Performance Today®

Rachel Barton Pine is much more than a fine violinist. She has some concerns about the future of classical music in American society, and she's doing something about it. On this episode of Performance Today, Rachel Barton Pine joins us in the studio and tells us about the next big phase of her career.

Violinist and composer Fritz Kreisler wrote a concerto in 1927, but for about eight years, he claimed it had been written in the early 1700s, by Antonio Vivaldi. Why? On this episode of Performance Today, hear the story and the music: violinist Pekka Kuusisto leads the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in a live performance of Kreisler's Violin Concerto in C Major.

In 1908, Igor Stravinsky wrote a piece of music and proudly sent a copy to his mentor, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, but the package was returned unopened, with a shocking note attached. On this episode of Performance Today, hear the Los Angeles Philharmonic play the music that was returned to its sender: Fireworks, by Igor Stravinsky.

Tiffany Poon is a 22 year-old music student at Yale. In the past year, her stream of self-produced video diary entries (vlogs) have made her a classical music star on YouTube and Instagram. But she feels strongly that she is a pianist FIRST, who happens to make videos on the side. Meet Tiffany Poon on this episode of Performance Today.

Carl Maria von Weber wrote an entire movement of his Clarinet Quintet in ONE day...but then his creativity dried up. It took von Weber four years to finish the rest of it. Find out what finally gave him the kick in the pants to finish, on this episode of Performance Today.

In 1908, Igor Stravinsky wrote a piece of music and proudly sent a copy to his mentor, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, but the package was returned unopened, with a shocking note attached. On this episode of Performance Today, hear the Los Angeles Philharmonic play the music that was returned to its sender: Fireworks, by Igor Stravinsky.

Tuesday, February 5 is New Years Day on the Chinese lunar calendar, one of the biggest annual celebrations on the planet. Depending on how you do the translation, we're heading into the Year of the Pig, or the Year of the Boar. Music for Chinese New Year, on this edition of Performance Today.

In 1948, American composer William Grant Still was inspired by some poems about the natural beauty of the American South. On this episode of Performance Today, take a break with us and hear Wood Notes, William Grant Still's work of quiet musical contemplation.

"If you find yourself elated by my music," composer Wang Jie says, "the credit goes to the muses. If you hate it," she continues, "well, it's only 15 minutes long." On this weekend's Performance Today, a composer who calls herself "part cartoon character, part virtuoso." We'll hear the Symphony No. 1 by Wang Jie.