Performance Today®

In today's show, three compelling stories of musicians returning to performing after illness or injury. We'll hear from the young violinist Augustin Hadelich, severely burned in a fire when he was a teenager. Leon Fleisher spent decades as a left-hand only pianist, after losing the use of his right hand. After intensive therapy, he's now playing with both hands. And cellist Truls Mork is back after a mysterious illness sidelined him for a year and a half.

Whatever the enigma is behind Edward Elgar's "Enigma Variations" - and we've had theories posited on Performance Today - it's still magnificent music, a grand showcase for an outstanding orchestra. Peter Oundjian will lead one, the Toronto Symphony, at a concert in Toronto.

In today's show, a glimpse into the lives of two great classical musicians, and how they prepare for a big concerto. Recently, host Fred Child visited violinist Gil Shaham and heard him practicing for an upcoming performance of the Walton Violin Concerto. We'll hear that performance, from a concert in Berlin. And pianist Emanuel Ax confessed that when he plays a big concerto, he's "just trying to get on the stage without tripping, and trying to get through the piece without being too, too scared." Ax gives a terrific performance of Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto in San Francisco.

In today's show, three compelling stories of musicians returning to performing after illness or injury. We'll hear from the young violinist Augustin Hadelich, severely burned in a fire when he was a teenager. Leon Fleisher spent decades as a left-hand only pianist, after losing the use of his right hand. After intensive therapy, he's now playing with both hands. And cellist Truls Mork is back after a mysterious illness sidelined him for a year and a half.

In response to the recent tragedy in Japan, many classical musicians around the world are organizing fundraising efforts. We'll feature one of the first, the members of the Berlin Philharmonic in a benefit concert just three nights ago. Plus, we continue our series on the art of practicing. This week, Philadelphia bassoonist Daniel Matsukawa shares one of his practicing strategies: always play at least one melody a day.

Anyone interested in learning the rules of harmony, how notes and chords fit together, need look no further than the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. He invented most of those rules. So maybe it's only natural that one of the early rule-breakers was one of his own children, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. C.P.E. Bach respected his father, but took his own music off in several new directions. In today's show, a couple of works by C.P.E. Bach, from a recent concert in London.

Today, we continue our series on how musicians practice. PT host Fred Child interviews violinist Gil Shaham, who describes himself as undisciplined about his daily practice routine. Somehow, the lack of discipline hasn't hampered Shaham, who remains one of the world's greatest violinists. He performs the Khachaturian Violin Concerto with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

The spring and summer music festival season is fast approaching. PT will be visiting a number of them in the coming months, and featuring great festival performances on the show. In today's show, we'll hear a Faure Piano Quartet, from a great performance at last year's Spoleto Festival USA, held every May and June in Charleston, South Carolina.

St. Patrick is credited with driving the snakes out of Ireland. There are no snakes in today's show, either. And we'll gladly give St. Patrick credit for that. What we do have is great Irish music, and great classical music performed in concert by Irish musicians. All in honor of St. Patrick's Day.