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."

In 1874, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov traveled to the northern coast of the Black Sea. The trip left a lasting impression on the composer; he was intoxicated by the Arabic and Turkish music he heard on the streets and in coffee houses. On this episode of Performance Today, we hear these exotic impressions in a concert performance of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade.

When composer Jessie Montgomery inherited an eclectic record collection and one track caught her attention, a traditional lullaby from Angola. On this episode of Performance Today, hear an adaptation of that Angolan lullaby in Records from a Vanishing City, by Jessie Montgomery.

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.

When American composer Emily Cooley was living in Philadelphia, she stumbled across an essay by Virginia Woolf. That essay inspired Cooley to write a piece of music, and she even borrowed the title. On this episode of Performance Today, hear Street Haunting by Emily Cooley, from a concert at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.

Harriet Krijgh is an up-and-coming cellist from the Netherlands. In her 20s, she has already established a fine career around Europe, and she's making waves on stages in the U.S., as well. On this episode of Performance Today, Harriet Krijgh solos with the Oregon Symphony, performing Dvorak's Cello Concerto in B minor.

Danbi Um was ten years old when her mom took her to Philadelphia to play her violin for a few people. She didn't know that her casual performance was an audition for one of the top schools of music in the world. Violinist Danbi Um talks about her life-changing audition on this episode of Performance Today.

When American composer Emily Cooley was living in Philadelphia, she stumbled across an essay by Virginia Woolf. That essay inspired Cooley to write a piece of music, and she even borrowed the title. On this episode of Performance Today, hear Street Haunting by Emily Cooley, from a concert at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.

Violinist and composer Fritz Kreisler wrote a concerto in 1927, but for about eight years, he claimed it had been written in the early 1700s, by Antonio Vivaldi. Why? On this episode of Performance Today, hear the story and the music: violinist Pekka Kuusisto leads the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in a live performance of Kreisler's Violin Concerto in C Major.