Performance Today®

We're devoting the week to the confluence of music and literature. And we'll hear interesting insights on the subject from composer Dominick Argento and bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff before hearing some Argento from Minneapolis and Quasthoff singing Schubert in Berlin.

We're devoting this week to the places where music meets great writing. Today, we'll have an hour on poetry, featuring a conversation with mezzo-soprano Susan Graham and a tribute to Federico Garcia Lorca. Then we'll explore how myths and legends are retold in instrumental music by Schubert, Cesar Franck, Richard Strauss, Debussy and Bill McGlaughlin.

Christian Zacharias was an award-winning pianist before he became a conductor. And now he's among the best at pulling double duty, conducting an orchestra while also acting as piano soloist. He'll do that in St. Paul, performing Chopin's Second Piano Concerto with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.

She may be just turning 20 this year, but French pianist Lise de la Salle has skill and interpretive depth far beyond her years. We'll hear her in concert in Metz, France, performing Camille Saint-Saens' Second Piano Concerto with conductor Jack Martin Handler and the Luxembourg European Soloists.

This English pianist is regarded as one of the world's great Schubert interpreters. And she says that one of the keys to her success is thinking of each Schubert work as a song. Last month in London, she gave voice to a pair of Schubert Impromptus at a recital in Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Our first hour is devoted to music designed for dancing, including a dance-friendly "Piano Puzzler" and a slice of Ravel's ballet, "Daphnis and Chloe," from Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Disney Hall. And our second hour features music that's played a starring role in such films as "The Red Violin,""The Pianist,""The Piano" and "Amadeus."

The male vocal ensemble from Minneapolis stops by the town where they first formed - Northfield, Minnesota - to chat and sing music of Bobby McFerrin and Thomas Tallis, as well as a traditional gospel tune.

Christian Zacharias was an award-winning pianist before he became a conductor. And now he's among the best at pulling double duty, conducting an orchestra while also acting as piano soloist. He'll do that in St. Paul, performing Chopin's Second Piano Concerto with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.

Two weeks ago, the Beaux Arts Trio concluded its final North American tour with a concert in San Francisco. We'll take you there for pre- and post-concert conversations - thanks to our correspondent, violinist Daniel Hope -- as well as their performance of Dvorak's "Dumky" Piano Trio.