Performance Today®

Classical pianist Mahani Teave saw a need and found a way. She grew up on Rapa Nui (sometimes called Easter Island) in the Pacific Ocean with plenty of music, but little of it classical. She talks with Performance Today host Fred Child about her recent solo album to help support the school she co-founded.

Mike Begay is an Indigenous American composer from the Dine nation. He has a new podcast profiling teenage Indigenous composers as they develop their works from page to stage. On today's show, hear music and stories from the Native American Composers Apprenticeship Project.

For pianist Cecile Licad, music has always been a source of freedom. She says that the piano "is the only thing I can control in my life... It's where I feel like I'm having fun and nobody is bugging me." On today's show, Cecile Licad has some fun with music by Bach at a concert presented by the Seattle Chamber Music Society.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected everyone in so many ways. Pianist Simone Dinnerstein could hear the change that took place in New York City last March. She said, "The sound had been turned down...and that quiet was not necessarily a peaceful quiet." On today's show, we'll share Dinnerstein's musical response to that unsettling quiet.

Thomas Wiggins was born blind and into slavery in Georgia in 1849. He became one of the best-known performers in the country in the late 1800s, but due to the times, the fruits of his success may or may not surprise you. Hear the story and music of Thomas Wiggins on this edition of Performance Today.

American composer Michael Abels has been getting a lot of attention in the past few years; in particular, for his movie music. He's in high demand after scoring Jordan Peele's satire horror films Get Out and Us. On today's show, hear one of Abels's orchestral pieces: Delights and Dances, from a concert presented by the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.

Hey diddle diddle, a section of fiddles, the horn jumped over the moon. The audience cheered to hear such sport, and the flute ran away with the tune. On today's show, Matthias Pintscher conducts the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in a performance of the Mother Goose Suite by Maurice Ravel, from a concert in Interlochen, Michigan.

Felix Mendelssohn had a close relationship with his older sister, Fanny. So when she died unexpectedly at age 41, Felix was devastated. He said he would never get over her death. On today's show, hear the piece that Mendelssohn dedicated to his dear departed sister.

What do we mean when we say "American classical music"? Composer Derrick Spiva sought to answer that question in the form of a string quartet. On today's show, hear music that draws on the musical traditions that reflect our multicultural American society: American Mirror by Derrick Spiva Jr.