Improvisations

‘Performance Today’ has selected performing-arts advocate Deborah Borda as the 2024 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!

Composer James Stephenson imagined what might have happened before Aaron Copland's iconic Appalachian Spring. Stephenson turned to the myth of Persephone as his inspiration and created a musical journey into the underworld and back. We'll hear the world premiere of James Stephenson's Persephone on today's show.

Pianist Marc-André Hamelin loves music by French composer Gabriel Faure. Hamelin says, "[Faure's music] …is subtle, sophisticated, but also very sensuous." On today's show, we'll hear Hamelin play music by Gabriel Faure and French composer/educator Nadia Boulanger.

We're proud to introduce you to violinist Sarah Ma, the first of our 2024 PT Young Artists in Residence. On today's show, Sarah joins Fred Child for music and conversation at our studio in St. Paul.

Sarah Ma is the first of the 2024 cohort of PT Young Artists in Residence. They are an Asian American artist from Queens, New York, who is deeply committed to cultural advocacy, inclusion, and artistic collaboration. Sarah recently joined Fred Child in our St. Paul studio—hear their music and the entire interview here!

The piece started out as a wind octet, and then Beethoven revised it into a quintet for strings. Then, in the 21st century, a bassoonist arranged the string quintet back into music for wind quintet. Don't worry if you've lost the plot—just join us to hear the group WindSync play great music by Beethoven on today's show.

The Ekstasis Duo loves to play the "secret jewels," lesser-known works they feel deserve to be heard. Today we'll hear them play a work that was lost for nearly a century: Three Pieces by Austrian composer Alexander Zemlinksy.

When deadlines are tight and work is stressful, the baby also starts crying. But for composer Valerie Coleman, her newborn's need for comfort created "unexpected serenity." On this episode of PT, we'll hear a trio written with a baby in one hand and a pen in the other: Rubispheres by Valerie Coleman. Plus, Brude Adolphe has this week’s piano puzzler!

In 1890, French composer Ernest Chausson wrote a wild piece that's difficult to put in one tidy box. It's part violin concerto, part piano concerto, and part sextet. It’s a great piece that isn’t played often enough. Tune in today to listen to a live performance of the Chamber Concerto by Ernest Chausson from the annual Verbier Festival in Verbier, Switzerland.

Sharon Isbin is a master of Western classical music. Amjad Ali Khan is a master of Indian classical music. Together, they're building musical and cultural bridges. Join us at a concert in Aspen for a highlight from Sharon Isbin's and Amjad Ali Khan's Strings for Peace project.