Performance Today®

The Dies Irae is a hymn from the old Latin Mass for the Dead. Composer Kenji Bunch once misspelled it by a letter - he wrote the word "Irie" - which, in Jamaican patois, loosely means "everything is okay." Join us for music with a positive spin on today's show: Dies Irie by Kenji Bunch.

A couple of weeks ago, we lost a bright light in the world of music. Violinist Geoff Nuttall passed away after several months of treatment for pancreatic cancer. He was 56 years old. When Geoff picked up his violin, he didn't just play music—it filled him up and poured out of him. Today, we honor the memory of Geoff Nuttall, and we’ll hear him and his colleagues in the St. Lawrence String Quartet perform Beethoven's String Quartet No. 15.

A starburst is a galaxy undergoing an intense rate of star formation activity, with stars being created hundreds or thousands of times more rapidly than usual. Join us today for music that bursts with energy and color: Starburst by Jessie Montgomery.

Composer Clarice Assad was doing some research on the internet and ran across a book of spells and rituals. She was inspired to write a piece based on the rituals she found in that book. On today's episode, we'll take you to a concert in Atlanta to hear The Siren's Seduction from the Book of Spells by Clarice Assad.

Composer Joaquín Turina wrote a musical portrait, imagining what went through the mind of a Spanish bullfighter right before stepping into the ring—the prayers one might say before facing mortal danger. We'll hear "La oración del torero" (The Bullfighter's Prayer) by Joaquín Turina on this episode of Performance Today.

Composer and violinist Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, lived in Paris in the late 1700s. He was one of the first musicians of African descent to play a prominent role in European classical music. On today's show, we'll hear one of Bologne's fourteen violin concertos from a concert presented by the Minnesota Orchestra.

When flutist Emi Ferguson was six years old, she had the chance to see two of her flute heroes in concert: Sir James and Lady Jean Galway. She even met them after the show, and young Emi had one crucial question for them. Flutist Emi Ferguson looks back on help from her heroes on this edition of Performance Today.

Composer Joaquín Turina wrote a musical portrait, imagining what went through the mind of a Spanish bullfighter right before stepping into the ring—the prayers one might say before facing mortal danger. We'll hear "La oración del torero" (The Bullfighter's Prayer) by Joaquín Turina on this episode of Performance Today.

Pianist Evren Ozel says the first time he learned to play a Chopin waltz was an act of rebellion - his teacher told him not to do it...and he did it anyway. On today's show, Evren Ozel plays music he loves by Chopin with no one to tell him otherwise.