Andrew Armstrong is a concert pianist who grew up in New Canaan, Connecticut. He's now the Artistic Director of New Canaan Chamber Music. He takes us to a smoky jazz club with George Gershwin’s Three Preludes.

Camille Saint-Saëns wrote his Symphony No. 3 on commission from London’s Royal Philharmonic Society—and conducted the premiere himself. It would be his last symphony… and one of his most ambitious.Hear the “Organ” Symphony tonight on WSHU, 91.1, 107.5, and our music stream.

Thomas Edison was an innovator for the light bulb and phonograph. Grace Hopper was an innovator for computer programming. Who are American musical innovators? Find out in this week’s America 250: The American Experience, a weekly program getting into the people and stories behind American music.

Violinist Rachel Barton Pine grew up on heavy metal bands Metallica and Megadeth. She brings that same intensity and drive to Beethoven. Hear it in his Violin Concerto, tonight on WSHU, 91.1, 107.5, and our music stream.

Often musicians in orchestra sections don’t get a turn in the spotlight. Sarah Willis plays fourth horn in the Berlin Philharmonic, and her career goes far beyond holding down the low notes in the horn section. Hear her as a concerto soloist this morning.

Marvin Hamlisch is one of the few artists to win an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony, and he was part of the Pulitzer Prize–winning team behind A Chorus Line. But chances are, you know him from just a few notes… The Entertainer from The Sting. This week, Reel Music celebrates the sound of that career, with music from The Way We Were, Ordinary People, and more. Reel Music—film scores and the stories behind them. Saturday at 9 and Sunday at 6 on WSHU.

Tonight on America 250: The American Experience, we head into wide open spaces. Follow the current of The Mississippi River, look out across the vast, sunlit edges of the Grand Canyon Suite, and feel the quiet promise of Appalachian Spring.

Happy May Day! We’ll celebrate with an uplifting song from the Renaissance and the overture to an opera about intrigue at night after May Day revelry.

Claude Debussy wanted you to feel the sea. So in La Mer, one moment it feels wide open, like you’re staring out at the horizon… the next, you’re right at the water’s edge, caught up in the motion.Go with the flow of Debussy’s La Mer, tonight on WSHU, 91.1, 107.5, and our music stream.

Procrastinators, take note. Franz Schubert, who was a well-respected composer, didn’t finish one of his symphonies and it’s had a long, successful performance run. So put off something on your to-do list, and listen to Schubert’s "Unfinished" Symphony this morning.