Performance Today®

Two weeks ago, the Ravinia Festival in Chicago wrapped up its 2012 season. PT's own Fred Child was there, hosting the final concerts of the season. We'll hear highlights from a very special concert from Ravinia that featured cellist Yo-Yo Ma and a remarkable young ensemble from New York called the Knights. They played music by Thomas Ades and Robert Schumann.

The Emerson String Quartet is one of the top quartets in the world. Part of the reason for their success has been their consistency. They haven't had a personnel change since 1979, the year cellist David Finckel joined the group. But David Finckel recently announced that at the end of this season, he will be leaving the quartet to pursue other projects. The Emersons have a busy season this year, ramping up to the big goodbye in the spring. In today's show, we'll hear from a concert they gave in Athens, Georgia.

Efficiency experts would have loved Mozart. Some composers spend years, even decades, writing a single symphony. But in 1783, Mozart proved that it's possible to get the job done in just four days. We'll hear Mozart's weekend masterpiece, his Linz Symphony, from a concert at the Music Academy of the West in California. The always efficient Nicholas McGegan conducts.

Composer Nico Muhly had a mad, brilliant idea for a new piece this year. He looked at the world around him, at the way people and animals, even insects, moved around. And the more he thought about it, about the rhythm and grace and power involved in getting from point A to point B, the more he thought he could make music out of it. And he was right. Today, we'll hear the world premiere of Gait, by Nico Muhly, from a concert last month at the Proms in London.

Itzhak Perlman is one of the greatest violinists today, known all over the world. And within the Jewish community, Cantor Yitzchak Meir Helfgot shares a similar level of respect and fame. So it's fitting that the two of them decided to make a CD together. PT host Fred Child spoke with Perlman and Helfgot recently about the project. Today, in honor of the beginning of Rosh Hashanah on Sunday, we'll hear highlights from that interview and their new CD, Eternal Echoes.

Itzhak Perlman is one of the greatest violinists today, known all over the world. And within the Jewish community, Cantor Yitzchak Meir Helfgot shares a similar level of respect and fame. So it's fitting that the two of them decided to make a CD together. PT host Fred Child spoke with Perlman and Helfgot recently about the project. Today, in honor of the beginning of Rosh Hashanah on Sunday, we'll hear highlights from that interview and their new CD, Eternal Echoes.

Violinist Robert McDuffie talks with Fred Child about the future of music education.

In an ideal world, music would be a pure meritocracy. The most talented musicians would be the most successful. But violinist Robert McDuffie says it's not just about talent anymore. McDuffie joins Fred Child in the studio to talk about orchestras in crisis, the future job market for young musicians and how he believes we should train them. Plus, we'll hear McDuffie perform Barber's Violin Concerto with the Atlanta Symphony.

It's September, and the school year is starting up, so here's a classical quiz.