To find a station near you on our Stations Listings page, 

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 

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.

Shows

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.


Host

Fred Child

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

{"type":"doc","content":[{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"text":" ","type":"text"}]}]}

Performance Today

At a recent concert with the Los Angeles Philharmonic., pianist Mitsuko Uchida walked onstage to a cheering audience. She sat down at the piano... made a funny face... and walked quickly offstage. The story, and the music Mitsuko Uchida played upon returning to the stage, on the next Performance Today.


Dame Mitsuko Uchida, pianist and conductor

Performance Today®

Justin Pumfrey/Decca

Mitsuko Uchida

"If you find yourself elated by my music," composer Wang Jie says, "the credit goes to the muses. If you hate it," she continues, "well, it's only 15 minutes long." On the next Performance Today, a composer who calls herself "part cartoon character, part virtuoso." We'll hear her Symphony No. 1.


Wang Jie: Symphony No. 1

Thank you, Moab Music Festival! This festival is well worth the hop skip and a jump to Utah. Watch this quick recap of a concert held at a small ranch in Castle Valley, just outside Moab. 


Festival

Moab Music Festival - Ranch Concert

Hector Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique is one part tender love song, one part crazy paranoid hallucination. On Wednesday's Performance Today, we'll hear highlights from this unusual piece from a concert in the Czech Republic.


cjhayesphd.com

Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique

Fred Child reflects on Performance Today’s visit to Moab Music Festival in southern Utah. 


Reflections on Moab Music Festival

In 2015, the Syrian civil war forced violinist Shalan Alhamwy and his family into a perilous journey of exile. Alhamwy says "I cannot face a tank with my violin, but music is a way to say no to war." On Tuesday's Performance Today, hear Shalan Alhamwy's "Two Images from Aleppo," from a concert in Cologne, Germany.


Simon Blackley

Shalan Alhamwy: Two Images from Aleppo

On Monday's Performance Today, cellist Raphael Bell plays music by Bohuslav Martinu... music that Bell didn't like when he was younger. Tune in to find out more about Bohuslav Martinu, and why Raphael Bell now loves his music.


CTK (Czech Television Corp)

Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu

Fred Child says hello from the Moab Music Festival in southern Utah.


Visiting the Moab Music Festival

The Isle of the Dead is a painting of a dark, forbidding island. After viewing it, Sergei Rachmaninoff was inspired to write a symphonic poem; a musical depiction of the journey of a newly departed soul. On the weekend edition of Performance Today, we'll hear Rachmaninoff's Isle of the Dead from a concert in Nashville.
