2025 Classical Woman of the Year: Jessie Montgomery

Inspired by the buzzy resonance of the ennanga (African trough zither), William Grant Still incorporated the spirit of Central and East African folk music into a Western chamber setting. Still drew on the instrument’s unique character as inspiration for this piece for harp, piano, and strings. Join us today to hear harpist Lily Primus lead Rice University’s Shepherd School Chamber Players in a concert performance of William Grant Still’s ‘Ennanga.’

Although Louise Farrenc was the only woman to hold a permanent position at the Paris Conservatory in the 19th century, her Symphony No. 2 demonstrates that her compositional talent rivaled that of the most renowned male composers of her time. Join us today as Nil Venditti leads the Essen Philharmonic Orchestra in a recent performance of Farrenc’s Symphony No. 2.

On today's show, we're highlighting Dvořák's Symphony No. 9, "From the New World." Conductor Cristian Măcelaru explains how the composer's work captures an American soundscape while also beautifully reflecting his own Czech heritage. The result, Măcelaru says, is a powerful contribution from an immigrant artist to American culture.

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.

Pianist Aristo Sham believes the true measure of a competition is how it treats its musicians. He praises the Cliburn Competition for making contestants feel less like rivals and more like respected artists at a festival. Today, we'll hear Aristo Sham perform music by Sergei Rachmaninoff and Gabriella Montero, recorded live at the 2025 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

Despite the English horn’s misleading name—it’s neither English nor a horn—the instrument produces a famously "angelic" sound that takes center stage in Hector Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture. Berlioz originally composed the music for his opera Benvenuto Cellini. Though the opera flopped, he salvaged its best melodies to create an orchestral centerpiece. In today's episode, Andrés Orozco-Estrada leads the RAI National Symphony Orchestra in a concert performance of the Roman Carnival Overture.

In the 19th century, French writer Aloysius Bertrand sought to achieve with words what Rembrandt did with light and shadow, creating a collection of dark, poetic hallucinations titled Gaspard de la nuit. Decades later, those eerie verses inspired Maurice Ravel to write one of the most notoriously difficult piano suites. On today's program, pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason performs the framing movements of Maurice Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit, recorded live at the University of Georgia Performing Arts Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

In the 1990s, composer Starr Parodi had a frightening encounter with a South Pacific riptide. She drew an inspirational parallel from that experience to a much more recent tragedy: the 2025 Pacific Palisades fire that destroyed her home and studio. Through both events, she discovered that resilience often comes from letting go rather than fighting the flow. On today's show, Delyana Lazarova conducts the ensemble ROCO in Starr Parodi's meditation on surrender, Riptide.

While many musicians follow a strict, lifelong path to the conservatory, Joaquín Valdepeñas took a winding route. He didn't pick up a clarinet until seventh grade and treated it as a school-year hobby. It wasn't until college that he took his first formal lessons. He eventually earned a Master’s from Yale and has spent the last 22 years as principal clarinetist of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. In today's program, Valdepeñas shares that wealth of experience as a conductor and educator. We'll hear him lead the Aspen Wind Orchestra in Charles Gounod's Petite Symphonie, recorded live at the Aspen Music Festival and School in Colorado.

Meet our next 2026 PT Young Artist in Residence: Soprano Claudia Diaz. In today's episode, Claudia joins Valerie Kahler for music and conversation at our studio in Saint Paul.