Musical Heroes

‘Performance Today’ has selected performer and composer Jessie Montgomery as the 2025 Classical Woman of the Year. This annual award recognizes women who have made significant contributions to the classical music art form and have inspired our listeners. Find out more!

Sure, it's a flashy showpiece for piano, but Kirill Gerstein says, "If you dig deeper, it's also a sincere expression straight from the heart." On today's show, hear Kirill Gerstein play Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 with conductor Hannu Lintu leading the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.

By the time Mieczyslaw Weinberg composed his second symphony, he had already escaped the Nazis twice. Soon after, he would face the horrors of Stalin's regime directly. However, in 1945, he was relatively safe in Moscow thanks to his friendship with Dmitri Shostakovich. On today's show, we'll hear Weinberg's Symphony No. 2 performed live at the 2025 Salzburg Festival in Austria.

Ana María Patiño-Osorio grew up on a small farm in Colombia. As a kid, she took her grandma's knitting needles, turned up Brahms, and dreamed of a future with herself on the podium. Now, Patiño-Osorio has a real baton in hand. On today’s show, Patiño-Osorio leads the RAI National Symphony Orchestra in a performance of José Moncayo’s “Huapango.”

In 1935, William Grant Still wrote a musical picture of the journey of a human spirit after death. It's a piano suite titled Three Visions. On today's show, we'll hear pianist Andrew Armstrong play Still's suite at a concert presented by the Seattle Chamber Music Society.

It's a fresh new year... and what better way to celebrate than by concert-hopping around the world? We'll waltz on the wings of a phoenix in Vienna and listen to a chorus of birds during an outdoor concert in Houston. Let's ring in 2026 with a musical celebration!

There's an old Yiddish song called 'Arum Dem Fayer.' It's about the joy of gathering around a fire to sing and dance, and, even if the fire goes out, the stars will be there for light. Composer Osvaldo Golijov used that tune in a new piece he wrote in memory of a friend who loved to sing.  We'll hear the ensemble A Far Cry play Golijov's 'Arum Dem Fayer' on today's show.

Ana María Patiño-Osorio grew up on a small farm in Colombia. As a kid, she took her grandma's knitting needles, turned up Brahms, and dreamed of a future with herself on the podium. Now, Patiño-Osorio has a real baton in hand. On today’s show, Patiño-Osorio leads the RAI National Symphony Orchestra in a performance of José Moncayo’s “Huapango.”

As talented young kids, siblings Geneva Lewis and Nathan Lewis were part of a successful family trio. They’re all grown up now, each at the top of their careers, and they still find time to make music together. In today’s episode, Geneva and Nathan Lewis perform a duet by Edward Elgar at a concert in Athens, Georgia.

'Umoja' is a Swahili word meaning unity and maintaining connection to family and community. And Umoja takes on special meaning this time of year, as one of the seven guiding principles of Kwanzaa. On today's show, we'll hear Valerie Coleman's "Umoja, Anthem of Unity."