Part-Time Composers

In 2019, a 17-year-old from Spain took the stage in Estonia to perform Édouard Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole. That performance captivated the classical world and quickly went viral. Today, at just 23, violinist María Dueñas has made Lalo’s concerto her definitive musical calling card. In today's episode, we'll travel to a concert in Granada, Spain, to hear Andrés Orozco-Estrada lead the Spanish National Orchestra, with soloist María Dueñas, in Édouard Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole.

Lost for 182 years and wrongly attributed to her brother Felix, Fanny Mendelssohn’s Easter Sonata was finally recognized as her own in 2010. Pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason highlights the work’s hymn-like textures as signatures of Fanny’s distinctive musical voice. On today’s show, Kanneh-Mason performs this long-hidden masterpiece at a concert at the University of Georgia Performing Arts Center in Athens.

For composer Jennifer Higdon, a commission isn't just about who pays for the piece; she views commissioning music as a way to empower people to share their voices and celebrate their communities. We'll learn more and hear the Merian Ensemble play Higdon's "The Sound of Light" on today's show.

This July 4th marks the historic 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence—a monumental celebration of the United States as a sovereign democracy. We have special music lined up for the holiday weekend, including a world premiere composed specifically to commemorate this semiquincentennial milestone. Join us for a musical tribute to America's journey in this episode of Performance Today.

This July 4th marks the historic 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence—a monumental celebration of the United States as a sovereign democracy. We have special music lined up for the holiday weekend, including a world premiere composed specifically to commemorate this semiquincentennial milestone. Join us for a musical tribute to America's journey in this episode of Performance Today.

The hurdy-gurdy has strings like a violin, a keyboard, and a hand crank that produces a wheezing drone. Composer Missy Mazzoli was fascinated by this sound and wanted to make an entire orchestra sound like a big hurdy-gurdy. Tune in for the Sinfonia for Orbiting Spheres by Missy Mazzoli on today’s episode. Plus, we’ll take you to a concert in Turin, Italy, for a performance of Camille Saint-Saëns’s Cello Concerto.

As a teenager, composer Kian Ravaei loved listening to his iPod on shuffle, letting his favorite artists and styles blend without context—it was all just music. In 2025, Ravaei set out to replicate that sense of eclectic, high-contrast surprise with an inventive work for flute, violin, and electronics. On today's program, we'll hear Tara Helen O'Connor and Alexi Kenney play the world premiere performance of Kian Ravaei's iPod Variations.

To celebrate a hundred years of broadcasting, Polish Radio commissioned ten new works from the country's top composers. Join us today to hear Hanna Kulenty’s Violin Concerto No. 3. By manipulating the tempo of nature through looping, flowing melodies, Kulenty aims for a metaphysical "purification of the soul." Michał Klauza conducts the Polish Radio Orchestra with violinist Marcin Markowicz at a concert in Warsaw.

At the root of a legendary Havana musical family tree is the late Juan Jorge Junco, a clarinetist, soloist, and educator who helped shape Cuba’s sound. In honor of his grandfather’s enduring legacy, composer and pianist Aldo López-Gavilán created a new work for the wind repertoire. Today, we'll hear soloist Ricardo Morales and the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Michael Butterman, at the world premiere of Aldo López-Gavilán’s Clarinet Concerto.

Indian-American composer Reena Esmail works between the worlds of Indian and Western classical music. In 2017, Esmail drew inspiration from the words of Rumi, a 13th-century Sufi poet: "Religions are many, but God is one. The lamps may be different, but the light is the same." On today's episode, we'll take you to a concert at the University of Georgia to hear the Imani Winds play Reena Esmail's 'The Light is the Same.'