Performance Today®

Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 is a half-hour long journey from darkness to light. Coming up on Friday's Performance Today, we'll hear it performed by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Camille Saint-Saens wrote the Carnival of the Animals for a private party; he'd hoped that would be the last time it was ever heard. Of course, that's not what happened. On Thursday's Performance Today we'll hear Saint-Saens' much-loved musical menagerie from a concert in Buffalo, New York.

Contemporary composer David Maslanka begins every day by playing and singing Bach. On Wednesday's Performance Today we'll hear Maslanka's Wind Quintet No. 3, which features a direct musical quote from a Bach chorale.

On Tuesday's Performance Today, innovative pianist Jade Simmons joins Fred in the studio to discuss what it means to stay fiery as a musician.

Pianist Jade Simmons, curator and "musical force of nature," co-hosts a special hour of Performance Today with Fred Child.

The Great East Japan Earthquake took place on March 11, 2011. Composer and conductor Yannick Paget, who lives in Japan, expressed his grief for those lost and his hopes for recovery through his composition "Tears of Sakura."

When he was five years old, Avi Avital's mother asked him which musical instrument he would like to play. The Avital family had an upstairs neighbor who practiced the mandolin; Avi didn't hesitate for a moment in choosing the same instrument. 30 years later, he's on top of the classical mandolin world. We'll hear Avi Avital in concert on Monday's Performance Today.

In honor of his 300th birthday, we'll celebrate the life and remarkably inventive music of composer Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach on this weekend's Performance Today.

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was born 300 years ago this week. On Friday's Performance Today we'll celebrate his life and his remarkably inventive music.