Performance Today®

Vanessa Perez

Loving parents usually try to steer their children away from making the same mistakes they did. Thankfully, children don't always listen. Vanessa Perez's mother was a pianist who suffered from terrible stage fright, who thought that the life of a musician was just too hard. So when Vanessa asked for piano lessons, her mother said no. Eventually, she gave in, and Vanessa is now enjoying the life of a concert artist that had eluded her mother. We'll meet Vanessa Perez in today's show.

Episode Playlist

Hour 1

William Walton: Princes in the Tower, from Richard III and Touch Her Soft Lips and Part, from Henry V
The Salastina Music Society
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles

George Butterworth: The Banks of Green Willow
The Halle Orchestra, Mark Elder, conductor

Ferruccio Busoni: Elegy No. 4 (Greensleeves)
Marc-Andre Hamelin, piano
Spring for Music, New York City

William Walton: Violin Concerto
Alexander Barantschik, violin, the San Francisco Symphony, Charles Dutoit, conductor
Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco

Hour 2

Frederic Chopin: Preludes No. 9 in E and No. 13 in F-sharp, Op. 28
Vanessa Perez, piano

Johann Sebastian Bach: Gigue from Solo Violin Partita No. 3 in E, BWV 1006
Hilary Hahn, violin
Salle Pleyel, Paris, France

George Frideric Handel: Aria, Laschia ch'io Pianga (Let me Weep)
Albrecht Mayer, oboe, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
Carnegie Hall, New York City

Perfchat with Vanessa Perez: Perfchat

Isaac Albeniz: Granada, from Suite Espagnole
Vanessa Perez, piano
NPR Studio 4A, Washington, D.C.

Heitor Villa-Lobos: Excerpts from Prole do Bebe No. 1 (The Family of Baby Dolls)
Vanessa Perez, piano
NPR Studio 4A, Washington, D.C.

Frederic Chopin: Four Preludes, Op. 28
Vanessa Perez, piano
NPR Studio 4A, Washington, D.C.

Anatol Liadov: Baba Yaga, Op. 56
The Houston Symphony Orchestra, Hans Graf, conductor
Spring For Music, New York City

Leonard Bernstein: Mambo from West Side Story
The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, William Eddins, conductor
Spring For Music, New York City

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About Performance Today®

To find a station near you on our Stations Listings page, click here.

American Public Media’s Performance Today® is America’s most popular classical music radio program and a winner of the 2014 Gabriel Award for artistic achievement. The show is broadcast on hundreds of public radio stations across the country, including at 1 p.m. central weekdays on Minnesota Public Radio. More information about our stations can be found at APM Distribution.

Performance Today® features live concert recordings that can’t be heard anywhere else, highlights from new album releases, and in-studio performances and interviews. Performance Today® is based at the APM studios in St. Paul, Minnesota, but is frequently on the road, with special programs broadcast from festivals and public radio stations around the country. Also, each Wednesday, composer Bruce Adolphe joins host Fred Child for a classical musical game and listener favorite: the Piano Puzzler.

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