Performance Today®

Thomas Sondergard first conducted the Minnesota Orchestra in December 2021, immediately establishing a rapport with musicians and audiences. He was appointed as the Orchestra's 11th music director in July 2022. One of the highlights of his first season was a series of concerts featuring music by LGBTQ+ composers. Tune in to learn and hear more about Thomas Sondergard. Plus, Bruce Adolphe has this week’s Piano Puzzler!

Composer Christopher Gunning often advised emerging composers not to wait to write their symphonies until they were too old and tired to do so, and he followed his advice by completing THIRTEEN symphonies before he died in 2023. On today's show, conductor Kenneth Woods leads the Colorado MahlerFest Orchestra in a performance of Christopher Gunning's Symphony No. 10.

Composer Florence Price was also an excellent organist. In the 1930s, she played organ for silent films and radio shows in Chicago—and she wrote for the organ as well. We'll hear a Passacaglia and Fugue for organ by Florence Price on today's show.

'Juneteenth' is the longest-running celebration of the end of slavery. For many Americans, it's a day of reflection on freedom, resilience, and strength.  Tune in today for classical music reflections on the meaning of Juneteenth.

Dalia Stasevska was born in Kyiv. Her career as a conductor is taking off, and she's also devoted to providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine...even driving supply trucks into the country herself! Dalia Stasevska: her music and her story on this edition of PT.

Thomas Sondergard first conducted the Minnesota Orchestra in December 2021, immediately establishing a rapport with musicians and audiences. He was appointed as the Orchestra's 11th music director in July 2022. One of the highlights of his first season was a series of concerts featuring music by LGBTQ+ composers. Learn (and hear) more about Thomas Sondergard on this episode of Performance Today.

Indian-American composer Reena Esmail works between the worlds of Indian and Western classical music. In 2017, Esmail drew inspiration from the words of Rumi, a 13th-century Sufi poet: "Religions are many, but God is one. The lamps may be different, but the light is the same." On today's episode, we'll take you to a concert at the University of Georgia to hear the Imani Winds play Reena Esmail's 'The Light is the Same.'

In 2017, Composer Hannah Kendall wrote a piece inspired by a poem about women who worked in match factories in the 1800s. The piece, aptly titled The Spark Catchers, is full of kinetic energy and driving rhythms. On today's show, we'll hear The Spark Catchers by Hannah Kendall.

Last year, the legendary film composer John Williams hinted that he might retire. Reasonable thought, given that he's now 92 years old, but now he's walking that back and says he's very much still in business. On today's show, we'll hear a Trumpet Concerto by John Williams from a concert at the Grand Teton Music Festival.