Performance Today®

The Formosa Quartet finally ended their year-and-a-half-long COVID-era break with hugs, smiles, and a terrific concert performance. On today's show, hear a reunited Formosa Quartet performance in San Francisco.

An orchestra of talented young players from Cuba recently traveled to Berlin. Join us today for a highlight from that extraordinary concert. It's the Havana Lyceum Orchestra, on this edition of Performance Today.

In 1932, Aaron Copland went to an all-night dance hall in Mexico City and was struck by the spirit of the place. He said he felt in live contact with the humanity and dignity of the Mexican people. On today's show, hear the music inspired by that dance club: El Salon Mexico by Aaron Copland.

Composer and guitarist Agustín Barrios was in a cathedral listening to heavenly music...then he walked out into the city and felt assaulted by the sudden change from serenity to noise. On today's show, hear the music he wrote in response to that experience: The Cathedral, by Agustín Barrios.

On today's show, we speak to scholar and soprano Dr. Louise Toppin, creator of the African Diaspora Music Project, a database of music written by Black composers from all around the world. Toppin's goal is to bring classical music written by Black people to concert halls worldwide.

Three members of the Schumann Quartet are siblings from a family named Schumann, and their father's name was Robert Schumann...but no relation to the famous composer. In this episode, we'll sort out the names and hear the Schumann Quartet play music by Schumann, plus Bruce Adolphe has this week’s Piano Puzzler.

Enrique Crespo was a supremely talented composer and trombonist. He was raised in Uruguay but spent most of his career in Germany writing great music for brass ensembles. We've got an example of Enrique Crespo's brassy creativity on this edition of Performance Today.

If a composer finishes a piece but chooses not to perform or publish it during their lifetime, should we honor that and never play or hear that piece? On today's show, we'll dig into that thought and hear some examples by Joaquin Rodrigo and Maurice Ravel.

In the Schumann Quartet, three members of the group are siblings from a family named Schumann, and their father's name was Robert Schumann...but, no relation to the famous composer. We'll sort out the names and hear the Schumann Quartet play music by Schumann on this episode of Performance Today.