Performance Today®

Ray Chen is a violinist. He's only 24 years old, but already he has played some big big concerts. Nothing, though, compared to the concert he played this past winter in Stockholm. It was the annual Nobel Prize concert. "For me, this has been the most special concert in my life yet, " Chen said. "To play for these Nobel Prize Laureates, that is truly inspiring." We'll hear Chen's inspired performance of Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic on Thursday's Performance Today.

They seemed to be complete opposites: Mstislav Rostropovich was the fiery Soviet cellist. Benjamin Britten was the cool-tempered English composer. What they shared were uncompromising convictions about social issues and musical genius. On Wednesday's Performance Today Coleman Itzkoff, our Young Artist in Residence, brings to life music that Britten wrote for Rostropovich. It's music of fire and ice.

In 1942, choreographer Agnes de Mille came to composer Aaron Copland with an idea: a ballet about cowboys. Copland responded by saying..."A cowboy ballet? I've already composed one of those," he said. That was called Billy the Kid. "Can't you do a ballet about Ellis Island?" Agnes de Mille said no, Aaron Copland shrugged, composition on the ballet Rodeo began and some of the most memorable music of the 20th century was written. We'll hear dances from the ballet Rodeo on Tuesday's Performance Today.

On Monday's Performance Today we'll feature another member of the young classical vanguard: 20 year-old cellist Coleman Itzkoff. He was with PT this past year as a Young Artist in Residence and we're glad to bring him back this summer. Itzkoff plays music by Beethoven or, as he puts it, he acts music by Beethoven. There are so many different characters, coming and going from the stage, Coleman Itzkoff says he feels like an actor in a one-man play, performing Beethoven's Cello Sonata No. 4, Op. 102.

It's hard to imagine the pressure that was on pianists at the Van Cliburn Piano Competition last week. "It's pretty difficult to deal with the pressure," competitor Beatrice Rana said. "Thirteen people —they decide your fate as a pianist." Luckily for Rana, the jury sided in her favor. She took home the silver medal on Sunday and won the audience award. We'll hear that winning performance of the Schumann Piano Quintet with Beatrice Rana and the Brentano String Quartet on Thursday's Performance Today.

Pianist and composer Conrad Tao has a deep appreciation for a huge range of music. "You talk about Rachmaninoff's lyricism," he says, "but you can also talk about Brian Wilson's (of The Beach Boys) lyricism." On Friday's Performance Today we'll hear brand new music by Conrad Tao that draws on that huge range of music. Tao is an accomplished classical pianist who plays concerts around the world. He writes and produces his own indie rock and dance music. He just oversaw a three-day music festival in Brooklyn. We'll hear a new piece he wrote for solo piano called vestiges.

It's hard to imagine the pressure that was on pianists at the Van Cliburn Piano Competition last week. "It's pretty difficult to deal with the pressure," competitor Beatrice Rana said. "Thirteen people —they decide your fate as a pianist." Luckily for Rana, the jury sided in her favor. She took home the silver medal on Sunday and won the audience choice award. We'll hear that winning performance of the Schumann Piano Quintet with Beatrice Rana and the Brentano String Quartet on Thursday's Performance Today.

There's nothing quite like a best friend. On Wednesday's Performance Today we'll hear two pieces by famous composer written for their less-famous closest confidantes. One piece is a horn concerto by Mozart composed for his friend Joseph Leutgeb. On the original music manuscript, Mozart scribbled in little notes to Leutgeb all through the music such as, "come on, quicken up here" and, "be a good fellow, have courage!" But at the end, Mozart wrote "thank heavens, that's enough, enough!"

Beethoven was 17 when he began work on what would become his first major orchestral piece, his Piano Concerto in B-flat. When he was 21, he took it along when he moved to the big city of Vienna. He kept working on it, and, four years later, he played the concerto at his official coming-out party - his public debut as a pianist in Vienna. On Tuesday's Performance Today we'll hear the first piano concerto Beethoven started, but not the first one he finished.