Performance Today®

Claude Debussy offered his friend Erik Satie a little advice - he said "Your music needs structure and shape." On Tuesday's Performance Today, hear Erik Satie's humorous response to his friend's advice.

Pianist Charlie Albright likes to make room for what he calls "the fun stuff." He dabbles in jazz and performs on-the-spot improvisations at most of his concerts. On Monday's Performance Today, hear Charlie Albright have some fun performing Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," from a concert with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.

It's one of the first exercises you learn to play on an instrument, one of the basic ways to build technique... and, it's awfully tempting to skip while practicing. Alexander Sitkovetsky shares his most valuable practice tip, on this weekend's Performance Today.

Is it a tree? Is it a silk cloth? Is it a whip? It's music inspired by a famous parable about perspective. On Friday's Performance Today, we'll take you to a concert in Portland, Oregon, to hear "Aspects of an Elephant" by American composer Kenji Bunch.

On Thursday's 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.

It's one of the first exercises you learn to play on an instrument, one of the basic ways to build technique... and, it's awfully tempting to skip while practicing. Alexander Sitkovetsky shares his most valuable practice tip, on Wednesday's Performance Today.

Danish composer Carl Nielsen wrote his Symphony No. 5 in the early 1920s. It's a musical illustration of the eternal battle between darkness and light. On Tuesday's Performance Today, we'll hear Nielsen's Fifth Symphony from a recent concert in Ireland.

Jeremy Cohen, of Quartet San Francisco, says that one of their most popular pieces is a Michael Jackson medley. On Monday's Performance Today, Quartet San Francisco performs the medley at a concert in Edgartown, Massachusetts - on Martha's Vineyard.

Philip Glass is 81 years old, and has been an active composer for nearly 60 years. For Glass, the years mean nothing; the thrill of creating music -- and then hearing it performed -- never gets old. On this weekend's edition of Performance Today, hear the world premiere performance of the "Annunciation" Piano Quintet by Philip Glass, performed by pianist Paul Barnes and the Chiara Quartet.