Performance Today®

Anne Midgette is the classical music critic for the Washington Post, reviewing concerts and the role that music plays in our culture.

Mei-Ann Chen is one of the very few female conductors leading an American orchestra. She has helped to establish the Chicago Sinfonietta as the the nation's most diverse orchestra. Performance Today host Fred Child sat down with Mei-Ann Chen to learn how this once-shy violinist became a cutting-edge leader.

When Mei-Ann Chen auditioned for the Chicago Sinfonietta's conductor position, she was asked to pick one piece of music for a concert. She chose music by Chinese-Canadian composer An-lun Huang. On Wednesday's episode of Performance Today, Mei-Ann Chen leads the Chicago Sinfonietta in a live concert recording of Saibei Dance, by An-lun Huang.

The collaboration between conductor Valery Gergiev and the London Symphony Orchestra hasn't always been serene, but together they've delivered a steady stream of powerful performances. On today's episode of Performance Today, Gergiev conducts the LSO in a performance of "The Miraculous Mandarin" by Bela Bartok.

When JoAnn Falleta began her career in the 1970s, there were no women conducting major American orchestras on a regular basis. Falletta says she never set out to be a pioneer; she just feels lucky to be able to do what she loves. Join us for music and conversation with JoAnn Falletta on Monday's Performance Today.

In 1957, the Library of Congress commissioned Francis Poulenc to write a work of music. On Wednesday's Performance Today, hear proof that our tax dollars can be used for something beautiful, something that can last forever: the Sonata for Flute and Piano by Francis Poulenc.

Dame Ethel Smyth was one of England's most successful turn-of-the-century composers.

If you're out and about celebrating St. Patrick's Day this weekend, you're bound to hear the ballad, Danny Boy. Hear an orchestral version in the Irish Rhapsody by Charles Stanford, on Friday's Performance Today.

When Maurice Ravel wrote Gaspard de la Nuit, he was trying to make it the most difficult piano music ever written... perhaps even unplayable. Benjamin Grosvenor plays the unplayable, in concert, on Thursday's Performance Today.