Playing the unplayable

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.

When Chickasaw composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate sits down to compose, he imagines his ancestral woodlands. His string quartet Abokkoli' Taloowa' (Woodland Songs)—written for the Dover Quartet—is a musical tribute to the animals revered by the Chickasaw family clans. Tate weaves traditional melodies into the score, blending his heritage with a self-described desire to create "cool music." In today's episode, the Dover Quartet performs the work in a concert from Shriver Hall in Baltimore.

John Adams says that the final movement of "Road Movies" is for four-wheel drives only, and to leave the driving to the musicians. Join us for Adams’s musical ride on this episode of Performance Today.

Composer Anna Clyne was asked to write something "exuberant" for a festival in London. She created an energetic fanfare...with an old English drinking song thrown in for good measure. On today's show, hear the BBC Symphony Orchestra play Anna Clyne's exuberant Masquerade.

When clarinetist Anthony McGill and pianist Gloria Chien met in 2006, they bonded over their love of Johannes Brahms's music, a bond that is evident when they play together. They'll play a clarinet sonata by Brahms for us on today's show.

Cellist Raphaela Gromes was searching for new music to play when she received an email from a stranger—completely out of the blue—asking her to consider a piece his grandmother had written around 1930, a long-forgotten concerto. We'll have the story and the Cello Concerto by Maria Herz on today's show.

Composer Anna Clyne was asked to write something "exuberant" for a festival in London. She created an energetic fanfare...with an old English drinking song thrown in for good measure. On today's show, hear the BBC Symphony Orchestra play Anna Clyne's exuberant Masquerade.

Beyond his work on soundtracks like Oppenheimer and The Mandalorian, conductor and bassoonist Anthony Parnther recently reached a new level of fame: appearing as a clue on Jeopardy! for his bassoon solos in the series Only Murders in the Building. In today's episode, Parnther shifts from the screen to the concert stage, leading pianist Audrey Andrist and the ensemble ROCO in an optimistic vision of the future: Duke Ellington’s soulful and forward-looking New World a-Comin'.

In the early 1900s, British composer Edward Elgar and his family found the perfect sanctuary in the Italian coastal village of Alassio. Immersed in the colors and flavors of the Mediterranean, Elgar set out to capture its essence in music. On today's program, we'll hear Elgar's sweeping, cinematic tone poem In the South (Alassio), performed by the English Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Kenneth Woods.