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“Paraorchestra is the world’s only large-scale virtuoso ensemble of professional disabled and non-disabled musicians.” The ensemble strives to be a new kind of group that stretches beyond traditional musical genres. Today’s Beautiful Music demonstrates that — it’s their collaboration with the British rock band Coldplay from the 2012 Paralympics closing ceremony.

I hope this performance by two extraordinary musicians — violinist Itzhak Perlman and pianist Jon Batiste — wows you as much as it wows me! Their 2018 Late Show performance of Caprice in a minor and Someone to Watch Over Me is today’s Beautiful Music.

Nicholas McCarthy was born without a right hand. At age 14, he started piano lessons, and by 17 was accepted into the Junior department at the prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He then later enrolled in the keyboard department at the Royal College of Music, becoming its first left-hand-only graduate in 2012. The

Augustin Hadelich is one of today’s most brilliant instrumentalists. The Italian-German-American Grammy-winning classical violinist has a repertory that spans centuries, starting with music by Johann Sebastian Bach right through contemporary works. Today’s Beautiful Music features Augustin Hadelich playing one of my personal favorites: the Violin Concerto by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. His collaborators are conductor Gemma

Korean-born musician JungHae Kim earned her Bachelors degree in harpsichord at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, as well as diplomas at Oberlin Conservatory, and Sweelinck Conservatorium before completing her studies with Dutch master Gustav Leonhardt in Amsterdam. She is also a founder and artistic director of Ensemble Mirable and a Professor of Music

Violinist Rachel Barton Pine is such a leader in the world of classical music. She has grown from a young virtuosa, to a world-class soloist with orchestras, to founder of the organization MUSIC BY BLACK COMPOSERS. Rachel Barton Pine is also a mom to Sylvia, another burgeoning young violinist, and they have numerous collaborations playing

Today’s Beautiful Music gives you a chance to peek behind the scenes at an an orchestra rehearsal. Even better, it is a coaching session by renowned conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada with some young musicians at Reina Sofía School of Music in Madrid. The Colombian maestro is leading a master class in playing music from Wolfgang Amadeus