Performance Today®

There's a photo of a young boy in an abandoned train station in Albania. The boy turns an old water bottle into a toy and he's lost in his world of play, despite the refugee crisis going on around him. On today's show, hear music inspired by that photo, "A Boy with a Makeshift Toy" by Armenian-American composer Mary Kouyoumdjian.

On this episode of Performance Today, hear a small herd of contented cellos perform Joseph Jongen's "Two Pieces for Four Cellos," from a concert at the Grand Teton Music Festival. Plus, Bruce Adolphe has this week's piano puzzler.

He was a poet, a lover, and a provocateur. The words of Walt Whitman speak to us as Americans and as human beings. On this episode of Performance Today, join us for music that celebrates the 200th anniversary of Walt Whitman's birth.

When violinist Alexi Kenney was a boy, he wanted to play the tambourine or the triangle, but his mother got him going in a different direction. On this episode of Performance Today, we go back to 2015 when Alexi Kenney was a PT Young Artist in Residence.

On this episode of Performance Today, hear a small herd of contented cellos perform Joseph Jongen's "Two Pieces for Four Cellos," from a concert at the Grand Teton Music Festival. Plus, Bruce Adolphe has this week's piano puzzler.

Franz Schubert wrote a fantasy so demanding and difficult that he himself was unable to play it. Never fear - we'll hear from a pianist who can! On this episode of Performance Today, Juho Pohjonen gives a virtuosic performance of the Wanderer Fantasy in concert at the Music@Menlo Festival.

Memorial Day. Lots of folks firing up the grill, or traveling for the unofficial beginning of summer. There's a REASON for this holiday. On this episode of Performance Today, we celebrate and remember the men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice while serving in the American Armed Forces.

American composer Jennifer Higdon won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for her Violin Concerto. Now she's written a new piece for solo harp and orchestra. On this episode of Performance Today, harpist Yolanda Kondonassis and the Rochester Philharmonic play Jennifer Higdon's Harp Concerto.

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.