Twists on the Nutcracker

We're pleased to introduce you to clarinetist Victor Ni, 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. Plus, Bruce Adolphe joins us for this week’s Piano Puzzler.

Once troubled by pre-concert jitters so intense that he needed a push to get on stage, violinist Augustin Hadelich has discovered a new sense of calm. Breathing exercises have transformed his performance experience, making the stage feel like home. On today's program, Agustin Hadelich and the St. Louis Symphony play music by Samuel Barber.

Composer Julio Medaglia was born in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1938. He studied conducting in Germany for ten years before returning to Brazil to conduct and compose. For 30 years, he hosted a daily radio show in São Paulo that sounded similar to PT, combining concert highlights and contemporary music. On today's show, we'll hear the Imani Winds play Julio Medaglia's 'Belle Epoque en Sud-America,’ including a really fun movement named "Crazy Baby Clarinette!"

Clarinetist Victor Ni is the next of our 2025 cohort of PT Young Artists in Residence. Victor recently joined Fred Child in our St. Paul studio. You can hear Victor’s music and the entire interview here.

We're pleased to introduce you to clarinetist Victor Ni, 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.

Composer Jessie Montgomery found inspiration in nature's infinitely repeating patterns: fractals. Her fascination with these natural wonders led her to write a captivating new piece that brings fractals to life through sound. On today's show, we'll hear "Rounds" by Jessie Montgomery, a musical exploration of nature's boundless beauty.

The Poiesis Quartet was founded in the fall of 2022 at Oberlin Conservatory. Its name comes from an ancient Greek word meaning “to make"—specifically, to create something that has never been made before. One of the quartet's violinists is our former Young Artist in Residence, Sarah Ma. On today's program, we'll take you to a concert in San Antonio to hear what Ma and their quartet have been up to lately.

Finnish violinist and conductor Pekka Kuusisto shares a connection with the music and character of his fellow countryman, Jean Sibelius. On today’s program, Kuusisto and the German Symphony Orchestra perform two seldom-heard gems by Sibelius at a concert in Berlin.

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.

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 a whole orchestra sound like a big hurdy-gurdy.  Tune in for the Sinfonia for Orbiting Spheres by Missy Mazzoli on today’s episode.