Performance Today®

Pianist Angela Hewitt just got back from a 14-month all-Bach world tour. She travelled to 25 countries in that time, and performed for thousands. She took a little time off the tour to play concerts in London, including more Bach. Not one to rest for long, Hewitt is already back on the road again, playing an all-Beethoven concert in Italy.

We know Anton Bruckner mostly as a composer of the large scale - enormous symphonies with lots of brass and lots of volume. You'll hear that in today's show, and you'll hear the intimate Bruckner as well. We'll feature part of a string quintet and the final two movements of his fourth symphony.

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.