Performance Today®

Today marks the Performance Today debut of Houston's River Oaks Chamber Orchestra. Conductor JoAnn Falletta leads them in a recent performance of Richard Strauss' suite, "The Bourgeois Gentleman." Written for a play by Moliere, it's music about a commoner who aspires to join the nobility. Strauss manages to make fun of both along the way.

It may not be spring, at least in this hemisphere, but today you can get a taste of it. We'll feature a performance of Robert Schumann's "Spring" symphony from the Music Academy of the West. Normally depressed and anxious, Schumann wrote this sunny work at a time when he was blissfully, if only briefly, happy.

Igor Stravinsky borrowed all of the tunes from his ballet, "Pulcinella," from Italian music of the eighteenth century. But he put his own musical fingerprints on it. It's a delightful mix of old and new. We'll go to New York to hear a performance of the "Pulcinella" Suite by the New York Philharmonic.

A wonderful young piano trio called Trio Con Brio Copenhagen stopped by our studios recently for a visit. They sat down for an interview with host Fred Child and performed some inspired chamber music by Ravel and Smetana. Plus, we'll hear Wagner's overture to "The Flying Dutchman" from this year's Aspen Music Festival.

The first hour of our show features the music of Scandinavia. We'll hear music from Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, culminating in the monumental piano concerto by Edvard Grieg. Grieg hailed from the lovely town of Bergen, Norway, and we'll hear pianist Andre Watts perform Grieg's concerto with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra.

A wonderful young piano trio called Trio Con Brio Copenhagen stopped by our studios recently for a visit. They sat down for an interview with host Fred Child and performed some inspired chamber music by Ravel and Smetana. Plus, we'll hear Wagner's overture to "The Flying Dutchman" from this year's Aspen Music Festival.

Composer Alexander Borodin didn't quit his day job. He was a chemist, and his work led to some important inventions. In his spare time, he composed great music. Today we'll feature some great chemistry between the French National Orchestra and conductor Tugan Sokhiev, in a performance of Borodin's second symphony from Paris.

William Walton wrote his first symphony while he was in a turbulent romantic relationship. His girlfriend jilted him, and Walton poured his anger and heartbreak into his first symphony. The symphony ends on a happy note, after Walton met a new love. We'll hear the final two movements of the symphony by the Philadelphia Orchestra and conductor Simon Rattle.

Today's show features performers and composers with interesting family ties to one another. From brother and sister Gil and Orli Shaham, to father-in-law and son-in-law Antonin Dvorak and Josef Suk, to cousins (by marriage) Mozart and Weber, to the guitar-playing Romero family. It's all in the family, on Performance Today.