Performance Today®

In 2020, composer Shawn E. Okpebholo published a piece that reflects on two acts of racial violence, events separated by more than fifty years. The music serves as a tribute to the resilience and perseverance of the African American community in the face of adversity. On today's show, we'll hear "Two Black Churches" by Shawn E. Okpebholo.

Navajo pianist and composer Connor Chee recently wrote a piece inspired by the Navajo Code Talkers. Chee’s new work traces the brave journey of the Code Talkers through eleven minutes of music. Join us today to hear Connor Chee play the world premiere of Unbroken.

Valerie Coleman wrote a piece for flute and piano just a few years ago, and flutists around the world are already playing it. Hear the Requiem Milonga by Valerie Coleman on this episode of Performance Today.

On today's show, pianist Jon Kimura Parker and the Minnesota Orchestra tackle what Parker calls a "brilliant" piece of music: the Piano Concerto No. 1 by Dmitri Shostakovich.

The young Aaron Copland went to Paris to study composition, and his teacher told him, "You'll do your best work if you explore what it means to be American." The 25-year-old Copland took that advice and returned to New York. We'll hear pianist John Novacek play Copland's Four Piano Blues on today's show.

On this episode of Performance Today, we introduce you to our first 2023 PT Young Artist in Residence, saxophonist Salvador Flores. Salvador joins Fred Child for music and conversation at our studio in St. Paul. Plus, Bruce Adolphe has this week's Piano Puzzler.

Undine Smith Moore (1904 – 1989) was an American composer and music educator. Known as the "Dean of Black Women Composers," Moore was a prolific composer, creating works for orchestra, choir, chamber ensembles, and solo instruments. We'll hear the Mallarme Chamber Players play the Afro-American Suite by Undine Smith Moore on today's show.

When Stewart Goodyear was a child, he spent quite a few summers with his family in Trinidad, where he was immersed in the sounds of calypso. Now, as a grown-up pianist and composer, he's combined calypso with classical music. We'll hear that combination on today's show: Callaloo by Stewart Goodyear.

So, what is a Piano Puzzler, you might ask? Well, it's a familiar tune that Bruce Adolphe has re-written in the style of a classical composer. See if you can name the hidden tune and the composer whose style Bruce is imitating. Join us for this week’s Piano Puzzler on this episode of Performance Today.