Performance Today®

19th century sugar with a little 20th century spice makes for a tasty serving of orchestral music at one of the world's great concert halls, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Paul Hindemith's "Symphonic Metamorphoses on Themes of Carl Maria von Weber." David Robertson leads the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in a pulsating performance. Domenico Scarlatti wrote 550 sonatas, almost all for harpsichord. We'll hear a set of three played in concert on anything BUT the harpsichord: Christian Zacharias at the piano, Emmanuel Ceysson on the harp, and Lidia Kaminska on the...accordion.

Today's show begins in Amsterdam. Simon Rattle leads the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in Schumann's fourth symphony. Then we'll return to our St. Paul studios, where Bruce Adolphe joins host Fred Child for another "Piano Puzzler." In hour two, Ivan Fischer leads the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Arnold Schoenberg's arrangement of Brahms' first piano quartet in Amsterdam.

The world of popular culture is full of classical music references. The famous ad campaign, "beef - it's what's for dinner," featured music from Aaron Copland's ballet, "Rodeo." And the finale of Saint-Saens' (pictured) third symphony found its way into a movie about a talking pig, "Babe." On today's show, we'll hear the symphony in its entirety, played by Charles Dutoit and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, with organist Joanne Pearce Martin.

The Miro String Quartet and poet Matthea Harvey appeared together at this year's White Pine Festival in Stillwater, Minnesota as part of the Poetry Radio Project. The music was Philip Glass' String Quartet No. 5. Harvey's poem, interwoven with the music, brought out images of water and glass, and the remoteness of the natural world. On today's show, we'll hear this memorable performance of words and music.

The Aspen Music Festival is the country's largest summer festival. Aspen opened this week, and runs through late August, featuring many of the top performers in the world. As the festival continues, we'll be bringing you live performances throughout the summer. On today's show, we'll revisit past Aspen concerts by pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin, violinist Julia Fischer, and the Aspen Festival Orchestra.

Mitsuko Uchida is one of the finest pianists in the world, especially known for the emotional depth of her performances. She could be working non-stop, but chooses to play less than she could, to leave space for relaxation and time with friends. Perhaps, it's that search for balance in her life that allows her to achieve such depth and breadth of emotion in her music. Today, we'll hear her in a performance of Beethoven's third piano concerto, with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

The Aspen Music Festival is the country's largest summer festival. Aspen opens today, and runs through late August, featuring many of the top performers in the world. As the festival continues, we'll be bringing you live performances throughout the summer. On today's show, we'll revisit past Aspen concerts by pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin, violinist Julia Fischer, and the Aspen Festival Orchestra.

Leaving school can be a bit like leaving the womb. Getting out takes a lot of hard work. Nothing is safe or certain any more, but the possibilities are endless. This week, we're featuring some of the top university and conservatory students in their student recitals. Also, we'll hear from two training orchestras for young musicians: the European Union Baroque Orchestra and the National Orchestral Institute Orchestra (pictured).

All this week on Performance Today, we're featuring terrific performances by some of the top university and conservatory music students in the country. They're the next generation of classical musicians, and they've been studying and practicing for years for the big event, their senior recitals. On today's show, we'll feature students from the Oberlin Conservatory and the University of Texas at Austin.