Performance Today®

We gave composer Bruce Adolphe a well-deserved holiday break last week, but this week it's back to business as usual. Bruce is back with a brand new Piano Puzzler. Every week, we get a listener on the phone to try to guess the hidden tune and the composer whose style Bruce is imitating. Tune in to see if you can guess what's going on in this week's Piano Puzzler.

Claude Debussy once tried his hand at painting, but decided music had a much better way of depicting the glint of sunlight on water, the ever-changing undulations of the sea, and the smell of a salty mist shimmering in the air. In today's show, Esa-Pekka Salonen leads the New York Philharmonic in Debussy's masterpiece for the senses, "La Mer," or "The Sea."

Pianist Mitsuko Uchida joins PT host Fred Child to talk about Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24. She says "It is very dark, incredibly tragic," but the lilt in her voice conveys the beauty of that darkness. We'll hear her, in concert with the Cleveland Orchestra. Plus, concert performances by pianists Lang Lang and Yefim Bronfman in Vienna.

As 2011 comes to a close, we'll take a look back at some of the big stories of the past year. We paid visits to some big summer music festivals and met some of the stars of tomorrow there. Observed several important composer anniversaries. And brought you memorable performances from concert halls all over the world. Join us as we look back on a great year, and look ahead to what's in store for 2012.

As 2011 comes to a close, we'll take a look back at some of the big stories of the past year. We paid visits to some big summer music festivals and met some of the stars of tomorrow there. Observed several important composer anniversaries. And brought you memorable performances from concert halls all over the world. Join us as we look back on a great year, and look ahead to what's in store for 2012.

Looking back on 2011, one of the big stories we covered was the 200th birthday of Franz Liszt. How to sum up Liszt in just a few words? A musician of such immense skill that people whispered he was in league with the devil. A savvy businessman who encouraged those rumors, knowing that there's no such thing as bad press. A reformed rock star with a wild youth and an intensely spiritual old age. In today's show, the late great poet Bill Holm reading his own poem, based on Franz Liszt's "Forgotten Romance."

All week long, we're taking a look back at some of our favorite shows from 2011. One of the most interesting people we met was PT Young Artist in Residence, pianist Charlie Albright. He's pursuing a music career with all the passion and energy you might expect, but there's more to him than that. In today's show, he performs the starkly beautiful piano sonata "1.X.1905," by Leos Janacek.

From our collection of favorite shows of 2011, we can't overlook a very special festival in rural Vermont. The Marlboro Music Festival, where seasoned veterans and young professionals collaborate side-by-side. Founder Rudolf Serkin called it a "republic of equals." In today's show, festival participants talk about what makes Marlboro so special. And we'll hear a couple of those magical Marlboro performances.

As 2011 winds to a close, we'll be taking this week to look back on some of our favorite shows from the past year. In April, host Fred Child visited a special new rehearsal and performance space in Manhattan, the DiMenna Center. Ivan Fischer and the Orchestra of St. Luke's performed a Beethoven Symphony there. And in August, we met an astonishing young violinist, 15-year-old Simone Porter, at the Aspen Festival in Colorado.