Performance Today®

In 1880, Antonín Dvořák composed a series of short piano pieces that aren’t performed as frequently as many of his other works. Pianist Leif Ove Andsnes admires the beauty of the music; he’s surprised by its infrequent performance. We’ll hear Leif Ove Andsnes play several highlights from Antonín Dvořák's Poetic Tone Pictures on today's show.

In 2008, composer Peteris Vasks wrote a new piece, a fantasy for violin and strings. In the program notes, he wrote: "It is about the greatest power in the whole world—love. Love is, was, and will be as long as we will be... I hope this work will reach the listeners and make the world a little brighter and more open to love." We'll hear Vox Amoris (Voice of Love) by Peteris Vasks on today's show.

Composer Missy Mazzoli often makes multiple versions of her works. In 2018, Mazzoli wrote a piece for solo bass and string orchestra that she recently rearranged for violin and orchestra, and she says she loves how the solo violin soars over the orchestra in this newer version. Join us today to hear violinist Peter Herresthal and the Bergen Philharmonic play 'Dark with Excessive Bright' by Missy Mazzoli.

Clarinetist Najee Greenlee is the next of our 2024 cohort of PT Young Artists in Residence. Najee recently joined Fred Child in our St. Paul studio—hear Najee’s music and the entire interview here!

We're pleased to introduce our next 2024 PT Young Artists in Residence: clarinetist Najee Greenlee. On today's show, Najee joins Fred Child for music and conversation at our Saint Paul studio.

Tessa Lark is a uniquely American violinist. She has classical conservatory training and grew up playing the fiddle in her family bluegrass band in Kentucky. On today’s show, Tessa Lark shares two sides of herself with a sonata by Eugene Ysaye and a new piece named “The Ysaye Shuffle” by none other than Tessa Lark!

In 1994, violinist Leonidas Kavakos played an exceptional violin in New York. He says, "It felt like the earth moved beneath me." Sadly, the instrument wasn't for sale. Twenty years later, he found that same violin in London; this time, he wouldn't let it get away. Kavakos plays his 1734 Willemotte Strad on today’s show.

Composer Wayne Shorter was fascinated by the symbolic idea of terra incognita, the undiscovered territory in ourselves, and the courage it takes to explore that territory. On today's show, hear Imani Winds play Shorter's Terra Incognita at a concert in Athens, Georgia.

Producer Meghann Oglesby reflects on her time at the 2023 Grand Canyon Music Festival.