While on vacation in Cuba, George Gershwin also found time for a little work. He heard a jazz melody at a concert, and later turned it into an orchestral showcase called Cuban Overture. Tap your toes to the the rumba rhythms played by the Los Angeles Philharmonic on Monday's Performance Today, from APM.
Josef Suk was a composition student of Antonin Dvorak in Prague, and later became his teacher's own son-in-law. This weekend on Performance Today, we'll hear Suk's Serenade for Strings performed in Berkeley, California. Plus, composer Bruce Adolphe has a musical riddle in this week's Piano Puzzler.
In 2011, French composer Yannick Paget was living in Japan when the devastating tsunami struck. In the aftermath, he funneled his grief into writing new music. On Friday's Performance Today, we'll hear the composer conduct the premiere of "Tears of Sakura."
Pianist Helene Grimaud explores the deeply introspective side of Johannes Brahms in his second piano concerto. The music is a glimpse into the composer's thoughts, looking back on a long life. Her performance with the Vienna Philharmonic on Thursday's Performance Today concludes her four-day exploration of both of Brahms' piano concertos.
As a high school student in Huntsville, Alabama, Susanna Phillips never once considered a career as an opera singer. A school guidance counselor encouraged her to just apply to a conservatory. So she did. The Juilliard-trained soprano is now appearing on major opera stages all over the world, gracing the pages of Vogue magazine and chatting in the studio with host Fred Child about her surprising, overwhelming success.
On Wednesday's Performance Today, pianist Helene Grimaud unravels the Second Piano Concerto by Johannes Brahms. The music reveals an older, wiser composer who struggled with his identity as an artist. Grimaud's performance with the Vienna Philharmonic is on the way, plus composer Bruce Adolphe has this week's Piano Puzzler.
On Tuesday's Performance Today, pianist Helene Grimaud continues her tour-guide through the piano concertos by Johannes Brahms. She sees the Adagio movement from the first concerto as Brahms' lovelorn prayer to Clara Schumann, his "impossible love." Grimaud performs it with astonishing emotional sensitivity in Munich with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Johannes Brahms composed two monumental piano concertos twenty three years apart. Starting on Monday's Performance Today, pianist Helene Grimaud leads a four-day exploration of both works, beginning with the youthful energy in the first concerto in D minor.
This weekend on Performance Today from APM, The King's Singers join Fred Child for conversation and performance in the PT studio. Six voices singing choral music, as one. Plus, composer Bruce Adolphe has this week's Piano Puzzler to test your musical riddle-solving skills.
