Performance Today®

Conrad Tao wrote a piece when he was 15 years old called Eventide. It's inspired by the gentle arrival of night. Now, more than a dozen years later, it's still one of his favorites. On today's show, we'll hear Conrad Tao and friends play Eventide from a concert in Rockport, Maine.

Juneteenth is this Sunday, June 19th. It’s the longest-running celebration of the end of slavery. For many Americans, it's a day of reflection on freedom, resilience, and strength.  Join us today for music to start celebrating this Juneteenth weekend!

There's a photo of a young boy in an abandoned train station in Albania. The boy turns an old water bottle into a toy, and he's lost in his world of play, despite the refugee crisis around him. On today's show, hear music inspired by that photo, "A Boy and a Makeshift Toy," by Armenian-American composer Mary Kouyoumdjian.

Conrad Tao wrote a piece when he was 15 years old called Eventide. It's inspired by the gentle arrival of night. Now, more than a dozen years later, it's still one of his favorites. On today's show, we'll hear Conrad Tao and friends play Eventide from a concert in Rockport, Maine.

The Alexander String Quartet is known in part for their recordings of Beethoven quartets. Cellist Sandy Wilson says Beethoven's music can seep into anyone's subconscious and stir up feelings of empathy. On today's show, hear them play Beethoven's String Quartet No. 1 at a concert in New York City.

One of the great joys of the summer music festival season is hearing ad-hoc all-star groups who would never otherwise get to play together. We've got just such an ensemble on today's show, a unique all-star quartet in concert at the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival on Long Island.

At age seventeen, composer Kayhan Kalhor left his home in Iran, fled for safety, and walked over two-thousand five-hundred miles to Italy, alone, with just a small backpack and his beloved kamancheh (spiked fiddle). We'll hear music Kalhor wrote for Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble on today’s show.

Osmo Vänskä has seen the Minnesota Orchestra through a great deal of struggle, change, and triumph. Now, Vänskä has decided to end his 19-year tenure as their Music Director, and this weekend, the orchestra is saying farewell to him with several celebratory concerts. Join us today for an exceptional Minnesota Orchestra performance of a new composition by Osmo Vänskä himself.

After a visit to the coast of England, composer Ethel Smyth became fascinated by the history of "wrecking" - where villagers on the coast would lure ships onto the rocks and plunder the wrecked vessels. Hear music by Ethel Smyth from a piece called "The Wreckers" on today's show.