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Celebrate the birthday of Sergei Prokofiev by listening to the Kansas City Symphony perform three of his works: the invigorating suite from "Love of Three Oranges," his third piano concerto and an epic cantata comprised of music from his score to the Sergei Eisenstein film "Alexander Nevsky." We'll also hear Beethoven's portentous tone poem "Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage."

Celebrate the 292nd birthday of Franz Joseph Haydn by hearing the Kansas City Symphony perform three of the prolific composer's works. We'll also hear Nikolai Rimsky-Korsokov's rousing "Russian Easter Festival Overture" and the first of Sergei Rachmaninoff's four genre-defining piano concertos.

The guitar is a wonderful solo instrument alone but when paired with an orchestra, it can be even more beautiful. We have two outstanding 20th century guitar concertos that bring out all the colors and textures of the instrument.

Just over 30 years ago, an obscure symphony by an obscure Polish composer took the classical world by storm and sold over a million copies of the new recording. We’ll hear that recording and experience it for ourselves.

This week we'll hear the Kansas City Symphony perform Franz Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 102 and Leonard Bernstein's "Serenade," a work composed for Isaac Stern, the legendary violinist and father of co-host Michael Stern. Also, we'll hear a recent performance of Béla Bartók's "Concerto for Orchestra."

This week we begin a celebration of May birthdays and May performances. We'll hear music by Isaac Albéniz, Malcolm Forsyth and Franz Schubert in performances by the Kansas City Symphony led by music director Michael Stern and guest conductors Pinchas Zukerman and Carlos Miguel Prieto. We'll also hear the Kansas City Symphony Chorus in a performance prepared by director Charles Bruffy.

This week, co-hosts Michael Stern and Dan Margolies celebrate the birthday of the great French composer Maurice Ravel with works from throughout his career. The Kansas City Symphony's next Music Director, Matthias Pintscher, will lead the orchestra in two works, plus we'll hear Leon Fleisher in a performance of the "Left Hand Concerto," alongside the crowd-pleasing Bolero and the Suite No. 2 from Daphnis et Chloé.

While many composers wrote multiple concertos for violin and piano, Samuel Barber wrote just one for each instrument. This week, in honor of the American composer's birthday, we'll hear those two concertos featuring violinist Philippe Quint and pianist Alessio Bax. Also, we'll hear "Scheherazade," the orchestral warhorse by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsokov, who was also born in the month of March.

This week we'll hear Bach's Fantasia and Fugue in C minor as arranged by Edward Elgar. The rest of the program is Gustav Mahler's gargantuan Symphony No. 2, known as "The Resurrection." Mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor shares what excites and scares her about performing the work. And as always, co-hosts Michael Stern and Dan Margolies offer insightful background on each composer and composition.

Seiji Ozawa came on the music scene like a meteor, and soon established himself as a remarkable conductor who led the world’s best orchestras. In memory of his long and distinguished career, we’ll hear him interpret music by Rossini, Tchaikovsky, Berlioz, and Mahler.