Performance Today®

Listen to Fred Child's interview with the musicians who have taken their cellos out of the concert hall and into the rock arena.

When Queen Mary the Second died in 1694, Henry Purcell wrote music for the funeral. And in 1992, American composer Steven Stucky gave it a 20th century spin. On Thursday's Performance Today, we'll hear the Boston Symphony at Carnegie Hall playing this 20th century take on a 17th century classic.

Each week on our Piano Puzzler, composer Bruce Adolphe re-writes a familiar tune in the style of a classical composer. We then get one of our listeners on the phone to try to guess the tune and the composer whose style Bruce is imitating. Play along with our Piano Puzzler, on Wednesday's Performance Today.

On Tuesday's Performance Today, we'll hear the story of One Thousand and One Nights as told in music by Rimsky-Korsakov. Plus, we'll her a beautiful piece for six pianos by American composer Paul Kerekes.

Aaron Copland was from Brooklyn. He was a city slicker who captured -- and to a certain degree, created -- what we think of as the sound of the old American West. On Monday's Performance Today, we'll hear selections from his cowboy ballet, "Billy the Kid."

In 1933, Florence Price became the first female African American composer to have her work performed by a major symphony orchestra. When she died in 1953, she left boxes of music in her house, which was then abandoned for almost 50 years. Recently, a trove of works by Price has been rediscovered. On this weekend's Performance Today we'll hear the 2015 world premiere of a quartet that she wrote in 1929.

In 2011, composer Clarice Assad wove together a dozen tunes by Bach. The violas and cellos play the melodies, so it's called the "Suite for Lower Strings, based on themes of Bach." On Friday's Performance Today, we'll hear this 18th century-inspired modern music from a concert in San Francisco.

Earlier this month, 19-year-old Peruvian violinist Eduardo Rios was named the winner of the annual Sphinx Competition; a competition for young African American and Latino string players. On Thursday's Performance Today, we'll talk with Rios, and we'll hear a selection from his Gold Medal performance of Sibelius' Violin Concerto.

Every year, talented young Black and Latino classical string players compete in the Sphinx Competition. The 2015 winner is violinist Eduardo Rios, a 19 year-old student at the Colburn School. He's originally from Lima, Peru.