El Dia de los Muertos

El Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, is a time to joyfully remember family and friends who've passed away. Because death is always present, life is worth living to the fullest. Today, we’re celebrating life... on the Day of the Dead.

Winning a music competition often means winning cash prizes and publicity galore. Pianist Alim Beisembayev also won the chance to perform the world premiere of a new piece. He'll play a brand piano concerto by Eleanor Alberga on today's show.

Every week on our Piano Puzzler, composer Bruce Adolphe re-writes a familiar tune in the style of a great composer. One of our listeners calls in and tries to guess the tune and the composer whose style Bruce is mimicking. Tune in and play along with our weekly musical game: the Piano Puzzler.

In 2022, the Apollo Chamber Players commissioned a work by composer Wang Jie. Wang Jie, also trained as an organist, wrote the piece for the unusual combination of pipe organ and string quartet. On today's show, we'll hear the Apollo Chamber Players and organist Daryl Robinson play the world premiere of The Night When You See Again by Wang Jie.

When composer Gioachino Rossini was 12, he wrote six "terrible" sonatas. WE don't think they're terrible—Rossini is the one that used that word. So, see what you think... join us today to hear Rossini's not-so-terrible String Sonata No. 3 from a concert in Portland, Oregon.

People do all kinds of things on the subway to pass the time. When Alan Shulman was 25, he wrote his first major composition… on the New York City subway. Join us today to hear music by Alan Shulman, written in transit between Manhattan and Brooklyn.

In 1935, William Grant Still wrote a musical picture of the journey of a human spirit after death. It's a suite for piano called Three Visions. On today's show, we'll hear pianist Andrew Armstrong play Still's suite at a concert presented by the Seattle Chamber Music Society.

Dora Pejačević was a trailblazer. She became the first Croatian composer to write a concerto in 1913. Then, while serving as a nurse in World War One, she wrote what is considered to be the first modern symphony in Croatian music. On today's show, we'll hear Pejačević's Piano Quartet in D minor from a concert presented by the Society for Chamber Music in Rochester, New York.

People do all kinds of things on the subway to pass the time. When Alan Shulman was 25, he wrote his first major composition… on the New York City subway. Join us today to hear music by Alan Shulman, written in transit between Manhattan and Brooklyn.

It can be a delicate moment when an orchestra names a new music director—orchestras can be a little cool toward new conductors. The Charlotte Symphony has stepped up and welcomed its Music Director Designate with a party atmosphere. We'll hear the fruits of this new partnership on today's show: Kwamé Ryan leads the Charlotte Symphony in a hometown performance.