Performance Today®

Join us today for the world premiere performance of a concerto that composer Michael Abels wrote for Slovenian guitarist Mak Grgic. We'll hear the story behind the piece and how it became an emotional collaboration inspired by the idea of finding beauty in troubled environments.

Flutists Allison Loggins-Hull and Nathalie Joachim lived in New York City for years before meeting each other. When they finally did get together, they realized they'd make a great musical team. Hear the adventurous flute duo Flutronix play music by Steve Reich on this episode of Performance Today.

In the early 1900s, English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams was deeply inspired by a hymn written four centuries earlier. Join us today to hear a Buffalo Philharmonic performance of Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis.

Astor Piazzolla's music defies category. It's inspired by the tango dance music he grew up with, but he added classical and jazz elements and gave his band members room to add their own ideas and improvisations. On today's show, we'll hear a recording of "Concierto Para Quinteto," from what Piazzolla said was the greatest album of his life.

Flutists Allison Loggins-Hull and Nathalie Joachim lived in New York City for years before meeting each other. When they finally did get together, they realized they'd make a great musical team. Hear the adventurous flute duo Flutronix play music by Steve Reich on this episode of Performance Today.

Ethiopian-Hungarian violinist Samuel Nebyu recently played at the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland…and his entire concert was music by composers of African descent. Join us today for highlights from that concert in Lucerne, Switzerland.

At age seventeen, composer Kayhan Kalhor left his home in Iran, fled for safety, and walked over two thousand five hundred miles to Italy alone, with just a small backpack and his beloved kamancheh (spiked fiddle). We'll hear music Kalhor wrote for Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble on today’s show.

It's 15 minutes of solemn music for solo violin, a set of variations with a few unexpected breaks in the pattern along the way. It may sound pretty straightforward, but when it's played well, it can be 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.

As a kid, flutist Matvey Demin was upset that the Tchaikovsky Competition was only for pianists, string players, and singers. But, In 2019, a new category opened up for wind instruments… and Demin took first prize. Hear Matvey Demin’s gold medal final-round concerto on this episode of Performance Today.

For 25 years, the New York Philharmonic has been encouraging and empowering young musicians with their Very Young Composers program. On today’s show, we’ll hear works by 16-year-old Nicholas Hutfilz and 14-year-old Dalya Shaman.