Performance Today®

Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote a set of English folk songs inspired by the seasons, and it just doesn't get played and sung very often. We think it's time to help fix that. Join us for glorious music for the winter season on this episode of Performance Today.

There is a period when the moody darkness of winter transitions to the joyful light of spring. Composer Michael Torke followed that seasonal metamorphosis in a piece he published in 2014: Winter's Tale, for Cello and Orchestra.

Ferde Grofe's Grand Canyon Suite doesn't seem like music for Christmas, at least not on its own, but then it was used in a crucial part of the 1983 movie "A Christmas Story." Join us today to hear iconic holiday movies: A Christmas Story, Home Alone, and Miracle on 34th Street.

In 1967, Nino Rota wrote what is like Mount Everest for double bass players. It's daunting, dangerous, and tempting. On today's show, hear double bassist Stanislau Anishchanka and the West German Radio Symphony Orchestra scale the Divertimento Concertante by Nino Rota.

There is a period when the moody darkness of winter transitions to the joyful light of spring. Composer Michael Torke followed that seasonal metamorphosis in a piece he published in 2014: Winter's Tale, for Cello and Orchestra.

Quartet San Francisco is dedicated to advancing the traditional string quartet structure into a new world of vibrant music. On today’s show, hear Quartet San Francisco play their version of Rhapsody in Blue.

Richard Stone is one of the directors of Philadelphia's great early music ensemble Tempesta di Mare. A few years ago, he went to Kroměříž, a small town in the Czech countryside, and found some music that may not have been seen or played for centuries. On today's show, we'll hear Tempesta di Mare perform one of those long-forgotten works and a sonata by Giovanni Valentini.

Solo hornist and arranger Michael Atkinson was recently browsing YouTube and stumbled across some music he'd never heard before—Romanian Christmas Carols, piano music by Bela Bartok. He loved it so much that he arranged it for the orchestra he is part of, The Knights. And we get to hear it on today's show!

The first winery opened in Napa, California, opened in 1859. The annual summertime music festival in Napa debuted in 1995. Today we'll take you to the Music in the Vineyards Festival to hear an all-star trio play music by Clara Schumann.