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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 

Hosted by Valerie Kahler, 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.

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Valerie Kahler

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.


Senior Producer

Kathryn Slusher

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.


Producer

Meghann Oglesby

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

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.


Associate Producer

Jon Gohman

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.


Technical Director

Craig Thorson

Jeanne Barron is the technical producer of Performance Today.


Technical Producer

YourClassical MPR

Jeanne Barron

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. 


Dani Werner

‘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!


Jiyang Chen

2025 Classical Woman of the Year: Jessie Montgomery

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.



Performance Today - December 11, 2025

Public Domain / CC

Franz Liszt's fascination with mortality

Today, we'll hear two Chopin Competition Gold Medalists… at the same time. Yulianna Avdeeva and Garrick Ohlsson shared the stage at the 2025 International Chopin Competition to perform Poulenc's Concerto for Two Pianos, a musical pastiche of Mozart, French songs, and jazz.



Performance Today - December 10, 2025

© Krzysztof Szlezak, NIFC

Two pianos, one orchestra

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.



Performance Today - December  9, 2025

Beeldbank Stadsarchief Amsterdam, via Wikimedia Commons

Henriëtte Bosmans

On today's show, we explore the fascinating career of German composer Emilie Mayer. Join us at a concert in Houston for a ROCO performance of Mayer's Symphony No. 4, a piece she composed in 1850 that was only recently reconstructed by German composer and arranger Andreas Tarkmann.



Performance Today - December  8, 2025

WikiMedia Commons

Emilie Mayer

Violinist Leila Josefowicz has built a career exploring less conventional music; she is well known for performing works by 21st-century composers. She also connects with Igor Stravinsky's music because he was interested in exploring unexpected sounds. Today, we take you to a recent concert in Berlin to hear Leila Josefowicz perform Stravinsky's Violin Concerto with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, led by conductor Roderick Cox.



Performance Today - December  6, 2025

Tom Zimberoff

PT Weekend: Leila Josefowicz 

Jeannette Sorrell founded the early music group Apollo's Fire back in 1992... and that fire is still burning hot. We'll hear Apollo's Fire at a concert in Cleveland on this episode of Performance Today.



Performance Today - December  5, 2025

Roger Mastroianni

Jeannette Sorrell and Apollo's Fire

Composer Damien Geter spent much of the pandemic reliving his love of 90s neo-soul. He says the music of Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, and Lauryn Hill helped him get through. As a classical composer, he wanted to write his own music in homage to neo-soul. On today's show, we'll hear what he came up with: "Neo-Soul," the String Quartet No. 1 by Damien Geter.



Performance Today - December  4, 2025

Rachel Hadiashar

Damien Geter: String Quartet No. 1 "Neo-Soul"

In 1911, Spanish composer Enrique Granados composed a set of six pieces for solo piano. These works were inspired by the paintings of Spanish artist Francisco Goya and showcase a distinctly Spanish influence. On today's program, we'll hear emerging American pianist Angie Zhang perform the first piece from Enrique Granados's Goyescas collection.



Performance Today - December  3, 2025

Wikipedia

Enrique Granados: Goyescas

American composer Adolphus Hailstork has a series of pieces called his "cathedral series," which emphasize the sense of centeredness and calm found within sacred spaces. Join us for a moment of stillness with Hailstork's meditative work, Sanctum: Rhapsody for Viola & Piano, from a concert presented by Spivey Hall at Clayton State University, just south of Atlanta in Morrow, Georgia.



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