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.
Conductor Andrew Manze recently led the LA Philharmonic in a symphony they hadn't played in decades, possibly due to work's technical difficulty. Find out which symphony is exhausting to play, and exhilarating to hear, on this episode of Performance Today.
There's a remarkable photo from the 1889 World Expo in Paris: Four young Javanese dancers, and one young woman is staring rather sternly into the camera. Her name is Soekia. On this episode of Performance Today, hear the the Dolce Suono Ensemble perform the world premiere of Soekia's Dance by Thomas Whitman.
The first symphony Johannes Brahms wrote took him nearly 20 years to complete. By contrast, Brahms wrote his second symphony in just a few weeks. On this episode of Performance today, hear the Buffalo Philharmonic play Brahms's Symphony No. 2, with JoAnn Falletta conducting.
Chee-Yun plays a violin that is three and a half centuries old, but it looks brand new, with hardly a mark on it. That's long been a curiosity, but now it seems this violin might have been buried and carefully preserved for two centuries. On this episode of Performance Today, hear about a violin with a strange connection to the underworld, and hear Chee-Yun play that violin at a concert in Steamboat Springs.
There's a remarkable photo from the 1889 World Expo in Paris: Four young Javanese dancers, and one young woman is staring rather sternly into the camera. Her name is Soekia. On this episode of Performance Today, hear the the Dolce Suono Ensemble perform the world premiere of Soekia's Dance by Thomas Whitman.
Composer Edvard Grieg found tremendous inspiration in Norwegian history and folklore. His Lyric Pieces for piano are expressions of his country's places, stories, and people. On this episode of Performance Today, Joyce Yang brings those colorful works to life, from a concert in Seattle.
In New York City, a short walk to the shop down the street is often a journey through sounds from many different cultures. New York native Jessie Montgomery captures that soundscape in a piece called Coincident Dances. We'll hear it performed by the Chicago Sinfonietta, on this episode of Performance Today.
When Edgar Meyer was growing up, there was sort of a family tradition... his father and two uncles played the double bass. Now, Edgar Meyer is THE great double bass virtuoso of our time. On this episode of Performance Today, hear him play a Bottesini double bass concerto with the Nashville Symphony.
When Addison Maye-Saxon was in the 7th grade and choosing what to play, he didn't like cello or trumpet, so his teacher picked his instrument (and his future) for him. On this episode of Performance Today, hear music and conversation with trombonist Addison Maye-Saxon.
