Performance Today®

Marc-Andre Hamelin is one of the most celebrated and respected pianists of our time. His performances are known for their brilliance, technical mastery, and deep musicality. On today's show, we'll hear Hamelin play one of the world’s most challenging piano compositions: Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 29, the Hammerklavier.

A few years ago, composer Rick Sowash set a poem to music, creating a song. And then he turned that song into a musical conversation between flute and cello. On today's show, hear the Sylvan Trio perform the result: Seasonal Breezes by Rick Sowash.

Pianists and violinists can make a living as professional classical music freelancers, but an oboist? That's a real rarity. James Austin Smith is a pioneering oboist in so many ways. On today's show, we'll hear James Austin Smith in concert at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina.

Yurui "Rain" Hou loves how chamber music is like conversation and how the composer gets to construct the conversation note by note. Hou is 19 years old and a student at Columbia University in New York City, but don't discount her music because of her age. On today's show, we'll hear a piece Rain Hou composed for the Emerging Composers Intensive in Carmel Valley, California.

It seems to be human nature that when something is forbidden, it becomes all the more enticing. When Jon Nakamatsu was a boy, no one in his family was allowed to touch the piano. Can you see where this is going? Learn how Jon Nakamatsu became a pianist on today’s show.

Franz Schreker was an innovative Austrian composer in the early 1900s, but the Third Reich banned his music and that of many other composers of Jewish origin. Now, some orchestras are reviving his music. We'll hear Franz Schreker's distinctive 'Kammersymphonie' ('Chamber Symphony') on today's show, with Alan Gilbert conducting the SummerFest Chamber Orchestra in La Jolla, California.

When conductor Marin Alsop was a kid, she begged her parents to decorate her bedroom. She says, "I talked them into buying me two posters: one of the Beatles and one of Leonard Bernstein." Join us today to hear some of Marin Alsop's memories of Bernstein and more as we celebrate July 4th with a day of all-American music.

It seems to be human nature that when something is forbidden, it becomes all the more enticing. When Jon Nakamatsu was a boy, no one in his family was allowed to touch the piano. Can you see where this is going? Learn how Jon Nakamatsu became a pianist on today’s show.

Some critics called composer Richard Strauss a musical coward, an egomaniac whose music had no depth or substance. Strauss dished it right back by making fun of critics in his music. Join us for the story and a brilliant performance on this edition of Performance Today.

Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24 is a bit different from his other concertos. It doesn't try to please us right away; it begins with a feeling of uncertainty and tension. The tension is resolved when the piano comes in two minutes later, and the music becomes very pleasing. Pianist Joyce Yang says the moment feels like waking suddenly from a dream. On today's show, we'll hear Joyce Yang play the concerto with the Aspen Chamber Symphony, led by conductor Jane Glover.