Performance Today®

Composer Matt Jackfert has a particular interest in Appalachian music. On today's show, hear a piece by Jackfert inspired by three scenes from West Virginia, featuring an instrument that isn't typically associated with Appalachian music: the euphonium.

Composer David Kirkland Garner is fascinated by a wide range of American roots music, and the legacies of the people who made it happen. On today's episode, we'll hear a piece he wrote honoring the blues legend Mississippi John Hurt. It's a dance called MELT, by David Kirkland Garner, from a concert presented by the Atlanta Chamber Players.

Composer Brian Nabors feels as though the universe is connected through a unified pulse. In 2019, he composed a piece with examples of that unwavering pulse set in different life scenarios, and it's up to you to decide for yourself what those settings are. On today's show, we'll hear Pulse by Brian Nabors, from a concert with Marin Alsop conducting the National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic.

It's 15 minutes of mostly solemn music for solo violin, a set of variations with a few unexpected breaks in the pattern along the way. As simple as that may sound, when it's well played, it's incredibly moving. Join us to hear Violinist Itamar Zorman play the Chaconne from J.S. Bach’s Partita in D Minor…on a violin that’s nearly as old as the music itself.

In 2006, composer Adam Schoenberg went to a show of paintings by Mark Rothko, and he had what he calls a "visceral reaction." Schoenberg was inspired to write music based on four of Rothko’s paintings. On today's show, we'll take you to Houston to hear Finding Rothko by Adam Schoenberg.

Violist Jordan Bak was one of our 2020 Young Artists in Residence. He's an incredibly talented young musician with a bright personality who continues to bloom. On today's show, we'll hear Jordan Bak's performance of Bartok's Viola Concerto with the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra.

It's 15 minutes of mostly solemn music for solo violin, a set of variations with a few unexpected breaks in the pattern along the way. As simple as that may sound, when it's well played, it's incredibly moving. Join us today to hear Violinist Itamar Zorman play the Chaconne from J.S. Bach’s Partita in D Minor…on a violin that’s nearly as old as the music itself.

Pianist Stephen Hough describes the music of Federico Mompou as: "the music of evaporation." Hough says, "The notes are too simple and the soul too complex for conventional analysis." On today's show, we'll hear Stephen Hough play the Magic Songs by Catalan composer Federico Mompou from a concert presented by Spivey Hall at Clayton State University in Morrow, Georgia.

The impact of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is more important than ever. Join us for a special edition of ‘Performance Today’ honoring King through music. We'll hear the music he loved and the pieces composed by musicians who loved him as we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Composer Christopher Gunning often advised emerging composers not to wait to write their symphonies until they were too old and tired to do so, and he followed his advice by completing THIRTEEN symphonies before he died in 2023. On today's show, conductor Kenneth Woods leads the Colorado MahlerFest Orchestra in a performance of Christopher Gunning's Symphony No. 10.