2025 Classical Woman of the Year: Jessie Montgomery

In 2016, pianist and composer Gabriela Montero wrote a concerto reflecting how people perceive Latin America. She says it's not an overtly political piece, but it does express the light and dark sides of the subject. Today, we'll hear Gabriela Montero play her “Latin Concerto” with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Stockholm. Plus, Bruce Adolphe has this week’s Piano Puzzler.

Pianist Lucas Debargue quit piano lessons in 2005 when he was 15 years old. As recently as 2015, he worked as a cashier at a supermarket. Then, he made an out-of-nowhere splash at the 2015 Tchaikovsky competition in Russia and has had a lively career ever since. Tune in today to hear Lukas Debargue play Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major at a concert in Stockholm, Sweden.

Johann Sebastian Bach wrote only one piece of keyboard music that was programmatic, meaning it tells a story. The 19-year-old Bach composed this piece for his older brother Johann Jakob when he left home to join the Swedish Army band as an oboist. On today's show, we'll hear Bach's musical description of the occasion: the Capriccio on the Departure of his most Dearly Beloved Brother.

We're pleased to present clarinetist Victor Ni, one of our next 2025 PT Young Artists in Residence. On today's program, Victor joins Fred Child for music and conversation in our Saint Paul studio.

Alexandre Kantorow enjoyed piano lessons as a boy, but he also spent plenty of time on the playground. It wasn't until high school that he started to take the piano seriously, and things happened quickly for him after that. In 2019, at age 22, he won both a Gold Medal and the Grand Prize at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Russia. Today, Alexandre Kantorow joins Germany's WDR Symphony Orchestra to perform Franz Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 2.

In 2016, pianist and composer Gabriela Montero wrote a concerto reflecting how people perceive Latin America. She says it's not an overtly political piece, but it does express the light and dark sides of the subject. Today, we'll hear Gabriela Montero play her “Latin Concerto” with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Stockholm.

This fall, the renowned conductor Cristian Macelaru begins his tenure as the Music Director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO). One piece he recently shared with Cincinnati audiences is by one of his favorite composers: Wynton Marsalis. On today's episode, we'll hear Macelaru lead the CSO in a performance of Marsalis's Blues Symphony.

Tessa Lark is a uniquely American violinist. She has classical conservatory training and grew up playing the fiddle in her family’s bluegrass band in Kentucky. On today’s show, Tessa Lark shares two sides of herself with a sonata by Eugène Ysaye and a new piece named “The Ysaye Shuffle” by Tessa Lark.

In 2022, composer Viet Cuong found himself at his father's bedside in the ICU. He played some of his compositions—music he knew his father loved—and hoped that the sound, or "sine waves," would reach his father's consciousness. Cuong realized that his love for his father and his passion for music were inseparable. Join us for a concert at the University of Georgia to hear “Vital Sines” by Viet Cuong.

Flutist Carol Wincenc has influenced generations of musicians through her performances and teaching. From her early days at Juilliard to winning the Naumburg Competition, her career spans decades of artistry. On today's show, we'll take you to a recent concert in Texas to hear Wincenc perform the Romance in F minor by Antonín Dvořák.