Poster Gioachino Rossini
Gioachino Rossini photographed by Etienne Carjat in 1865
Wikimedia Commons
Performance Today®

Rossini's 56th birthday?

If composer Gioachino Rossini were alive today, he'd be 232 years old, but only celebrating his 56th birthday. Rossini was born on February 29th. Music by the Leap Day birthday boy, Rossini, on this episode of Performance Today.

Episode Playlist

Hour 1

Florence Price: String Quartet No. 2: Movement 3
Catalyst Quartet
Album: UNCOVERED Vol. 2
Azica

Osvaldo Golijov: Lullaby and Doina
Ilya Gringolts, violin | Silvia Simionescu, viola | Chen Halevi, clarinet | Winfried Holzenkamp, bass | Matvey Demin, flute
Mizmorim Festival, Stadtcasino, Basel. Basel, Switzerland

Johann Sebastian Bach: Cello Suite No. 1 in G major, BWV 1007: Movements 1-2
Johnny Gandelsman, violin
Tippet Rise Art Center, The Olivier Music Barn, Fishtail, MT

Florence Price: Symphony No. 3
National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic | David Neely, conductor
National Orchestral Institute & Festival, Elsie and Marvin Dekelboum Concert Hall, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, College Park, MD

Hour 2

Gioachino Rossini: La Iontananza
Lawrence Brownlee, tenor | Martin Katz, piano
Album: Lawrence Brownlee: Italian Songs for Tenor and Piano
EMI 86503

Damien Geter: I Said What I Said for Woodwind Quintet
Imani Winds
Chamber Music Northwest, Alberta Rose Theatre, Portland, OR

Gioachino Rossini: Overture to The Barber of Seville
The Knights
University of Georgia Performing Arts Center, Hodgson Concert Hall, Athens, GA

Gioachino Rossini: Overture to "L'italiana in Algeri"
Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century | Giancarlo Andretta, conductor
Album: Gioachino Rossini: L'Italiana in Algeri
Glossa 921132

Josef Suk: Piano Quartet in A minor
Orli Shaham, piano | Gary Levinson, violin | Michael Klotz, viola | Amanda Forsyth, cello
Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX

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Performance Today® features live concert recordings that can’t be heard anywhere else, highlights from new album releases, and in-studio performances and interviews. Performance Today® is based at the APM studios in St. Paul, Minnesota, but is frequently on the road, with special programs broadcast from festivals and public radio stations around the country. Also, each Wednesday, composer Bruce Adolphe joins host Fred Child for a classical musical game and listener favorite: the Piano Puzzler.

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