Poster Aspen Music Festival
Aspen Music Festival
Aspen Music Festival
Performance Today®

The Aspen Festival

The Aspen Music Festival is the country's largest summer festival. Aspen opens today, and runs through late August, featuring many of the top performers in the world. As the festival continues, we'll be bringing you live performances throughout the summer. On today's show, we'll revisit past Aspen concerts by pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin, violinist Julia Fischer, and the Aspen Festival Orchestra.

Episode Playlist

Hour 1

Hector Berlioz: "Rakoczy" March
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra with conductor David Zinman

Frederic Chopin: Barcarolle in F-sharp, Op. 60
Pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin
Aspen Music Festival, Aspen, Colorado

Marc-Andre Hamelin: "The Variation Beethoven Never Wrote"
Pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin
Aspen Music Festival, Aspen, Colorado

John Harbison: The "Great Gatsby" Suite
The Aspen Festival Orchestra with conductor David Zinman
Aspen Music Festival, Aspen, Colorado

Johann Sebastian Bach: Fugue from Sonata No. 1 in G Minor for Unaccompanied Violin, BWV 1001
Violinist Julia Fischer
Aspen Music Festival, Aspen, Colorado

Hour 2

Edward Elgar: "Chanson de Nuit," Op. 15, No. 1
The English Sinfonia with conductor Charles Groves

Johann Sebastian Bach: Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, BWV 903, and Chorale Prelude, BWV 140 ("Sleepers Awake")
Pianist Awadagin Pratt
Wortham Theater Center, Houston

Edward Elgar: "In the South" Overture ("Alassio"), Op. 50
The National Orchestral Institute Orchestra with conductor James Ross
National Orchestral Institute, College Park, Maryland

Theobald Boehm: "Nel Cor Piu non mi Sento," Op. 4
Flutist Sunghyun Cho and pianist Yerin Kim
Warner Concert Hall, Oberlin, Ohio

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About Performance Today®

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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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