Performance Today®

It's a conundrum. In 1812 Beethoven wrote his Symphony No. 7, which is full of sunny melodies and phrases that bubble along. It sounds happy, yet Beethoven wrote it during a particularly low point in his personal life. How could a person so unhappy write such cheerful music? That question haunted composer Kevin Puts so he decided to look for the answer in music. We'll hear his piece "Inspiring Beethoven" on Wednesday's Performance Today.

Conductor Valery Gergiev feels eternally grateful to the London Symphony Orchestra. He says at that time, only his friends, family and former classmates knew that he was capable of conducting an orchestra. The London Symphony took a chance on the young Russian conductor and today he's one of the most famous men at the podium. We'll hear him conduct Debussy's La Mer in a homecoming performance of sorts with the London Symphony Orchestra on Tuesday's Performance Today.

While on vacation in Cuba, George Gershwin also found time for a little work. He heard a jazz melody at a concert, and later turned it into an orchestral showcase called Cuban Overture. Tap your toes to the the rumba rhythms played by the Los Angeles Philharmonic on Monday's Performance Today, from APM.

Josef Suk was a composition student of Antonin Dvorak in Prague, and later became his teacher's own son-in-law. This weekend on Performance Today, we'll hear Suk's Serenade for Strings performed in Berkeley, California. Plus, composer Bruce Adolphe has a musical riddle in this week's Piano Puzzler.

In 2011, French composer Yannick Paget was living in Japan when the devastating tsunami struck. In the aftermath, he funneled his grief into writing new music. On Friday's Performance Today, we'll hear the composer conduct the premiere of "Tears of Sakura."

Pianist Helene Grimaud explores the deeply introspective side of Johannes Brahms in his second piano concerto. The music is a glimpse into the composer's thoughts, looking back on a long life. Her performance with the Vienna Philharmonic on Thursday's Performance Today concludes her four-day exploration of both of Brahms' piano concertos.

As a high school student in Huntsville, Alabama, Susanna Phillips never once considered a career as an opera singer. A school guidance counselor encouraged her to just apply to a conservatory. So she did. The Juilliard-trained soprano is now appearing on major opera stages all over the world, gracing the pages of Vogue magazine and chatting in the studio with host Fred Child about her surprising, overwhelming success.

On Wednesday's Performance Today, pianist Helene Grimaud unravels the Second Piano Concerto by Johannes Brahms. The music reveals an older, wiser composer who struggled with his identity as an artist. Grimaud's performance with the Vienna Philharmonic is on the way, plus composer Bruce Adolphe has this week's Piano Puzzler.

On Tuesday's Performance Today, pianist Helene Grimaud continues her tour-guide through the piano concertos by Johannes Brahms. She sees the Adagio movement from the first concerto as Brahms' lovelorn prayer to Clara Schumann, his "impossible love." Grimaud performs it with astonishing emotional sensitivity in Munich with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.