Performance Today®

Not many orchestras even try to play the Variaciones Concertantes by Alberto Ginastera. It's not because musicians or audiences don't like the music. They do. It's just really hard to play well. On this episode of Performance Today, the Spoleto Festival Orchestra gives a thrilling performance of this challenging piece from a concert in Charleston, South Carolina.

In Plato's Symposium, seven men get together for a party and, when the topic of love comes up, each man weighs in with his own soliloquy. Those speeches inspired a piece of orchestral music by Leonard Bernstein. On Friday's Performance Today, hear Bernstein's Serenade after Plato's Symposium, from a concert in Nashville.

Jean-Marie Leclair was a famous violinist and composer in 18th century Paris. But one October morning in 1764, he was found murdered at the entrance to his home. Who wanted him dead? We'll investigate a murder most foul on Thursday's Performance Today. Jade Simmons guest-hosts.

The young Franz Schubert wrote in his diary: "O...immortal Mozart! What countless impressions of a brighter life you've impressed upon our souls!" So, when Schubert borrowed one of Mozart's tunes and used it for his own symphony, was it a tribute? Music by Mozart's No. 1 fan, on Wednesday's Performance Today. Jade Simmons guest-hosts.

Not many orchestras even try to play the Variaciones Concertantes by Alberto Ginastera. It's not because musicians or audiences don't like the music. They do. It's just really hard to play well. On this episode of Performance Today, the Spoleto Festival Orchestra gives a thrilling performance of this challenging piece from a concert in Charleston, South Carolina.

Join us for Christmas music played by the Freudenthal Yiddish Orchestra in the klezmer style. Why would a Yiddish orchestra play traditional Christmas tunes? We'll travel to a concert in Sweden to find out on Monday's Performance Today.

The story of Don Juan taps a deep territory in the human psyche: love, betrayal, excess, and death. On this weekend's Performance Today, we'll hear Richard Strauss's explosive tone poem Don Juan, from a concert at the Aspen Music Festival and School. Garrett McQueen guest-hosts.

Recently, pianist Sara Davis Buechner decided to tackle all the piano sonatas by Mozart -- his happy, life-affirming sonatas, his darker, moodier works, and everything in between. On Friday's Performance Today, hear Buechner play Mozart's Fantasy and Sonata in C minor, from a concert in New York City.

Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara was 28 years old when he wrote his Symphony No. 1. It's a fascinating piece that is simply not played often enough. And so... on Thursday's Performance Today, we'll hear the Buffalo Philharmonic play the Rautavaara's Symphony No. 1.