"If you find yourself elated by my music," composer Wang Jie says, "the credit goes to the muses. If you hate it," she continues, "well, it's only 15 minutes long." On the next Performance Today, a composer who calls herself "part cartoon character, part virtuoso." We'll hear her Symphony No. 1.
Thank you, Moab Music Festival! This festival is well worth the hop skip and a jump to Utah. Watch this quick recap of a concert held at a small ranch in Castle Valley, just outside Moab.
Hector Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique is one part tender love song, one part crazy paranoid hallucination. On Wednesday's Performance Today, we'll hear highlights from this unusual piece from a concert in the Czech Republic.
Fred Child reflects on Performance Today’s visit to Moab Music Festival in southern Utah.
In 2015, the Syrian civil war forced violinist Shalan Alhamwy and his family into a perilous journey of exile. Alhamwy says "I cannot face a tank with my violin, but music is a way to say no to war." On Tuesday's Performance Today, hear Shalan Alhamwy's "Two Images from Aleppo," from a concert in Cologne, Germany.
On Monday's Performance Today, cellist Raphael Bell plays music by Bohuslav Martinu... music that Bell didn't like when he was younger. Tune in to find out more about Bohuslav Martinu, and why Raphael Bell now loves his music.
Fred Child says hello from the Moab Music Festival in southern Utah.
The Isle of the Dead is a painting of a dark, forbidding island. After viewing it, Sergei Rachmaninoff was inspired to write a symphonic poem; a musical depiction of the journey of a newly departed soul. On the weekend edition of Performance Today, we'll hear Rachmaninoff's Isle of the Dead from a concert in Nashville.
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 Friday's Performance Today, we'll hear the Buffalo Philharmonic play the Rautavaara's Symphony No. 1
