Performance Today®

In 2005, the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma founded the first American Indian summer arts academy, with classes in dance, literature, theater, art, and music composition. On today's show, the Spokane String Quartet plays music by two Chickasaw composers, Dylan Bennett and Miko Begaye.

It's one of most emotionally moving and relevant pieces of the 21st century. On today's show, hear Seven Last Words of the Unarmed by Joel Thompson, performed by the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra, the Morehouse College Glee Club, and the Florida A&M University Concert Choir.

Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, was a fine marksman, a fencer, and one of the great French violinists of the 1700s. He was also the first known classical composer of African descent. On today's show, hear the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra play Bologne's Symphony in G Major.

In printing and publishing, a watermark is a faint design in paper that's used to identify the time and place the paper came from. Composer Caroline Shaw had a poetic version of that idea and composed a piece that references a Beethoven piano concerto. On today's show, hear Jonathan Biss and the Saint Paul Chamber orchestra play Watermark, by Caroline Shaw.

If you could personally thank a musical artist who's been an inspiration for you, who would it be and how would you thank them? On today's show, hear how composer and percussionist Ivan Trevino expressed his gratitude in "Songbook Volume 3" - performed by Trevino and Windsync at a concert in Jacksonville, Florida.

Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, was a fine marksman, a fencer, and one of the great French violinists of the 1700s. He was also the first known classical composer of African descent. On today's show, hear the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra play Bologne's Symphony in G Major.

When Stephen Hough wrote his Piano Sonata No. 4, he called it "Vida Breve" (Short Life), expressing the melancholy of this brief lifetime we have. On today's show, Stephen Hough plays "Short Life", from a concert at the Grand Teton Music Festival.

Composer Amedee Barre was born on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe in 1904. And, even though his official occupation was as a justice court clerk, many saw him as a true musician at heart. He was a mandolin virtuoso, a violin teacher, and performer who composed Creole songs. On today's show, hear Barre's grandsons, the Grimbert-Barre Trio, play a set of his Creole songs at a concert presented by the Colour of Music Festival.

Carolina Eyck started playing the theremin when she was seven. Her first audience...was a collection of stuffed animals at her home in Berlin. Now she's considered one of the finest players of the theremin in the world. On today's show, hear Carolina Eyck and the Apollo Chamber Players perform Bohuslav Martinu's Fantasia for theremin, oboe, string quartet and piano.