Performance Today®

Author Donna Leon joined PT host Fred Child recently to talk about her latest book, "Handel's Bestiary." It's an overview of all the animals that appear in arias from Handel's many operas. In today's show, we'll hear three of those bestial portraits: the tiger, the bee, and the moth. Plus, we have special music in honor of today's big Mexican holiday, Cinco de Mayo.

All this week on PT, we've been observing Critters Week: music about and inspired by animals. There's no fur in today's show, but an ample supply of feathers and fins. Pianist Mitsuko Uchida and friends perform Schubert's Trout Quintet from the Marlboro Music Festival. The work got its name from a tune Schubert used in the final movement: a song about a happy trout, splashing in a stream.

The Tokyo String Quartet, perhaps surprisingly, has never been based in Tokyo, or even in Japan. Even so, they maintain close ties to Japan. So after this spring's devastating earthquake and tsunami, the members of the Tokyo String Quartet were quick to arrange a benefit concert. We'll hear highlights in today's show, including Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings, in its original version for string quartet.

When a friend suggested that cellist Alisa Weilerstein perform Elgar's Cello Concerto with conductor Daniel Barenboim, her initial reaction was an overwhelming "NO." In today's show, find out what Weilerstein's reluctance was all about, and the performance that eventually came from her overcoming it: cellist Alisa Weilerstein, conductor Daniel Barenboim, and the Berlin Philharmonic, performing the Elgar Cello Concerto in Oxford, England. Plus, music from Britain's royal wedding last Friday.

One year ago this weekend, Nashville was hit with a devastating flood. The Schermerhorn Symphony Center, the Nashville Symphony's home, took on 24 feet of murky river water. The hall was closed for 8 months, undergoing $42 million in repairs. On this first anniversary of the floods, we'll revisit a special concert in honor of the re-opening of the Schermerhorn last January.

One year ago this weekend, Nashville was hit with a devastating flood. The Schermerhorn Symphony Center, the Nashville Symphony's home, took on 24 feet of murky river water. The hall was closed for 8 months, undergoing $42 million in repairs. On this first anniversary of the floods, we'll revisit a special concert in honor of the re-opening of the Schermerhorn last January. Plus, music in honor of Britain's royal wedding today.

Like a lot of great musical ensembles, the vocal ensemble Cantus started as a group of friends getting together to make music for the sheer joy of it. They turned professional a few years later. Now, they've been called the premier men's vocal ensemble in the country. They're also this year's PT Artists in Residence. In today's show, Cantus sings sacred choral music from the last 400 years.

Every summer, Scottish-born conductor Donald Runnicles exchanges his tam for a cowboy hat, and steps into his role as the music director of Wyoming's Grand Teton Music Festival. This summer marks the festival's 50th anniversary. In today's show, Mozart's Symphony Number 40, led by the cowboy with the brogue, from last year's Grand Teton Music Festival.

"If your eyes were not the color of the moon...oh, my dearest, I would not love you so! But when I hold you, I hold everything that is...in your life I see everything that lives." Composer Peter Lieberson set those verses by Chilean poet Pablo Neruda to music, as a loving gift to his second wife, mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. She only had a chance to sing them a few times before she died of cancer in 2006. This past weekend, Peter Lieberson also died. We'll hear an excerpt from Lieberson's "Neruda Songs" in today's show.