Performance Today®

Marc-Andre Hamelin is one of the most celebrated and respected pianists of our time. His performances are known for their brilliance, technical mastery, and deep musicality. On today's show, we'll hear Hamelin play one of the world’s most challenging piano compositions: Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 29, the Hammerklavier.

Composer David Kirkland Garner is fascinated by a wide range of American roots music, and the legacies of the people who made it happen. On today's episode, we'll hear a piece he wrote honoring the blues legend Mississippi John Hurt. It's a dance called MELT, by David Kirkland Garner, from a concert presented by the Atlanta Chamber Players.

Talin Nalbandian worked as an opera singer in New York for five years before she began her doctoral program at the University of Texas at Austin…and she is one of our 2023 PT Young Artists in Residence. She recently joined Fred Child in our St. Paul studio; tune in today to learn more about Talin Nalbandian.

Marc-Andre Hamelin is one of the most celebrated and respected pianists of our time. His performances are known for their brilliance, technical mastery, and deep musicality. On today's show, we'll hear Hamelin play one of the world’s most challenging piano compositions: Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 29, the Hammerklavier.

What would you do if you met someone famous? Would you keep your cool and calmly shake hands? Or are you the type of person who would get too excited and trip on your own feet? On today's show, find out how composer Robert Kahn reacted when he met Johannes Brahms.

Violist Jordan Bak was one of our 2020 Young Artists in Residence. He's an incredibly talented young musician with a bright personality and continues to bloom. On today's show, we'll hear Jordan Bak's performance of Bartok's Viola Concerto with the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra.

Augusta Holmès and her music were celebrated in Paris during her life. She wrote quite a few large-scale orchestral works, and in many cases, she surprised critics who expected a woman to write more diminutive music. Holmès compositions are being rediscovered and appreciated for what they are: the work of a talented composer. We'll hear music by French composer Augusta Holmes on today's show.

Pianist Stephen Hough describes the music of Federico Mompou as: "the music of evaporation." Hough says, "The notes are too simple and the soul too complex for conventional analysis." On today's show, we'll hear Stephen Hough play the Magic Songs by Catalan composer Federico Mompou from a concert presented by Spivey Hall at Clayton State University in Morrow, Georgia.

In 1922, Danish composer Carl Nielsen was working on a wind quintet when he had an idea. He turned a simple hymn tune into a theme with a wide variety of variations, one of which even imitates the sound of bagpipes. On today's show, experience the dynamic moods and sounds of Nielsen's Wind Quintet from a concert presented by Camerata Pacifica.