Performance Today®

For an actor, making it big in Hollywood is the epitome of success. But for a classical composer? Most consider the concert hall more of a barometer of success. Many composers have dabbled with composing music for films, however. On today's show, we'll hear music for the big screen, by Dmitri Shostakovich (pictured), Sergei Prokofiev, and Toru Takemitsu.

There are at least six million stories of suffering and death from the Holocaust. Many composers were among the victims. Their names might be unfamiliar to you: Marcel Tyberg, Leo Smit, Pavel Haas (pictured), Erwin Schulhoff, Viktor Ullmann. We'll always wonder what might have been, had they survived. Today, on Yom Hashoah, we'll feature music by victims of the Holocaust.

Whatever the enigma is behind Sir 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.

All this week on Performance Today, we've been featuring the Los Angeles Philharmonic and outgoing music director Esa-Pekka Salonen. Salonen gives up the podium at the end of this week. He's made a big impact on the orchestra and the city of Los Angeles in his 17-year tenure there. On today's show, Salonen leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic in music by Sibelius and Mussorgsky.

Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen steps down from his post as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic this week. And today, we'll wrap up our week-long look at Salonen and his tenure at Los Angeles. On today's show, he leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition," in concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles (pictured).

According to conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, there are "no simple solutions" to playing Beethoven. No corners to cut, no easy way out of the dilemmas posed by his music. On today's show, Salonen, violinist Viktoria Mullova, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic do it the hard way, and the right way, in their performance of the Beethoven violin concerto.

All this week on Performance Today, we've been featuring the Los Angeles Philharmonic and outgoing music director Esa-Pekka Salonen. Salonen gives up the podium at the end of this week. He's made a big impact on the orchestra and the city of Los Angeles in his 17-year tenure there. On today's show, Salonen leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic in music by Jean Sibelius.

It was 250 years ago today that the great Baroque composer, George Frideric Handel, died. He was born a German, but lived and worked in England for most of his professional life. Much of the world is observing the day today, and celebrating the life and works of Handel. Today's show features some of his greatest music, from concerts all across the country.

When the Cleveland Orchestra performed Gustav Mahler's second symphony ("The Resurrection") in Vienna, it was by all accounts an incredible performance. When it was over, the audience erupted in a 13-minute ovation. One critic called it "a Resurrection for the ages." Tune in today to hear the spectacular finale of Mahler's second, from that magical night in Vienna.