Poster Fred Child
Fred Child
Performance Today

Performance Today®

PT Weekend: Yefim Bronfman

PT Weekend: Yefim Bronfman

If you were to choose one piece of classical music to share with someone to get them hooked, what would it be? Pianist Yefim Bronfman has an opinion on the matter...and we'll hear him play it on today's show. Plus, Bruce Adolphe has this week’s Piano Puzzler!

Power to the pipa

Power to the pipa

The Chinese lute, or pipa, has been around for more than two thousand years. On today's show, we'll hear a 21st-century composition for pipa performed by Wu Man and the Lexington Symphony at a concert in Lexington, Massachusetts.

Rachmaninoff's elegy for Tchaikovsky

Rachmaninoff's elegy for Tchaikovsky

Sergei Rachmaninoff was a young unknown when he met his hero, composer Peter Tchaikovsky, who died only a month later. The very night Rachmaninoff got the news, he began writing a piece in honor of Tchaikovsky. On today's show, we'll hear members of the Seattle Chamber Music Society play the Trio élégiaque No. 2 by Sergei Rachmaninoff.

Yefim Bronfman

Yefim Bronfman

If you were to choose one piece of classical music to share with someone to get them hooked, what would it be? Pianist Yefim Bronfman has an opinion on the matter...and we'll hear him play it on today's show.

Brian Nabors

Brian Nabors

Composer Brian Nabors feels as though the universe is connected through a unified pulse. In 2019, he composed a piece with examples of that unwavering pulse set in different life scenarios, and it's up to you to decide for yourself what those settings are. On today's show, we'll hear Pulse by Brian Nabors from a concert presented by the National Philharmonic Institute and Festival.

Debussy's portrait of the sea

Debussy's portrait of the sea

It's a portrait painted with music, an incredibly colorful and inventive picture of the sea: La Mer by Claude Debussy. On today's episode, we'll hear a chamber orchestra performance of La Mer at a concert presented by ROCO in Houston, Texas.

PT Weekend: Can you guess it?

PT Weekend: Can you guess it?

Composer Bruce Adolphe joins us weekly for a musical game, our Piano Puzzler. Bruce re-writes a familiar tune in the style of a great composer. We get one of our listeners on the phone who tries to guess the hidden tune and the composer whose style Bruce is imitating. Play along with the PT Piano Puzzler on this episode of Performance Today.

Jiří Pauer: Bassoon Concerto

Jiří Pauer: Bassoon Concerto

Concertos require great main character energy. On today's show, we'll travel to Shanghai to hear a bassoon concerto that expects its soloist to be sweet, agile, mysterious, and a little bit sassy: the Bassoon Concerto by Czech composer Jiří Pauer.

Julia Perry

Julia Perry

American composer Julia Perry wrote well over a hundred pieces of music, but just a handful are published. Why is that the case? We've got the story and an all-too-rare highlight from Perry's available music on this episode of Performance Today.

Florent Schmitt: Oriane and the Prince of Love

Florent Schmitt: Oriane and the Prince of Love

In today's episode, we’ll hear an extraordinary piece of music that just doesn't get played very often. It's a piece that French composer Florent Schmitt wrote for a ballet in Paris in 1933. Conductor JoAnn Falletta leads the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in a performance of Oriane and the Prince of Love by Florent Schmitt.

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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Your Host

Since 2000, Fred Child has been the host of Performance Today, the most-listened-to classical music radio show in America. He also is the commentator and announcer for Live From Lincoln Center, the only live performing arts series on television. He also hosts musical events on stages around the country, working with major orchestras and festivals, and connecting with audiences coast to coast.

Fred Child

Your Host

Kathryn Slusher is the senior producer of Performance Today, where she leads programming and production for the show. In her spare time, she enjoys the vibrant Twin Cities music and theater scene, and loves to read, hike and spend time with her family.

Your Host

As a Producer for Performance Today, Meghann chooses music to broadcast on the show, writes web articles and scripts, facilitates, conducts and edits interviews, creates video content and manages PT’s social media pages. She created Performance Today’s Black History Spotlight Series and the My Name is Series to highlight Black classical musicians. Meghann is also the producer for the PT Young Artist in Residence Series. In her free time, she is a mom, a part-time actress and fashion lover. Meghann also created and hosted “Wondrous Strange”, a national radio program about uncommon musical instruments, she is the official underwriting voice for ‘The New York Times’ The Daily, and she can occasionally be heard guest-hosting Performance Today.

Meghann Oglesby

Your Host

As an Associate Producer for Performance Today, Kathleen Bradbury writes scripts and assists with external communications. In her spare time, she likes to read fiction, lift heavy weights at the gym, and frolic about in nature. But above all else, Kathleen loves to sing Broadway showtunes--much to the delight of her wife, her infant son, and her rescue dog.

Kathleen Bradbury

Your Host

Jon Gohman is an associate producer for Performance Today. He is responsible for various behind-the-scenes functions, including liaising with artists and creating materials for national distribution. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, playing the guitar, and thinking about Langrange points.

Your Host

Craig Thorson is the Technical Director for Performance Today. In addition to mastering the live music recordings that are programmed for each daily program, he records guest performances and interviews. Craig enjoys skiing, tennis, and bicycling, and boating.

Craig Thorson

Your Host

Jeanne Barron is the technical producer of Performance Today.

Jeanne Barron
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