Performance Today®

Every violinist uses rosin to get just the right friction between the bow and the strings. When he was six years old, Gil Shaham found another use for that little ball of rosin. On today's show, Shaham recalls channeling his inner batting champ and hits one out of the park playing Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1 with the LA Phil.

When guitarist Jason Vieaux was preparing for his debut with the Nashville Symphony, he told Nashville Public Radio "This is the most time I've ever spent on any piece of music, ever...That's how hard it is." On this episode of Performance Today, hear Jason Vieaux and the Nashville Symphony play the Concerto for Guitar by Jonathan Leshnoff.

In 1959, composers Chen Gang and He Zhanhao wrote a piece based on an old Chinese story where two lovers face a tragic end... and a new beginning. On today's show, hear The Butterfly Lovers violin concerto, performed by violinist Gil Shaham and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.

Florence Price's Piano Concerto has only been performed a handful of times. Pianist Michelle Cann wants to change that, and she commissioned a new version for piano quintet. It's intimate and powerful, and we can't wait to share it with you. On today's show, hear this new arrangement of the Piano Concerto by Florence Price.

The most recent Tchaikovsky Competition was open to brass players for the first time. Tchaikovsky didn't write music for solo brass, so the jury chose the Horn Concerto by Reinhold Gliere to be the horn's shining moment. Hear Yun Zeng's a gold medal performance of Gliere's Horn Concerto on this edition of Performance Today.

On overcast days, the mountains of Vermont lose their color, becoming grey silhouettes. And some of the roads are so dark you need headlights, even during the day. On today's show, JoAnn Falletta leads the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in a live performance of Dark Mountains by Robert Paterson.

Tune in for a mix of classical favorites AND classical discoveries. On this episode of Performance Today, hear an engaging new piece called Bound, by Natalie Dietterich, plus music by Ravel, Shostakovich, and Jean Marie Leclair.

There's a curious psychological phenomenon: when something is forbidden or out of reach, we want it, we crave it all the more. Coming up, music inspired by a famous story of desire and temptation. On this episode of Performance Today, hear a new piece of music called Low Hanging Fruit, by Michael Gilbertson.

On overcast days, the mountains of Vermont lose their color, becoming grey silhouettes. And some of the roads are so dark you need headlights, even during the day. On today's show, JoAnn Falletta leads the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in a live performance of Dark Mountains by Robert Paterson.