Performance Today®

The Chinese lute, or pipa, has been around for more than two thousand years. On today's show, we'll hear a 21st-century composition for pipa performed by Wu Man and the Lexington Symphony at a concert in Lexington, Massachusetts.

After returning to Paris from a working trip in Brazil, French composer Darius Milhaud wrote a piece filled with Brazilian rhythms and styles. We’ll hear it on today's show: The Ox on the Roof by Darius Milhaud, from a concert by the English Symphony Orchestra and conductor Kenneth Woods.

When violinist Augustin Hadelich plays the Violin Concerto by Jean Sibelius, he imagines a herd of galloping horses. He loves the final movement's raw, rollicking energy and dark and dangerous undertones. We'll hear Augustin Hadelich play that Sibelius concerto on today's show. Plus, Bruce Adolphe has this week's Piano Puzzler!

For three decades, Nathalie Stutzmann had a flourishing career as a contralto (singer). When she felt she'd accomplished most of her dreams in that field, she decided to pursue conducting full-time. She is now in her second season as the Music Director of the Atlanta Symphony. On today's episode of PT, Nathalie Stutzmann leads the Atlanta Symphony in a performance of J.S. Bach’s Orchestra Suite No. 3.

It's a portrait painted with music, an incredibly colorful and inventive picture of the sea: La Mer by Claude Debussy. On today's episode, we'll hear a chamber orchestra performance of La Mer at a concert presented by ROCO in Houston, Texas.

When violinist Augustin Hadelich plays the Violin Concerto by Jean Sibelius, he imagines a herd of galloping horses. He loves the final movement's raw, rollicking energy and dark and dangerous undertones. We'll hear Augustin Hadelich play that Sibelius concerto on today's show. Plus, Bruce Adolphe has this week's Piano Puzzler!

Concertos require great main character energy. On today's show, we'll travel to Shanghai to hear a bassoon concerto that expects its soloist to be sweet, agile, mysterious, and a little bit sassy: the Bassoon Concerto by Czech composer Jiri Pauer.

Imagine we’re strolling in a sunny meadow in the Swiss Alps. Birds call from overhead, boat horns echo from nearby lakes, and a gentle cow joins our walk with her bell chiming along the way. On today's show, hear a piece that Franz Doppler wrote with the intent of capturing that idyllic scene.

Composer Christopher Gunning often advised emerging composers not to wait to write their symphonies until they were too old and tired to do so, and he followed his advice by completing THIRTEEN symphonies before his death in 2023. On today's show, conductor Kenneth Woods leads the Colorado MahlerFest Orchestra in a performance of Christopher Gunning's Symphony No. 10. Plus, Bruce Adolphe has this week’s Piano Puzzler!