Performance Today®

On today's show, learn more about Lady Jess, a freelance violinist living in New York City. We'll hear selections from one of Lady Jess's recent projects - a recording of The Prison, by Ethel Smyth.

Composer Jennifer Higdon wrote Blue Cathedral in 2000. It was inspired by an imaginary vision of a glass cathedral in the sky. On today's show, The Orchestra Now (TON) takes us on a journey through that cathedral. Blue Cathedral by Jennifer Higdon, from a concert in upstate New York.

The pandemic has profoundly affected the musical world, with concerts and festivals having been cancelled worldwide. There is hope though...in some places, concerts with audiences are safely back underway. On today's show, hear a highlight from a concert presented just last month by the Taipei Music Academy & Festival.

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor wrote his Nonet in London in 1893, when he was only 18 years old. On today's show, hear this remarkable work, a piece that deserves to be played and heard so much more.

In 1878, Johannes Brahms dedicated his first (and only) violin concerto to his friend, violinist Joseph Joachim. Joachim loved it, calling it one of the four great German violin concertos. On today's show, hear violinist Vadim Gluzman play that Brahms concerto in concert with the Oregon Symphony.

The pandemic has profoundly affected the musical world, with concerts and festivals having been cancelled worldwide. There is hope though...in some places, concerts with audiences are safely back underway. On today's show, hear a highlight from a concert presented just last month by the Taipei Music Academy & Festival.

In 2014, composer Jonathan Bailey Holland was grappling with profound sadness about the number of Black Americans killed by police. He couldn't express his feelings in words, so he turned to music. On today's show, hear the world premiere concert performance of Dream Elegy by Jonathan Bailey Holland.

When Marie Therese Coin Coin was granted her freedom in 1778, she used her business skills to become a landowner, with the goal of purchasing her children's freedom. Composer Jason Moran is Coin Coin's great-great-grand-nephew. On today's show, hear the Imani Winds play "Cane" by Jason Moran - music inspired by Maran's family history.

In 2015, nine people were killed at a church in Charleston, SC. On today's show, the Dallas Winds plays a piece written to honor the lives of those who died: Of Our New Day Begun, by Omar Thomas.