of violin circles. Recently, Hahn recorded the complete set — it's an absolute treat for violin lovers. On today's show, Hahn joins Fred Child in our New York studio to discuss her recording of Ysaye's Solo Violin Sonata No. 2 (Obsession).

Composer Wayne Shorter was fascinated by the symbolic idea of terra incognita, the undiscovered territory in ourselves... and the courage it takes to explore that territory. On Today's show, hear Imani Winds play Shorter's Terra Incognita at a concert in Athens, Georgia.

A colorful bird sings high in a tree. Suddenly, it takes off and flies in chaotic circles, running into nearby trees. The bird exhausts itself and falls asleep. That's the story of a piece called Alma by Tania Leon—and we'll hear it on today's show!