Performance Today®

When Swan Lake premiered in Moscow in 1877, it received terrible reviews. One critic said Tchaikovsky's music had "a poverty of ideas." The prima ballerina hated the music. But in the long run, the genius of Tchaikovsky's music won over everybody excepting the deepest of cynics. Today, Swan Lake is among the most popular ballets on the planet. Alan Gilbert conducts the New York Philharmonic in a suite of dances from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake in a concert from Lincoln Center in New York City.

The String Sextet by Antonin Dvorak meshes the tradition of chamber music with the energy of Bohemian folk tunes. It's a combination of elegance and toe-tapping bounce. Hear this contrast of styles performed by members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, on tour in Athens, Georgia, on Tuesday's Performance Today.

In 1933, Alan Hovhaness was a young composer fascinated by astronomy. While reading Dante's Divine Comedy he stumbled across the line: "O human race, born to fly upward..." That line sparked 50 years of musical ideas inspired by the idea of space travel. Listen for Star Dawn by Hovhaness on Monday's Performance Today.

Join the audience for a thrilling performance of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, featuring pianist Joyce Yang, alongside the Nashville Symphony. Also hear performances by the Hector del Curto Quintet , the Amphion Quartet, and more, on Saturday's Performance Today.

Paul Desenne is a founding member of the Simon Bolivar Youth Symphony Orchestra. These days, he writes the music they perform. Every week on PT we highlight music composed in the 21st century. This week: Paul Desenne, a composer from Caracas, Venezuela. Hear his piece Hipnosis Mariposa on Friday's Performance Today.

The BBC Proms in London is the biggest classical music festival on the planet. One of the highlights of the 2016 Proms was a return visit by the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela with their charismatic conductor, Gustavo Dudamel. Latin American music from the Proms on Thursday's Performance Today.

Not many pieces can match the romantic drama and sheer virtuosity of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1. Join the audience for a thrilling concert performance by pianist Joyce Yang and the Nashville Symphony, on Wednesday's Performance Today.

Picture some eggs nested in a chicken coop. Suddenly, little legs poke through the shells and the eggs stand up and start dancing around. It's the Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks, from a Houston Symphony performance of "Pictures at an Exhibition" by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky. Hear this and more from concerts around the world, on Tuesday's Performance Today.

At the age of 20, German composer Felix Mendelssohn wrote down a musical sketch, inspired during a trip to Scotland. The composer was well into his 30's when he finally got down to completing that idea. Hear Mendelssohn's initial sketch and then travel forward to Mendelssohn's "Scottish" Symphony No. 3, performed by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, on Monday's Performance Today.