Performance Today®

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!

When pianist Ingrid Fliter plays a specific concerto, she imagines the characters of an opera coming together for a celebratory feast over the course of the piece.  On today's show, hear Ingrid Fliter play Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major with Thomas Sondergard conducting the Minnesota Orchestra.

Today we’ll hear a piece of music by a composer that just doesn't get played often enough. It's a piece that French composer Florent Schmitt wrote in 1918. Conductor JoAnn Falletta leads the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in a performance of Légende by Florent Schmitt. We’ll also hear a fascinating new concerto for saxophone quartet and wind ensemble by Roger Briggs.

As an avid rock climber, Composer Wang wrote a new piece inspired by a 12th-century poem about a mountain...and an adventurous climb in Colorado. Join us today to hear the story and the music: Flying on the Scaly Backs of Our Mountains by Wang Jie.

The jota is a rhythmic Spanish dance that often features the clacking sound of castanets. Today we’ll hear a jota by José White Lafitte (1836-1919), with violinist Samuel Nebyu playing the tune and percussion at the same time.

The Horn Trio by Johannes Brahms is a gorgeous piece for French horn, violin, and piano. Brahms said that, in a pinch, a cello could play the horn part, so let’s go to a concert in New York City to hear Brahms's Horn Trio…with cello instead.

As an avid rock climber, Composer Wang wrote a new piece inspired by a 12th-century poem about a mountain...and an adventurous climb in Colorado. Join us today to hear the story and the music: Flying on the Scaly Backs of Our Mountains by Wang Jie.

Twenty years ago, classical guitarist Jason Vieaux was one of our Young Artists in Residence. At the time, he'd never met his hero, guitarist Pat Metheny. Now they're friends. On today's show, Jason Vieaux plays a new piece written for him by his hero and friend: Four Paths of Light by Pat Metheny.

It's a portrait painted with music, an incredibly colorful and inventive picture of the sea: La Mer by Claude Debussy. On today's episode, we'll hear a chamber orchestra performance of La Mer at a concert presented by ROCO in Houston, Texas.