Performance Today®

Astor Piazzolla's music defies category. It's inspired by the tango dance music he grew up with, but he added classical and jazz elements and gave his band members room to add their own ideas and improvisations. On today's show, we'll hear a recording of "Concierto Para Quinteto," from what Piazzolla said was the greatest album of his life.

Composer James Pecore spent part of this last summer at the 2022 Emerging Composers Intensive (ECI) in Carmel Valley, California. Pecore loves telling stories through music and appreciates the intimacy that stories can build between people. On this weekend's episode, we'll hear Pecore's new piece, "Early Loves."

Ethiopian-Hungarian violinist Samuel Nebyu recently played at the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland…and his entire concert was music by composers of African descent. Join us today for highlights from that concert in Lucerne, Switzerland.

Composer Kian Ravaei was captivated by a simple melody by Dvorak. He wrote it down in his sketchbook and returned to it when asked to write his own new piece. We'll hear the world premiere of the Fantasy Variations (on a theme by Dvorak) by Kian Ravaei on today's episode.

Composer James Pecore spent part of this last summer at the 2022 Emerging Composers Intensive (ECI) in Carmel Valley, California. Pecore loves telling stories through music and appreciates the intimacy that stories can build between people. We'll hear Pecore's new piece, "Early Loves," on today's show.

The 2022 Emerging Composers Intensive (ECI) took place on the campus of Hidden Valley Music Seminars in Carmel Valley, California. ECI is a workshop for up-and-coming composers ranging in age from late teens to early 30s. On today's show, we'll hear "The Bell Tower," a new piece by 22-year-old composer Sophie Fay.

For 25 years, the New York Philharmonic has been encouraging and empowering young musicians with their Very Young Composers program. On today’s show, we’ll hear works by 16-year-old Nicholas Hutfilz and 14-year-old Dalya Shaman.

American composer Pierre Jalbert is from a French-Canadian family. He hadn’t thought about addressing his heritage in music until he found inspiration in French-Canadian folk songs. On today's show, we'll hear the world premiere performance of Jalbert’s L'esprit du Nord (Spirit of the North), performed and commissioned by the Apollo Chamber Players.

On today's show, we'll hear a piece Mexican-American composer Jorge Machain wrote for Joseph Alessi, the principal trombone player of the New York Philharmonic. The work is called "Adelante," which in Spanish means "ahead" or "forward." Machain hopes this piece can be seen to "represent moving forward as a nation, with the hopes of everyone becoming one undivided people."