Performance Today®

Composer James "Kimo" Williams went to Vietnam in 1970, and served there for a year. Like many vets, he had a hard time adjusting to life when he got home. He composed "Symphony for the Sons of Nam" as a way to help him deal with the war. Today's show features a performance of his symphony by the Chicago Sinfonietta.

Most people don't think of performing classical music as a life or death proposition. But pianist Jonathan Biss does. He talks about pouring blood, sweat and tears into his performances, in order to do justice to the composer and the music. Today we'll hear Biss performing Beethoven's second piano concerto with the Swedish Radio Symphony.

John Adams' opera, "Doctor Atomic," just received its New York debut at the Metropolitan Opera. It's the story of Dr. Robert Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project, which led to the creation of the atom bomb. We'll feature music from the opera and interviews with Adams and baritone Gerald Finley, who portrays Oppenheimer in the Met production.

John Adams' opera, "Doctor Atomic," just received its New York debut at the Metropolitan Opera. It's the story of Dr. Robert Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project, which led to the creation of the atom bomb. We'll feature music from the opera and interviews with Adams and baritone Gerald Finley, who portrays Oppenheimer in the Met production.

The sound of the wind across the water, the play of light on the waves, the shifting, undulating nature of a watery world. It's all there in Claude Debussy's "La Mer," his dramatic depiction of the sea. It's the ultimate in water music, and today we'll feature a performance of Debussy's masterpiece by the Radio France Philharmonic.

Last week, the National Endowment for the Arts honored four individuals with lifetime achievement awards. Soprano Leontyne Price, conductor James Levine, composer Carlisle Floyd and arts administrator Richard Gaddes were honored for their work in opera. We'll feature performances by Price and Levine and hear some of Floyd's music on today's show.

On today's show we'll feature performances from cities that John McCain and Barack Obama have called home. We'll have performances from Phoenix, Chicago, and the city where both have lived and worked lately - Washington, D.C. And to prove that Performance Today is as neutral as the Swiss, we'll feature a performance by the Zurich Chamber Orchestra.

The ancients believed that the movement of the sun, moon, stars and planets was actually a form of music. They called it "musica universalis," or "music of the spheres." Today we'll prove them right by serving up some heavenly music about heavenly bodies - the stars, the moon and the planets.

When the Washington National Cathedral approached him to write a new work, Dominick Argento said no. He was grieving the death of his wife, and was done composing. They persisted, suggesting he write a memorial for his wife. The result was "Evensong - Of Love and Angels." Today we'll go to the premiere performance of Argento's loving tribute to his wife.