Performance Today®

On Thursday's Performance Today, we remember violinist Roman Totenberg, who died on Tuesday. In Totenberg's marathon 90-year professional career, he worked with composers like Samuel Barber, taught hundreds of students and launched two important musical institutions: The Aspen Music Festival and Music Academy of the West. The classical music world would be a different place had it not been for Roman Totenberg. We'll honor his contribution by listening to his performance of Ernest Bloch's Violin Concerto.

George Gershwin had it all: talent, looks, charisma, spiffy art deco apartment on Riverside Drive with the grand piano, the parties, the Isamo Noguchi bust of himself. And, of course, a melodic gift that escaped the theatre and lived in memory. On Wednesday's Performance Today, we'll hear one of George Gershwin's influential forays into the concert hall, played by an equally charismatic pianist from Quebec. Alain Lefevre plays George Gershwin's Concerto in F.

In 1721, the Margrave of Brandenburg got a gift that he didn't quite know how to appreciate. Bach sent him a bound manuscript with six lively concertos for chamber orchestra. The Margrave didn't really know what to make of it, so he ignored it. Thankfully, history hasn't ignored Bach's Brandenburg Concertos. We'll hear the first of the six, on Tuesday's Performance Today from APM.

Pianist Mitsuko Uchida joins PT host Fred Child to talk about Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24. She says "It is very dark, incredibly tragic," but the lilt in her voice conveys the beauty of that darkness. We'll hear her, in concert with the Cleveland Orchestra. Plus, concert performances by pianists Lang Lang and Yefim Bronfman in Vienna.

The Roma people (also known as Gypsies) have long lived on the fringes of Eastern European society. But even though they themselves have been marginalized, their influence on classical music has not. In today's show, we'll hear Haydn's "Gypsy Rondo" Trio and the world premiere of Mark O'Connor's "March of the Gypsy Fiddler."

Every day on Performance Today, we hear great musicians in concert. How did they get to be so good? And how do they stay on top of their game? On Fridaya€™s show, we'll meet double bass player David Grossman from the New York Philharmonic. He'll tell us what it's like to live at the bottom of the orchestra, musically speaking, and wea€™ll hear him perform Mozarta€™s Sinfonia Concertante.

The woodwind quintet (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and horn) has been around for a couple of centuries. One group in particular, though, has been revolutionizing how the music world thinks about quintets. The Imani Winds have been together since 1997, writing much of their own music, and commissioning new works by other composers. As a result, the quintet landscape has forever changed. In today's show, the members of the Imani Winds join host Fred Child in the studio for music and conversation.

The Roma people (also known as Gypsies) have long lived on the fringes of Eastern European society. But even though they themselves have been marginalized, their influence on classical music has not. In today's show, we'll hear Haydn's "Gypsy Rondo" Trio and the world premiere of Mark O'Connor's "March of the Gypsy Fiddler."

Violinist Midori joined host Fred Child in our PT studios recently for an hour of music and conversation. She talked about the singular power of music by Bach ("so spiritual, so cleansing, so difficult") and about the many ways in which she is reaching out to young musicians and young listeners.