Performance

There's a musical puzzle at the heart of the Enigma Variations by Edward Elgar. Cryptographers have been working on cracking the code for a century. On this episode of Performance Today, we'll share some of the many possible solutions... and enjoy a great performance of the Elgar's Enigma Variations, from the Aspen Music Festival.

Performance Today has selected acclaimed pianist, producer, curator, storyteller, cultural visionary and arts advocate Lara Downes as the 2022 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.

Composer Harry Partch built one-of-a-kind instruments based on his own tuning systems. He described himself as "a philosophic music man seduced into carpentry." We'll hear music by Harry Partch arranged for string quartet on this episode of Performance Today.

Join PT host Fred Child on a classical music adventure aboard a private small ship this May.

Join us for a wildly creative new version of the Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saens, featuring the Anderson and Roe Piano Duo (and friends) from a concert at the Grand Teton Music Festival.

Justin Holland was born in 1819 as a free black American. He devoted his life to civil rights, did dangerous work on the Underground Railroad, and was a talented guitarist and composer. Hear and learn more about the music of Justin Holland on this episode of Performance Today.

During a fictitious plague called The Red Death, a prince invited friends to a party, locked safely inside his castle. But a mysterious visitor showed up, and the party took a turn decidedly for the worse. On today's show, hear Andre Caplet's "Conte fantastique," inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's "Masque of the Red Death."

Maria Newman was born into a family of famous, formidable composers. She was so intimidated when she was growing up she gave up composition altogether. In the end, though, she had music inside her that just had to come out. On today's show, learn about how Maria Newman stepped into her own as a composer and hear her Sonata for Solo Guitar, Storgé, performed by guitarist Nicholas Goluses.

It goes around and around: evaporation, condensation, precipitation, runoff, and the cycle repeats. So, would music inspired by the ecological water cycle also have no beginning and no end? We'll find out, with music by Libby Larsen on this edition of Performance Today.

Concert curator Geoff Nuttall loves cellos - can't get enough of them. But he says that getting four cellists onstage at the same time is like trying to get four unicorns together. On today's show, a rare sighting: four all-star cellists at the Spoleto Festival USA perform "When the Night" by Paul Wiancko.