Performance Today®

In 1932, Aaron Copland went to an all-night dance hall in Mexico City. He saw a sign that read: "Please don't throw lighted cigarette butts on the floor so the ladies don't burn their feet." On today's show, hear music inspired by that stimulating dance-club from a concert at the Aspen Music Festival and School.

Composer Behzad Ranjbaran says of all the instruments in the orchestra, the viola is the voice of wisdom, moderation, and prudence. On this episode of Performance Today, we'll hear violist Roberto Diaz and the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra perform the concerto that Ranjbaran wrote for the viola's musical voice of wisdom.

In 1930, Maurice Ravel wrote a special concerto for Paul Wittgenstein, a pianist who had lost his right arm in the First World War. On this episode of Performance Today, we'll hear a performance of Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, from a concert in Round Top, Texas.

Composer Gillian Whitehead was beginning to write a new piece when she got heartbreaking news: a dear friend of hers had cancer...and it quickly took her friend's life. On today's show, music dedicated to a dear friend: "No Stars, Not Even Clouds" by Gillian Whitehead.

The pink plastic flamingo... maybe you had one in the yard of your childhood home or you've seen the plastic birds flocking your neighbor's lawn. Composer Michael Daugherty says those pink plastic lawn ornaments are American icons. On today's show, hear Daugherty's musical ode to flamingos, plastic and feathered, from a concert in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

In 1922, Maurice Ravel premiered a duo, his Sonata for Violin and Cello, and it marked a turning point in his development as a composer. Ravel described the sonata as "music stripped to the bone" yet it is surprisingly complex. On today's show, hear Amy Schwartz Moretti and Yegor Dyachov perform Ravel's Sonata for Violin and Cello, from a concert in Seattle.

Despite her husband's name-recognition, Clara Schumann was the breadwinner of the household. She was a formidable pianist and a prolific composer. On today's show, we're throwing Clara a much deserved birthday party in celebration of Clara Schumann's 200th birthday!

In 1922, Maurice Ravel premiered a piece for violin and cello. It is so dense and challenging that a musicologist of the time suggested that Ravel rearrange it for orchestra, spreading the notes out across many instruments rather than two. On today's show, hear Amy Schwartz Moretti and Yegor Dyachov perform Ravel's Sonata for Violin and Cello, from a concert in Seattle.

American pianist Jonathan Biss plays a wide range of music, but something about Beethoven always pulls him back in. On today's show, Jonathan Biss pours his own passion into Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4, with the Houston Symphony.