Performance Today®

An orchestra of talented young players from Cuba recently traveled to Berlin. Join us today for a highlight from that extraordinary concert. It's the Havana Lyceum Orchestra, on this edition of Performance Today.

In the hands of a great pianist, Sergei Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 is romantic, expressive and wildly virtuosic. Powerhouse pianist Simon Trpceski brings this piece to life from a concert in Norway on the next Performance Today, from APM.

Composer Sheridan Seyfried wrote a double concerto for two violin-playing brothers, Timothy and Nikki Chooi. Seyfried wanted to express their special bond AND their individual personalities. On today's episode, hear an expression of what it means to be family: Sheridan Seyfried's Concerto for Two Violins and Orchestra.

Composer Scott Joplin is known for his rags, but he also left a fascinating opera called Treemonisha. It wasn't fully staged until long after he died. Joplin was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer for the work in 1976. We'll hear highlights from Scott Joplin's Treemonisha from a concert in Italy on the next Performance Today, from APM.

Pianist Connor Chee is a member of the Navajo nation. He wanted to preserve traditional songs his grandfather sang, but they wouldn't fit neatly into standard musical notation...so Chee wrote his own music, based on those old songs. Hear Connor Chee's "Navajo Vocables" on this edition of Performance Today.

Every week on our Piano Puzzler, composer Bruce Adolphe re-writes a familiar tune in the style of a great composer. One of our listeners calls in, tries to guess the tune and the composer whose style Bruce is mimicking. Tune in and play along with our weekly musical game: the Piano Puzzler.

Composer Osvaldo Golijov wrote a piece, a lullaby and variations, for a 2002 film called "The Man Who Cried." The film never really found an audience, but that piece by Golijov has become a favorite 21st century work for chamber ensembles. On today's show, hear Golijov's "Lullaby and Doina", from the Mizmorim Festival in Basel, Switzerland.

Natalia Koussevitzky was passionate about the arts and music. When she died, her husband, composer and conductor Serge Koussevitzky, established a foundation in her name...and asked a friend to write music in her honor. On today's show, hear Igor Stravinsky's "Ode" to Natalia Koussevitzky, from a recent concert in Berlin.

Italian composer Nino Rota is best known for the soundtracks he composed for more than 170 films...but, he also wrote operas, ballets, choral music. On today's show, hear a piece that Nino Rota wrote in 1943, before he became really famous for his film scores.