Performance Today®

American composer Jennifer Higdon wrote Blue Cathedral in 2000. It was inspired by an imaginary vision of a glass cathedral in the sky. On today's Performance Today, the group called The Orchestra Now takes us on a journey through that cathedral, from a concert in upstate New York. It's Blue Cathedral by Jennifer Higdon.

Robin Kesselman usually stands in the back of the orchestra. He plays Principal Double Bass in the Houston Symphony. But Kesselman stood way up in front of the orchestra recently to play the Concerto for Double Bass by Serge Koussevitzky. Kesselman told the Houston Chronicle that moments like that "only happen a few times a career." On today's show. we'll hear Robin Kesselman and the Houston Symphony perform the Concerto for Double Bass by Serge Koussevitzky.

We have quite a collection of music for the last day of October. One piece about a ghost who has nothing but good intentions. Another piece about the goings-on at a witches' sabbath, and we'll even hear a dancing chorus line of skeletons. Hear some evocative music for Halloween, on Wednesday's Performance Today.

American composer Samuel Barber wrote his Adagio for Strings in 1936 and it has become one of the most beloved pieces in American music. On Tuesday's Performance Today, we'll hear the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra perform Barber's Adagio from a concert in their home town of St. Paul, Minnesota.

Pianist Conrad Tao believes that George Gershwin was trying to prove himself when he wrote his Piano Concerto. Gershwin wanted to show that his signature sound, infused with jazz, could fit the world of classical music. Conrad Tao plays Gershwin's Piano Concerto, on Monday's Performance Today.

Imani Winds has been revolutionizing how the music world thinks about woodwind quintets. On this weekend's Performance Today, hear the Imani Winds perform music by Astor Piazzolla for an audience in Jacksonville, Florida.

Imani Winds has been revolutionizing how the music world thinks about woodwind quintets. On Friday's Performance Today, hear them perform music by Astor Piazzolla for an audience in Jacksonville, Florida.

Dmitri Shostakovich hid some musical cryptograms in the 3rd movement of his Symphony No. 10, but it remained a secret until the 1990's. On Thursday's Performance Today, hear Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10 and we'll decipher his code.

It's one of the great showpieces for violin, played by one of the finest violin soloists of our time. On Wednesday's Performance Today, we'll hear violinist Janine Jansen and the Oslo Philharmonic give an extraordinary performance of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D major.