Performance Today®

We've all heard the phrase "all of a sudden." Composer Michael Kurth wonders if we could add some more gradations and subtlety to that. On this episode of Performance Today, hear Kurth's string quartet titled "Some of a Sudden."

The Shanghai Chinese Orchestra is an orchestra that combines Western cellos and basses with traditional Chinese instruments. On today's show, hear the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra perform a beautiful concerto by Chinese composer Han Wenhe, from a recent concert in Shanghai.

One dreary day when he was studying abroad, oboist James Austin Smith received a gift, a ray of sunshine. James's father had written a special piece as a gift for his son. On today's show, James Austin Smith plays "Three Angularities" by his father, composer Larry Alan Smith.

The Calidore String Quartet recently marked 10 years of playing music together. On today's show, hear how they're pushing forward and staying positive during the pandemic, then hear their gorgeous performance of Beethoven's String Quartet No. 4.

When Michala Petri was three years old, her father gave her a little recorder as a present. Little Michala loved the challenge of making expressive music on this simple piece of wood. And for more than three decades now, Michala Petri has been one of the foremost recorder players in the world. On today's show, hear from a concert that Danish recorder player Michala Petri and guitarist Lars Hannibal presented to an online audience last summer.

The Calidore String Quartet recently marked 10 years of playing music together. On today's show, hear how they're pushing forward and staying positive during the pandemic, then hear their gorgeous performance of Beethoven's String Quartet No. 4.

Gioachino Rossini wrote an unusual string duet in 1824, which was played ONCE...and then disappeared for a century and a half. It's a duet for cello and double bass, and it's now back in circulation. On today's show, hear Joel Dallow and Karl Fenner of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra play Rossini's unusual duet.

At the age of 27, Franz Schubert was facing his own mortality. He took a haunting song that he had written seven years earlier and wrote a set of variations for string quartet. On today's show, hear the Ariel Quartet play Schubert's String Quartet No. 14, better known by its nickname: Death and the Maiden.

When Carlos Simon was ten, he was asked to play piano in church. Simon spent years immersed in gospel music, and he started to write his own music as well. On today's show, join us for music that celebrates his roots: "Amen!" by Carlos Simon.