When Second-Best is Best

‘Performance Today’ has selected performer and composer Jessie Montgomery as the 2025 Classical Woman of the Year. This annual award recognizes women who have made significant contributions to the classical music art form and have inspired our listeners. Find out more!

For composer Kevin Puts, the key of C major is a sonic representation of "home." It's familiar and comforting. In 2019, Puts wrote a string quartet that begins with that familiar key, but goes on to what Puts calls "the search for new and unfamiliar harmonic terrain." He wanted the music to explore the sonic possibilities, but then return to his musical idea of home. Puts knew that, however he got there, the feeling of home would be changed by the journey. Join us today to hear the Miro Quartet play Home by Kevin Puts.

Valerie Kahler is no stranger to PT; our longtime guest host and friend officially joins the team as full-time host on today's show. Join Valerie as she begins her musical adventures with Performance Today.

After 25 unforgettable years, host Fred Child bids farewell in his final show for Performance Today. Join the celebration as Fred expresses his gratitude through music and stories from an extraordinary career in public radio.

After 25 unforgettable years, host Fred Child bids farewell in his final show for Performance Today. Join the celebration as Fred expresses his gratitude through music and stories from an extraordinary career in public radio.

Grammy-winning composer and violinist Jessie Montgomery is PT’s 2025 Classical Woman of the Year, and today she joins Fred Child as a special guest co-host. Tune in today to hear Montgomery share the music that has shaped her unique artistic voice. It's a special hour of music you won't want to miss.

After 23 years, the Piano Puzzler is signing off. On today's show, Bruce Adolphe joins us one last time to talk with Fred and test our listeners' musical ears. Over the years, the Puzzler has challenged all of us to listen to music differently, while teaching us how composers express themselves in their own unique ways. Puzzler fans—look for the Piano Puzzler archive on our website in the coming days. Thanks again, Bruce!

Meet one of our 2025 PT Young Artists in Residence: violinist Samuel Frois. On today's show, Samuel joins Fred Child at our studio in Saint Paul to perform works by Brazilian composers Heitor Villa-Lobos and Andre Mehmari.

At age 84, pianist Martha Argerich says she's made peace with her role in the universe, stating: "I just play." On today's show, we'll hear Argerich give a captivating performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 2 at a concert in Lausanne, Switzerland.

After a performance with Wynton Marsalis in 2019, conductor Cristian Macelaru looked into the trumpeter's eyes and felt his emotion, saying, "It just felt like it was the most pure connection." Macelaru was more than impressed; he considers Wynton Marsalis one of the most important American composers of all time. On today’s show, we'll hear the world premiere performance of the Concerto for Orchestra by Wynton Marsalis.