Thinking Big

‘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!

Today, we'll hear the powerful overture to the Pulitzer Prize-winning opera, Omar, by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels. The opera tells the true story of Omar Ibn Said, a West African Islamic scholar who was enslaved in 1807. Giddens and Abels built the overture on the melody of Koromanti, one of the earliest documented songs composed by an enslaved person in the Americas. A big thanks goes out to Interlochen Presents and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for sharing this performance with us!

When Marin Alsop was a kid, her parents taught her she could achieve anything she set her heart to; no one was going to stop her. She's now the Music Director of the National Orchestral Institute and Festival and guest conducts orchestras worldwide. On today's program, we'll hear Marin Alsop make her conducting debut with the Berlin Philharmonic at a concert in Germany.

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” at a recent concert in Gstaad, Switzerland.

For composer Kevin Puts, the key of C major is a sonic representation of "home." It's familiar and comforting. In 2019, Puts wrote a string quartet that begins with that familiar key, but goes on to what Puts calls "the search for new and unfamiliar harmonic terrain." He wanted the music to explore the sonic possibilities, but then return to his musical idea of home. Puts knew that, however he got there, the feeling of home would be changed by the journey. Join us today to hear the Miro Quartet play Home by Kevin Puts.

Valerie Kahler is no stranger to PT; our longtime guest host and friend officially joins the team as full-time host on today's show. Join Valerie as she begins her musical adventures with Performance Today.

After 25 unforgettable years, host Fred Child bids farewell in his final show for Performance Today. Join the celebration as Fred expresses his gratitude through music and stories from an extraordinary career in public radio.

After 25 unforgettable years, host Fred Child bids farewell in his final show for Performance Today. Join the celebration as Fred expresses his gratitude through music and stories from an extraordinary career in public radio.

Grammy-winning composer and violinist Jessie Montgomery is PT’s 2025 Classical Woman of the Year, and today she joins Fred Child as a special guest co-host. Tune in today to hear Montgomery share the music that has shaped her unique artistic voice. It's a special hour of music you won't want to miss.

After 23 years, the Piano Puzzler is signing off. On today's show, Bruce Adolphe joins us one last time to talk with Fred and test our listeners' musical ears. Over the years, the Puzzler has challenged all of us to listen to music differently, while teaching us how composers express themselves in their own unique ways. Puzzler fans—look for the Piano Puzzler archive on our website in the coming days. Thanks again, Bruce!