Performance Today®

Sometimes it's not so much the content as the package it comes in—and Sergei Prokofiev was great at repackaging his own material. In the late 1920s, he took a fiery opera destined for dust and turned it into a mighty symphony he dearly loved. On today's show, we'll take you to a concert in Cincinnati to hear Prokofiev's Symphony No. 3.

The Manhattan skyline, the majesty of the Teton Mountains, and indigenous communities living in the American West. Those are some of the elements that inspired a musical reflection on our nation: American Scene by William Grant Still.

It seems to be human nature that when something is forbidden it becomes all the more enticing. When Jon Nakamatsu was a boy, no one in his family was allowed to touch the piano. Can see where this is going? On today's show, the story of how Jon Nakamatsu became a pianist.

André Watts, the acclaimed American pianist who rose to fame as a teenager and went on to have a distinguished career performing and teaching, died last week (July 12, 2023) at the age of 77. He was known for his powerful technique and his ability to communicate the emotional depth of the music he played. He will be dearly missed, but his music lives on. We'll hear André Watts play music by Schubert and Liszt on today's show.

Pianist Lara Downes's passion for sharing the music of Black composers goes beyond performing onstage. She's also been hard at work making this previously overlooked music accessible for other musicians to play. Downes will detail her editing and publishing efforts, plus perform a highlight from the project on today's show.

What do we mean when we say "American classical music"? Composer Derrick Skye sought to answer that question in the form of a string quartet. On today's show, hear music that draws on the musical traditions that reflect our multicultural American society: American Mirror by Derrick Skye.

André Watts, the acclaimed American pianist who rose to fame as a teenager and went on to have a distinguished career performing and teaching, died last week (July 12, 2023) at the age of 77. He was known for his powerful technique and his ability to communicate the emotional depth of the music he played. He will be dearly missed, but his music lives on. We'll hear André Watts play music by Franze Schubert on today's show.

During the most recent Cliburn International Piano Competition, Yunchan Lim boldly played an hour-long recital with just the Transcendental Etudes by Franz Liszt. It's difficult, demanding music...and he went on to win the Gold Medal. Hear Yunchan Lim play Liszt's Transcendental Etudes on this episode of Performance Today.

Talin Nalbandian is the latest in the 2023 cohort of PT Young Artists in Residence. A native of Los Angeles, California, Nalbandian is an Armenian-American mezzo-soprano. She recently joined Fred Child in our St. Paul studio; you can hear her music and the entire interview here.