Kevin Puts: Home

For composer Kevin Puts, the key of C major is a sonic representation of "home." It's familiar and comforting. In 2019, Puts wrote a string quartet that begins with that familiar key, but goes on to what Puts calls "the search for new and unfamiliar harmonic terrain." He wanted the music to explore the sonic possibilities, but then return to his musical idea of home. Puts knew that, however he got there, the feeling of home would be changed by the journey. Join us today to hear the Miro Quartet play Home by Kevin Puts.

We’re proud to introduce violinist Samuel Frois, the next member of our 2025 cohort of PT Young Artists in Residence. Samuel recently joined Fred Child in our St. Paul studio. Listen to the music and the entire interview here.

It's time for our next 2025 Young Artist in Residence: violinist Samuel Frois. On today's show, Samuel joins Fred Child at our studio in Saint Paul to perform works by Brazilian composers Heitor Villa-Lobos and Andre Mehmari.

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” with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Stockholm. Plus, Bruce Adolphe has this week’s Piano Puzzler.

Pianist Lucas Debargue quit piano lessons in 2005 when he was 15 years old. As recently as 2015, he worked as a cashier at a supermarket. Then, he made an out-of-nowhere splash at the 2015 Tchaikovsky competition in Russia and has had a lively career ever since. Tune in today to hear Lukas Debargue play Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major at a concert in Stockholm, Sweden.

Johann Sebastian Bach wrote only one piece of keyboard music that was programmatic, meaning it tells a story. The 19-year-old Bach composed this piece for his older brother Johann Jakob when he left home to join the Swedish Army band as an oboist. On today's show, we'll hear Bach's musical description of the occasion: the Capriccio on the Departure of his most Dearly Beloved Brother.

We're pleased to present clarinetist Victor Ni, one of our next 2025 PT Young Artists in Residence. On today's program, Victor joins Fred Child for music and conversation in our Saint Paul studio.

Alexandre Kantorow enjoyed piano lessons as a boy, but he also spent plenty of time on the playground. It wasn't until high school that he started to take the piano seriously, and things happened quickly for him after that. In 2019, at age 22, he won both a Gold Medal and the Grand Prize at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Russia. Today, Alexandre Kantorow joins Germany's WDR Symphony Orchestra to perform Franz Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 2.

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” with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Stockholm.

This fall, the renowned conductor Cristian Macelaru begins his tenure as the Music Director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO). One piece he recently shared with Cincinnati audiences is by one of his favorite composers: Wynton Marsalis. On today's episode, we'll hear Macelaru lead the CSO in a performance of Marsalis's Blues Symphony.