Performance Today®

Guitarist Sharon Isbin is a regular at the Aspen Music Festival and School, as are the local black bears. Sharon Isbin talks about a close encounter with what appeared to be a musically curious bear. Plus, 19 year-old cellist Nathan Chan makes his PT debut, on Thursday's Performance Today.

Violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg was a student at the Aspen Music Festival and School almost 40 years ago, but the memories are still fresh. On Wednesday's Performance Today, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg talks with us about everything from the Aspen Festival to A-Rod, as our week in Residence at the Aspen Music Festival continues.

Every summer, the Aspen Music Festival and School welcomes more than 600 of the most talented young musicians in the world. On Tuesday's Performance Today, violinist Stefan Jackiw tells us about his first time as a student at Aspen. We'll also chat with Per Hannevold, Raymond Mase, and Orli Shaham.

This week, PT is in Residence at the Aspen Music Festival and School in Aspen, Colorado. For years, the Aspen Festival has been one of the finest summertime music academies in the world, but until now, the student campus has always been a little...rustic. Aspen Festival President Alan Fletcher takes us on a tour of the brand new campus, on Monday's Performance Today.

Christopher Costanza a member of the St. Lawrence String Quartet and he's a talented cello soloist, as well. On Monday's Performance Today, we'll hear his complete performance of the Solo Cello Suite No. 1, by Bach in concert at the 2013 Spoleto Festival USA, in Charleston, South Carolina.

For hundreds of years, composers have written music for the stage. For about the last 80 years, great composers have written soundtracks for films. Now, there's yet another medium for composers. Video game music. Emily Reese joins us to show the connections between video game music and classical music, on Friday's Performance Today.

Antonin Dvorak grew up surrounded by the folk music of the Czech countryside, and the feel of that music found its way into the his compositions. People who dislike music by Dvorak often say it's too folksy. People who LIKE Dvorak often say "it's folksy!" Marin Alsop leads the Baltimore Symphony in a performance of Dvorak's Symphony No. 7, on Thursday's Performance Today.

In the mid 1700s, the Gewandhous Orchestra of Leipzig had no concert hall, their regular venue was the Three Swans Tavern. It became apparent that the atmosphere of the tavern didn't always lend itself to the serious side of music-making, so in the 1780s, they moved to a big hall in a building where textiles were traded...the Garment House, or Gewandhaus. Two pieces by Max Bruch, played by the Gewandhaus Orchestra, on Wednesday's Performance Today.

Conductor, pianist and candid commentator Bill Eddins joins host Fred Child in the studio to take listeners on a tour of his favorite pieces of classical music. He talks about the unappreciated humor in Beethoven's symphonies, the sly keyboard prowess of Alicia de Larrocha, and Eddins reveals what he calls "the sexiest piece of classical music ever written." Find out the answer and get the conductor's take on classical music on Tuesday's Performance Today.