Performance Today®

with host Valerie Kahler

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.

All Episodes

Poetry and Music

Poetry and Music

On this episode of Performance today, we'll explore and connect two forms of expression...poetry and music, for the winter season.

Poetry for a Winter's Day

Poetry for a Winter's Day

Performance Today recently featured several poems inspired by the winter season. Here is more information about the poems that were featured.

Canadian Brass: holiday classics

Canadian Brass: holiday classics

The Canadian Brass do a big Christmas season tour every year, sharing their versions of holiday classics. Their rich, warm sound feels like a comfy hand-knit wool scarf. On this episode of Performance Today, join us for holiday music performed by the Canadian Brass.

A string quartet that pushes the boundaries

A string quartet that pushes the boundaries

Quartet San Francisco is dedicated to advancing the traditional string quartet structure into a new world of vibrant music. On this episode of Performance Today, Quartet San Francisco stop by for music and conversation at PT's very own Maude Moon Weyerhaeuser Studio.

Nutcracker B-sides

Nutcracker B-sides

Everybody can recognize the tune of the Sugar Plum Fairy from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker, but even the lesser-known sections of the ballet are great. On this episode of Performance Today, we'll explore the Nutcracker "B-sides", with Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic.

Sound of the pianoforte

Sound of the pianoforte

A fortepiano sounds...kind of honky-tonk, but honestly, they sounds more like the pianos that Mozart would have played in his day. On this edition of Performance Today, Richard Egarr plays a fortepiano alongside the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, in Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 12.

Stephen Hough plays Rachmaninoff

Stephen Hough plays Rachmaninoff

Stephen Hough is a poet, novelist, essayist, painter, and composer, but he's best known for playing the piano. On Thursday's Performance Today, hear Stephen Hough play Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini by Sergei Rachmaninoff, from a concert with the Aspen Festival Orchestra.

Venezuelan Christmas traditions

Venezuelan Christmas traditions

On Wednesday's Performance Today, we celebrate Venezuelan Christmas traditions. Pianist Gabriela Montero and flutist Marco Granados share Venezuelan carols, dances, and their own Christmas memories.

Mahler: Symphony No. 7

Mahler: Symphony No. 7

Some pieces of music just don't get played as often. Conductor Carlos Kalmar calls them "step-children." On this edition of Performance Today, we'll hear from a "step-child" by Gustav Mahler, his Symphony No. 7, from a concert by the Oregon Symphony.

YourClassical Radio
0:00
0:00