Performance Today®

Once every four years, talented musicians gather in Russia for the International Tchaikovsky Competition. This year, several American musicians made the final round. We'll share highlights from their performances on this edition of Performance Today.

The life cycle of the butterfly is often used to represent change, rebirth, and hope. Composer Alyssa Morris sees the butterfly as a symbol of spiritual development. On today's program, hear music inspired by the earthbound caterpillar turning into a soaring butterfly.

Conductor Osmo Vanska says that Jean Sibelius's fifth symphony is the most uplifting of his symphonies. Even so, it's not without sadness. Vanska explains that this is a very typical Finnish outlook. On this weekend's show, hear Osmo Vanska and the Minnesota Orchestra weave the joy and shadows of Sibelius's Symphony No. 5.

On this episode of Performance Today, we'll introduce you to PT Young Artist in Residence, cellist Ifetayo Ali Landing. Ifetayo joins Fred Child for music and conversation at the Maud Moon Weyerhaeuser studio in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Cellist Ifetayo Ali-Landing is Performance Today's current Young Artist in Residence. Ifetayo recently joined Fred Child for conversation and music at our studio in Saint Paul. You can hear it all here!

On December 8th, 1915, Jean Sibelius turned 50 and premiered his fifth symphony. The citizens of Finland took the day off to celebrate. On this edition of Performance Today, we'll hear conductor Osmo Vanska and the Minnesota Orchestra play Sibelius's Symphony No. 5, a work that the Finnish government commissioned Sibelius to write in honor of his own birthday.

American composer William Bolcolm teaches at the University of Michigan where, on Saturdays in the fall, the town is abuzz for Wolverine football. On today's show, hear the world premiere of Bolcom's "Ann Arbor Saturday."

When Aaron Diehl was a kid, he took piano lessons and had a love for pipe organ music. By the time he was a teenager, he'd been bitten by the jazz bug. These days, he can be found playing a piano concerto with an orchestra...or at a jazz club with his trio. On today's show, Aaron Diehl plays from "Etudes for Jazz Piano" by Dick Hyman.

Listen to violinist Joshua Bell, his mother Shirley and his son Josef read the children's book "Dance of the Violin." The book is inspired by a music competition that Bell participated in as a kid which started as a disaster, but ended as the best day ever.