Poster The Parker Quartet
The Parker Quartet
Janette Beckman
Performance Today®

2010 Gilmore Artist, and PT's Artists-in-Residence

Two special introductions: the winner of the 2010 Gilmore Artist Award, and PT's Artists-in-Residence. Once every four years, the Gilmore Keyboard Festival names their "Gilmore Artist." The winner gets $300,000 and bookings in major concert halls around the world. Performance Today has the exclusive broadcast announcement of the 2010 Gilmore Artist Award, and host Fred Child talks with the winner. Also: we'll introduce the Parker Quartet as Performance Today Artists-in-Residence. They'll join Fred in the studio to play Mendelssohn's Quartet No. 2. And we'll begin PT's nationwide string quartet competition for high school and college age string quartets.

Episode Playlist

Hour 1

Felix Mendelssohn: Scherzo from Octet in E-flat, Op. 20
The Cleveland Quartet and the Meliora Quartet

Sergei Rachmaninoff: Melodie, Op. 3, No. 3
Pianist Kirill Gerstein
Verbier Festival, Vevey, Switzerland

Perfchat with the Parker Quartet: Perfchat

Felix Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor, Op. 13
The Parker Quartet
Maud Moon Weyerhaeuser Studio, St. Paul

Hour 2

Gustav Holst: "Mercury, the Winged Messenger" from "The Planets"
The CSR Symphony Orchestra with conductor Adrian Leaper

Josef Strauss: "Music of the Spheres"
The Vienna Philharmonic with conductor Daniel Barenboim
Musikverein, Vienna, Austria

Franz Liszt: Transcendental Etude No. 11, S. 139 ("Evening Harmonies")
Pianist Roberto Plano
The Frederic Chopin Society, St. Paul

Karim Al-Zand: "Visions from Another World"
The River Oaks Chamber Orchestra with conductor JoAnn Falletta
The Church of St. John the Divine, Houston

Traditional (Arranged by Linn Andrea Fuglseth): "I Know of a Heavenly Stronghold"
Trio Mediaeval
Fitzgerald Theater, St. Paul

Ludwig van Beethoven: Cavatina from String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat, Op. 130
The Pacifica Quartet
Music@Menlo, Palo Alto, California

Love the music?

Donate by phone
1-800-562-8440

Show your support by making a gift to YourClassical.

Each day, we’re here for you with thoughtful streams that set the tone for your day – not to mention the stories and programs that inspire you to new discovery and help you explore the music you love.

YourClassical is available for free, because we are listener-supported public media. Take a moment to make your gift today.

More Ways to Give

Your Donation

$5/month
$10/month
$15/month
$20/month
$

Latest Performance Today® Episodes

VIEW ALL EPISODES

Latest Performance Today® Episodes

Rebecca Clarke: Dumka

Rebecca Clarke: Dumka

In Ukrainian, the word "dumka" means "thought" or “notion." In music, a dumka is a somewhat dreamlike dance that often revisits a bittersweet reflection on the sadness of life. Today, we’ll hear English composer Rebecca Clarke’s ‘Dumka,’ from a concert presented by the Fabian Concert Series in Macon, Georgia.

1:59:00
Nina Bernat

Nina Bernat

Today, we’re featuring one of our 2025 Young Artists in Residence: double-bassist Nina Bernat. In today's show, Nina joins Fred Child for music and conversation at our studio in Saint Paul.

1:59:00
Geneva and Nathan Lewis

Geneva and Nathan Lewis

As talented young kids, siblings Geneva Lewis and Nathan Lewis were part of a successful family trio. They’re all grown up now, each at the top of their careers, and they still find time to make music together. In today’s episode, Geneva and Nathan Lewis perform a duet by Edward Elgar at a concert in Athens, Georgia.

1:59:00
Florence Price: Symphony No. 3

Florence Price: Symphony No. 3

In 1940, Eleanor Roosevelt was introduced to Symphony No. 3 by African American composer Florence Price; the First Lady loved it and praised it enthusiastically in her daily newspaper column. On today’s show, we’ll take you to a recent concert in St. Louis for a performance of Price’s Symphony No. 3.

1:59:00
Franz Liszt's fascination with mortality

Franz Liszt's fascination with mortality

When composer and pianist Franz Liszt was a young man, he was fascinated with death. He went to hospitals to observe people who were sick or dying. He went to prisons to meet people who had been condemned to die. On today’s show, we’ll hear Franz Liszt’s Totentanz, The Dance of Death, a piece based on the Dies Irae, a chant from the Catholic Mass for the Dead.

1:59:00
PT Weekend: The outsider

PT Weekend: The outsider

Invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s, the saxophone has long been seen as an outsider in classical music. But Timothy McAllister is on a mission to change that. On today’s show, Timothy McAllister performs a saxophone classic: Alexander Glazunov’s Saxophone Concerto.

1:59:00
Henriëtte Bosmans

Henriëtte Bosmans

On today's show, we explore music by Dutch composer Henriëtte Bosmans. Join us at a concert in Wismar, Germany, to hear a performance of Bosmans's String Quartet, a piece from a time when in-home concerts were a matter of necessity for artists whose work had to be kept undercover.

1:59:00
Sibelius' final symphony

Sibelius' final symphony

The final symphony by Jean Sibelius unfolds over twenty-one minutes, evolving from a quiet opening to a warm, life-affirming ending—it's one unbroken weightless stream. Join us at a concert in Zurich for the Symphony No. 7 by Jean Sibelius.

1:59:00
Photos: Scenes from MPR Day at the 2025 Minnesota State Fair
Lost and found Mendelssohn

Lost and found Mendelssohn

When Felix Mendelssohn was 14, he wrote music for a family party. The manuscript was then stashed away in the Mendelssohn household and forgotten about, and it wasn't played again until 1999. Hear the lost and found Double Concerto by Felix Mendelssohn on today’s show.

1:59:00
VIEW ALL EPISODES

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.

How do I leave a comment?

Send us a comment here.

About Performance Today®
YourClassical Radio
0:00
0:00