Performance Today®

French composer Maurice Ravel had never been to Asia, but he had ideas of what exotic sights and sounds and aromas he would find there. These ideas came from books and newspaper reports. What inspired him musically, though, was a poem about a beautiful Arab queen, Sheherazade, written by a friend of his. On Monday's Performance Today, we'll go to a concert in Provence, France to hear the poem take flight in music. Valery Gergiev conducts the London Symphony Orchestra and as the voice of the resourceful storyteller Sheherzade: American soprano Renee Fleming.

This weekend on Performance Today, we'll go to a concert in Paris to hear Julian Rachlin play the violin. But he also plays the viola. And now he's becoming a conductor as well. When he's asked what he really does--play the violin or the viola or conduct--Rachlin says it's not about means. It's about the motivation: stretching throughout your entire life to become a better musician, no matter what instrument is in your hand. Rachlin plays Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto on this weekend's Performance Today.

Sure, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra can play without a conductor...they've been doing it for decades, and they're professionals. But a student orchestra? Recently, the conductorless Orpheus Chamber Orchestra has been coaching the young players at the Juilliard School in the art of playing orchestral music without a conductor. On Friday's Performance Today we'll hear how it went when the Juilliard Chamber Orchestra took the plunge and played the Ancient Airs and Dances by Ottorino Respighi... with no one on the podium!

On Thursday's Performance Today we'll take a trip to Argentina for spring break... or, south of the equator, would it be fall break? Either way, a full hour of warm, energetic and sunny music by Argentine composers is on the way. We'll hear a tango by Astor Piazzolla, dances from the Argentine Suite by Alberto Williams, and a cowboy gaucho romp by Alberto Ginastera.

On Wednesday's Performance Today, we'll go to a concert in Paris to hear Julian Rachlin play the violin. But he also plays the viola. And now he's becoming a conductor as well. When he's asked what he really does--play the violin or the viola or conduct--Rachlin says it's not about means. It's about the motivation: stretching throughout your entire life to become a better musician, no matter what instrument is in your hand. Rachlin plays Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto on Wednesday's Performance Today.

Some musicians come from a long line of musical family members with music-making feeling like a natural part of life. Guitarist Jason Vieaux grew up in blue-collar Buffalo, New York. His Dad was an expert in appliance repair, but he has supported Vieaux every step of the way on his music career. On Tuesday's Performance Today, we'll hear Vieaux play Bach and a classical version of a jazz tune by Pat Metheny.

On Monday's Performance Today we'll explore the art of duo performance. Distinct from a performance by a soloist and accompanist, we'll hear performances by two players who have equal importance in the music, sharing the spotlight, working together to create a musical dialogue. From a Estonian brother-sister duo to a Double Concerto by Bach to a four-hand piano duo, Performance Today goes two by two.

What has two heads, four arms, twenty fingers and more than four million hits on YouTube? The Anderson & Roe piano duo. They host Fred Child in the studio to play old (Mozart) and new (Michael Jackson) classics and talk about their signature music videos, now online sensations.

Every week on our Piano Puzzler, composer Bruce Adolphe re-writes a familiar tune in the style of a classical composer. We get one of our listeners on the phone to try to guess the tune, and the composer whose style Bruce is mimicking. Play along, see if you can guess the tune and the composer. Today's Puzzler contestant is contestant is Michelle Willis from Herriman, Utah.