Performance Today®

It's a concerto for three saxophones, but NOT for three saxophone players. The concerto is a showcase for one musician trading off alto, tenor, and soprano saxes. On today's show, Jess Gillam gives a riveting performance of the Concerto for Three Saxophones by Barbara Thompson, backed by the NDR Philharmonic Orchestra.

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.

Fei Xie is the Principal Bassoon for the Minnesota Orchestra. Before that, he was the principal bassoonist of the Baltimore Symphony. When he won that role with the Baltimore Symphony in 2012, Xie became the first Chinese-born bassoonist to hold a principal position in a major American orchestra. We'll hear Fei Xie play a Mozart bassoon concerto with the Minnesota Orchestra on today's show.

The Alhambra is a sprawling palace and fortress built in the 1300s on a hill overlooking the city of Granada, Spain. In today's episode, hear a shimmering piece inspired by the colorful gardens on the palace grounds. Pianist Bernadene Blaha and the Texas Festival Orchestra perform Nights in the Gardens of Spain by Manuel de Falla.

Every week, composer Bruce Adolphe joins us for a musical game, our Piano Puzzler. Bruce re-writes a familiar tune in the style of a great composer. We get one of our listeners on the phone who tries to guess the hidden tune and the composer whose style Bruce is imitating. Play along with the PT Piano Puzzler on this episode of Performance Today.

Covid travel restrictions kept Gao Hong from visiting her family in China, so she reminisced about her childhood to comfort herself and channeled that nostalgia into a new piece for Pipa and Bassoon. Join us today to hear Gao Hong play her new concerto, "Reminiscences of My Hometown," from a recent concert in St. Paul, Minnesota.

In the early 1800s, Lord Byron wrote an epic poem imagining a melancholy young man traveling in the Alps: Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. French composer Hector Berlioz was deeply inspired by that poem and wrote Harold in Italy. We'll explore the place where poetry meets music on this episode of Performance Today.

Every week, composer Bruce Adolphe joins us for a musical game, our Piano Puzzler. Bruce re-writes a familiar tune in the style of a great composer. We get one of our listeners on the phone who tries to guess the hidden tune and the composer whose style Bruce is imitating. Play along with the PT Piano Puzzler on this episode of Performance Today.

After studying the many ways people play music by Bach, violinist Hilary Hahn has concluded: "You can play it however you want, as long as you can make it convincing...that's up to the audience to decide." On today’s show, hear Hilary Hahn play a Bach violin concerto with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.