Performance Today®

On New Year's Day 1886, Franz Liszt wrote "this will be an unlucky year for me." How did he know? On Wednesday's Performance Today we'll have lots of celebratory music for the new year, and a story about a composer who made a New Year's prediction that turned out to be spot on.

At the annual New Year's concert in Vienna, the hall is even more resplendent than usual and the music is light and fun. Conductor Franz Welser-Most had the baton this year, which he says is tremendous fun despite being "the most stressful experience you can have in a conductor's life." He'll explain more on Tuesday's Performance Today, and we'll hear some New Year's concert highlights featuring Franz Welser-Most and the Vienna Philharmonic.

Rudolf Buchbinder grew up in a house with a piano, despite the fact that no one in his family played music. That piano became a source of inspiration for Buchbinder, who has grown up to have a tremendous career as a pianist. We'll hear him play Beethoven on Monday's Performance Today.

How many jokes still work after more than 200 years? If performed as the composer intended, the silly joke at the end of Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 90 never fails to get a laugh. We'll hear a performance of this piece featuring Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic on this weekend's Performance Today.

Richard Wagner's operas are so over-the-top, they're sometimes an inch away from being self-parodies. On Friday's Performance Today we'll hear the Cleveland Orchestra give a serious (and seriously great) performance of the Ride of the Valkyries, plus a bit of humor courtesy of Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd.

How many jokes still work after more than 200 years? If performed as the composer intended, the silly joke at the end of Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 90 never fails to get a laugh. We'll hear a performance of this piece featuring Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic on Thursday's Performance Today.

On Christmas Day, join us for a musical journey across the country and around the world. On Wednesday's Performance Today we're featuring our annual musical celebration of Christmas from concert halls, churches, and auditoriums near and far.

On Tuesday's Performance Today we're featuring music for Christmas Eve from concert halls and churches around the world. From music that is fervent and passionate to music that is quietly reverent, we'll hear a wide range of heartfelt music for the Christmas season.

Tchaikovsky heard something in Paris that amazed him. A new invention that looked like a small piano, but sounded like a delicate set of heavenly bells: the celesta. Tchaikovsky had one secretly sent home to Russia, and he wrote a perfect part for it in his new ballet, The Nutcracker. He was worried that another composer would get it first, so he kept the instrument hidden until the final rehearsal. Coming up on Monday's Performance Today, highlights from The Nutcracker performed by The Rotterdam Philharmonic.